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Writer's pictureBonnie Lee

Real Life Doesn't Come in a Box of Crayons


I was pretending to be a professor today and gave a lecture to the second graders. Actually I just told them a story. I miss going to school as a student, but today, I got to reminisce the time when I went to college, which is fairly recent.

We were drawing plants in the second grade. I told my students that when I was in college, I used to have lunch with my teacher, because in college, you can have lunch with your teachers, of course! After lunch one day, we went to the nursery. My teacher shared that this was the place where he got his colors.

"That's silly!" A girl blurted out in disbelief, "how do you get colors at a nursery?!"

"Exactly my thought," I interjected. "How do you get colors at a nursery? There are no markers or crayons." I continued, squeezing my eyes together and pretending to concentrate as though I'm trying to recall the details. "But what happened was that my teacher memorized the colors of the flowers that he saw, so that when he went back to his studio, he could paint those colors."

I don't know how much information the second graders retained or understood. But I think they had fun listening to the story as much as I had telling it.

"Because real life doesn't come in a box of crayons." I pointed to the indigo dress that I was wearing today. "I won't be able to find this blue exactly. Sometimes you have to mix some colors up to get to the one you want."


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