On Labor Day a few weeks ago I was at the Slough in Fort Myers. I stopped at the first pond and saw this HUGE alligator trying to climb upon this old dock. It took him quite awhile and finally he made it. He got settled, then gave us all a big grin of accomplishment and bellowed a loud "Happy Labor Day Folks!"
"One's happiness depends less on what he knows than on what he feels."
Liberty Hyde Bailey
Have you ever asked yourself exactly what happiness is? I know many people can look at happiness in many different ways. I'm going to share one of my experiences of happiness.
Every year that I taught school I was always including multiple things of nature that would grow in the minds of my students (first graders) as they achieved what was expected of them in that particular grade. I wanted them to love nature, to learn to explore and to realize how unique nature can be.
One year I decided to hatch 10 turkey eggs in the incubator in my classroom. The students were happy keeping counting charts of the days until the turkeys hatched. Halfway through the 28 days we decided to "candle" the eggs to find out if a turkey was growing inside. We found only 1 egg that was fertile.
When we got down to the finally days, even the parents would come in to see if there was any action in the incubator! Finally at the start of one day we peered into the incubator and realized there was a hole in one egg. We could hear the turkey chirping away inside the egg. We were so excited, (including me), we could hardly do any work that day...eagerly awaiting for the turkey to hatch. It was a long process...with frequent stops in our schoolwork just to watch the process of hatching. When the turkey hatched the students couldn't leave the classroom that night to go home. All the parents came in and sat with their children for at least an hour after school to watch the newly hatched turkey!
The following days were filled with happiness. We moved all of our desks together so that the turkey could walk anywhere he wanted....and he did. He felt free to walk up and down their arms....sitting right next to them as they did their schoolwork...occasionally pecking at their pencils as wrote. They each kept a writing journal of how fast the turkey grew, taking pictures along the way. The students named him Tickles. I trained the turkey to sit on my shoulder during the day while I taught! He seemed to be quite happy doing this. I took the turkey home with me at night!
One of the parents of my students was very interested in adopting Tickles. So at the age of 8 weeks he went home with this family. The family built a pen outside in their backyard for Tickles. They would bring the turkey inside their home each night to sit on the couch and watch TV with them. The turkey would ride inside their van in the mornings as the mom brought the kids to school. He would sit in the front passenger seat, sticking his head outside the van window on the way to school.
His adopted family would drop Tickles off to school once a week in his little red wagon, along with his lunch. I bought an old playpen from a thrift store for him to rest in. Tickles loved the students and they loved him. My students would read to him, practice their math facts with him. He would go outside at recess with the students. They would chase him across the playground and then he would chase them back.
One morning his adopted parents woke up to find that Tickles was missing. Someone had opened his cage and either let him out or took him. They looked and looked for him. They even put a picture in the local newspaper of the students with Tickles, asking people if they had seen Tickles the turkey.
He was missing for 2 and 1/2 years. The adopted family moved about 6 miles away so they could have more room for their animals. One morning, a neighbor from their old neighborhood called them and said they thought they had spotted Tickles. The mother rushed over there, but Tickles was no where to be found. This happened quite often, until one day the neighbor called again to say they had spotted Tickles. So the mother figured that this was the last time she would go over there.. But this time was different. Tickles was there. She called to him and he came over and sat in her lap! He was very thin. She took him first to the vet and left Tickles there for a check up. She had not told her children that she had found Tickles. After 3 weeks the vet called and said that Tickles was ready to go home. So the dad told the children to sit out on the front steps because their mom was bringing home a surprise. She came driving up in her van with Tickles, sitting in the passenger seat, sticking his head out the window! The children were thrilled.
Tickles lived for 5 more years...each week spending one day in my classroom!
Happiness is taking advantage and enjoying every opportunity you have to enrich your life!
