Watermelon

My friend teaches elementary school, and she's in a tough district with tough students. One of her kids is completely spastic and cannot sit still for the life of him.  So what she does when she wants him to sit still is she goes up to him, looks him straight in the eye, and says, "watermelon."  Then like some magic spell that has come over him, he is still with his hands together and the face of an angel.

I laughed so hard when she told me this, because don't you wish you could do that all the time to whomever is bugging you?  "Watermelon"…stillness.  Sometimes I wish we could do that in our relationships--either to our partner or ourselves…or both!  Like when you're about to get into a stupid argument, that you know is stupid, and you shouldn't even be arguing over it, if you could just say "watermelon" to stop yourselves from getting into it, that would be magical.  And it would save us all so much time and energy.

This made me think though.  If something as simple as saying "watermelon" can turn a child's entire mentality and behavior, even if temporarily, can we not all do that for ourselves as grown-ups?  I wonder...


BIG LOVE & HUGS


Love,


Justine