I shared recently at a Storytellers Gathering. The theme was “Puzzles” and it had to a true event, spoken in first person. I immediately thought of Adriana and the story began.
Adriana was one of my favorite students. (Yes, I know that we aren’t supposed to have favorites … but we do) She was compassionate, curious and her favorite phrase was “ I can do it by myself, Teacher” One day I brought a new puzzle to the class, it was created for children a few age levels above my kindergarten students. I told the class that this puzzle was different than our usual puzzles and we could work on it together. Adriana jumped up and screamed, “I can do it by myself, Teacher!!” I thought a moment and told her to get the process started.
A few moments later, I saw Adriana taking the puzzle box to the trash. I called out “Adriana, what are you doing?” She brought the box back to me and said “Teacher, look at the picture on the outside of the box and look at the inside. All these pieces - it’s broken. You got it throw it away.” I gently told her, “ The pieces are not broken, just need a special touch to connect them back together.”
I called the class to gather together, as we poured out the pieces and I told them the first part was to turn the pieces over so that we could see their faces, it was followed by echoes of “I see your face” as they turned the pieces over.
We worked together in community, putting pieces together. It was a community process, Class Visitors were invited to help with the puzzle. Our School Psychologist came in daily to connect pieces and write. On the day that it was complete, Adriana put in the last piece and we all celebrated. Adriana exclaimed “Look, it’s not broken, we all fixed it. It’s all together and it’s so pretty!” A few moments later, I saw Adriana taking the puzzle box to the trashcan again.
Adriana looked at me and said, “ The puzzle is all together and it’s big. It can’t fit into the box. The box is too small, the inside is bigger than the outside. I gotta throw it away.”
I let her throw it away.
Self Reflection is one of the lessons I shared with my teaching students. At the end of each day, a teacher should ask, “What did my students teach me today?”
My Self Reflection happened during my drive home. “Sheila, what did your students teach you today?”
When pieces of our lives aren’t together, that doesn’t mean we are broken, we just need the healing touch of connection. The process of connection happens we are able to face each other and say “I see you.”
Even though we have the tendency to have “I can do it by myself, “ we are created for community. We make connections through friends that keep us accountable. We make connections through faith community. We make connections through the insight of therapists and counselors. We are all connected together.
When the pieces come together, a beautiful masterpiece is created. The inside of us is greater than the outside. We do ourselves a disservice when we try to shrink when others try to define us by confining us to the image they want for us. We are created to live outside of the box. Sometimes it means throwing the box away.
It reminded me of the Psalm 18:20 - "GOD made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him"
The final piece to the puzzle was when I shared my story to my friend to get input before the gathering. I didn’t tell her the theme. When I finished, she shared that she has loved puzzles all of her life. When I asked why, she said that everything has a place. There is a joy and satisfacton when pieces come together in the way that they were designed to be. Nothing is broken …. it’s connection.
Thank you Adriana.
Pieces together,
Sheila P Spencer