Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
As we head into our first extended vacation of the year, I want to thank you for your ongoing support of our students, our teachers, and our school. While no day is ever perfect, by and large, our students are responsible, caring, and kind young adults who come to school eager to learn. Our teachers and staff model on a daily basis what it means to work hard for a greater purpose, particularly, to meet the needs of our students. And to our family community, you support our work by sending happy, healthy kids to school every day. You respond when we need to talk about your child and when we have needs in the community - including through our recent coat drive and toy drive.
Last year at this time, I shared a poem that I had come across through some of my own professional learning. I think it still fits this year as a helpful image of what a school vacation means to many of us. As is the case with most poems, the reader can interpret parts of it how they wish. In light of the vacation and a hopeful respite on the horizon, the idea of creating space for our flames to grow stronger resonates with me. Personally, some time away from RJ Grey will help create the breathing space that will lead to a stronger fire in 2025.
FIRE
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
-Judy Brown
I hope you are able to relax with friends and family over the coming days. I look forward to the New Year and the new things that will come our way.
Take care,
Jim