School of Fish

I heard somewhere that goldfish don't get bored because they have no memory. Not that my students have NO memory, but, well, sometimes they remind me of goldfish because they at least have an incredibly selective memory. One particular student oscillates from thinking my master teacher and I are each "the best, most nice teacher in the whole world" to "I hate this school! Nothing is fair and I always get in trouble, etc." No matter what happened the day before, every day is a fresh start with this guy. He wanders in and is soon hugging me. We even have a routine---he hugs me, I count to three, and when I get to three, he knows it's time to let go so that I don't suffocate (of course, that could be the idea?). Maybe an hour later he's plotting the ultimate revenge for being sent out of a read-aloud session to go and "think about his actions" and "rejoin us when he's ready to behave appropriately," but, ultimately, the hug always, inevitably, happens again, at some point, regardless of how horrible of a time we've had. I appreciate this because it teaches me about starting over each day with a fresh perspective as well. It helps me to remember to be more forgiving of others and, more importantly for my personality, to be more forgiving of myself. Everyone could benefit from some advice from a goldfish, it would seem.