Hello, Very Important People of the World-

I’m at my computer, and I can hear my husband rattling dishes downstairs. He must be unloading the dishwasher. I’m feeling sleepy, but I have stacks and stacks of papers to grade. I’m trying to catch up on the Student Blogging Challenge weeks I missed, too;  my students are way ahead of me! This is my Week 4–Free Choice–because writing teachers need to write. As odd as this sounds, I decided I’m going to look around the room and write about what I see–and why it matters in my life.

To my left, on a shelf attached to my work desk, I have two bespectacled minions staring back at me. The one on the right is hula dancing in tropical high fashion…coconut bikini top, grass skirt, and a lei around its head. The one on the right has blue overalls, a king’s fur-lined robe, and an ornate, gem-embellished crown. Their big, button-sized black eyes peer at me as I type, but having them there makes me smile. Wacky yellow minions represent the silly part of me that refuses to act my age. Sometimes, I don’t want to be mature…or act like a grown up. These goofy minions give me permission to unleash my inner child.

Beside me, there’s a colorful Amish quilt covering the twin bed my 6′ 2″ teenage son outgrew.  The thick, handcrafted Amish quilt is patterned with fall leaves, each leaf pieced together with different colored fabrics.  Its background is tea-stained, almost the color of a sun-faded paper bag. I’ve collected quilts for over 20 years. Every year, my husband Mike and I travel to Lancaster County, and I go quilt hunting. We stop along backroads, pull up to electricity-free Amish homes,  and are invited into barns or workshops to meander through the stacks of handmade quilts. Every stitch on these quilts is done by with a needle and thread, oftentimes by groups of women. In December, Mike and I are planning another trip to Lancaster County, where the clippety-clop of horse-drawn buggies will be the background music of our backroads adventure.  I’m doing a hula dance of excitement over this one!

The room tour continues. To my right sits a  yellow McCafe cup with a black, plastic lid. When I pick it up, there’s about two inches of ice cold hot chocolate waiting patiently to be warmed up and consumed. This is last night’s drive-thru run–one of the many spontaneous outings my husband humors me with. We were out late running errands, and I announced I needed hot chocolate. He thought for a minute, “What drive-thru is even open at nearly 11pm?” and then turned the Jeep towards Mickey D’s, where we ordered a single cup of hot cocoa for me…my pick-me-up before I sat down to comment on blogs.

I wonder…what do the things in your space say about you? If someone walked into your bedroom, basement, or office, what could they infer about you? The things we collect, and the things that we choose to surround ourselves with, say so much about who we are. There’s plenty more in my bedroom/office. As I glance around, I see books, a bottle collection, a Steelers helmet, and framed photos. What is your room saying about you?

I’m trying to keep pace with my amazing blogging students. Visit the Student Blogs page at the top of this blog to meet my creative, inspiring 7th and 8th grade Communications students. They’d love to hear from you…so kindly stop in and say hello.

Happy Thanksgiving, from my blog to yours-

Mrs. Rombach from Virginia