Big Rocks

Big Rock, Illinois – it is not far from my here. It’s a small town just west of Wheaton, a tiny farming community on US 30 West. If you blink, you could miss it. And, even though it’s a small town, I notice it every time I drive west. A smile comes across my face when I see the sign for the Big Rock Schools and their buses.

Big Rocks. I’ve been busy – it’s been more than two weeks since my last post. Fall began a couple of days ago and where I live – 42 N we’ve lost eight minutes of daylight since Tuesday and our daylight will be a hair under 12 hours – 11H 59M. I forget what I wore for my school pictures but I’ll know soon enough when I get my new school ID next week. I think it was a blue shirt, but I am not certain about the tie. It’s not important it’s a pebble.

Lately, I’ve been overwhelmed by Big Rocks. I filled my jar of life full of smaller rocks and have had a difficult time fitting all of what I need to do, have to do, and want to do into the jar. So, a couple of weeks ago I started all over, hence my absence.

I remember reading 7 Habits of Highly effective People twenty years ago for the first time and reading the part about Big Rocks, it was in the chapter about the second habit – First Things First. It seems like the other day, and though I’ve read and re-read that story countless times since and I know better, sometimes I forget to take care of the big rocks and let other parts of my life take over. If you’ve never heard the story, or would like a refresher – there’s a video below courtesy of The Art of Manliness.

Teaching science is different and I am having fun and learning something new every day, but’s it is all about the students. I’ve seen this quote countless times; probably more that I’ve read the story about big rocks,

“A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank…but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child.” Forest Witcraft

That is what keeps me going. I am buried with small rocks and pebbles, but I remember that one big rock and a few other big rocks and I keep moving ahead. My kids and I performed our first lab experiment in class Wednesday – Oobleck and had a blast, but we made a mess. The lab report is due Monday. We all learned as we played. It was a great day.

It’s Friday morning, it’s early and the sun has yet to rise over the horizon. When it does, it’s gonna bring with it – a great day so, I had better get moving or I’ll be buried with another set of rocks. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, on big rock, one small rock, and many pebbles….

What life lesson do re-learn from time to time?

big rocks, sometimes don;t look like rocks at all....
big rocks – sometimes don’t look like rocks at all….

7 thoughts on “Big Rocks

Leave a Reply to ClayCancel reply