Miss Cindy
She came in running on empty. What filled her back up was half her size.
Illustrated by: Pedro Amaral
Illustrated by: Pedro Amaral
P.S
This is another one of my favorites.
It’s about a teacher having one of those days where you’re running on empty.
It was inspired by Teacher Appreciation Week, when I found myself thinking about my most memorable teachers.
As a kid, you never notice how complicated life can be.
You never see what it takes for someone to show up every day.
I wanted to capture a bit of that exhaustion. The kind where you walk into a room and forget what you came in for.
Ms. Cindy’s life feels that way, kind of upside down, with a never-ending next problem.
The whole story is built around the drawing from her class. It interrupts how she’s feeling.
It may not fix what’s going on outside the classroom. But for a moment, she’s the one being held instead of the one holding.
Sometimes small joys are just what we need to keep going.
Not because they solve the problem, but because they remind us why we keep showing up for it.
I never explain what’s actually wrong in her life. It’s a fill-in-the-blank.
It could be anyone’s day, anyone’s week: the tired teacher, the worn-out parent, the person giving more than they have left.
Not just hers.
✦
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Have you ever felt like you were running on empty, only to be fulfilled by the simplest of things?