oh to go back to middle school...

<---8th grade dance :)

student comes up to me today..."so ms. millage, my friend, like my BEST friend, well we were but then we stopped talking and he doesn't really like me because we fight a lot and we annoy each other, but anyways he is my best friend in the whole wide world..." so...you hate each other but you are still best friends in the whole wide world...got it.

I miss the days in middle school where nothing mattered. Well, in their heads EVERYTHING is a huge deal including who they will sit next to at lunch today. Middle school is full of drama. Who likes who, who was talking about who, who you have classes with next year, etc. I wish those were our biggest dilemmas as adults. Instead we have bills, responsibilities, jobs, etc. However; as easy as it seems to look at a middle schooler and think 'your problem is NOTHING compared to mine...', that is not always true. I heard it put this way by my FAVORITE comedian Brian Regan one time and it makes so much sense: "think of it this way, when your child has a balloon and they accidentally let go and the wind takes it up to the sky and they are screaming and crying out 'NNNNOOOOOO', and you are saying back to them 'it's ok!! it's just a balloon...we can get you another one!!' Now picture that balloon being your wallet and your child says to you...'it's ok!! it's just a wallet...we can get you another one!!' YEAH RIGHT! We would yell back--'nooo you can't!! my whole life is in that wallet!!! you can't just get another wallet!!' It has made me realize that as much as I would love to go back to my childhood where the problems seem miniscule--they didn't seem miniscule going through them. No matter the age, we are going to go through heartache and assume that it's the WORST and want to be in anybody else's place but ours. I am glad I have successfully made it through those awkward days of middle school... :)