I am a teacher at heart. Although my kids sometimes call me a preacher. And from the looks my wife gives me as she gazes lovingly at my scruff and stray ear hair…she thinks I am just a weird creature. But listen, whether I am teachin’, preachin’, or lookin’ like a creature, I do find it fulfilling to see the light bulb go on in someone’s eyes. There is an amazing expression, emotion and energy given off when a teetering, tottering, toddler takes that first big step and starts walking. It’s that Holy you know what moment. When something has been transfigured or converted into a palpable sense of oh my gosh-ness. The proverbial “Eureka” moment. It’s a great thing.

Let me clarify. I love when you can sense that someone has gotten it. Accomplished it. Done it. It’s a rush of great feeling that someone else gets it. Whatever IT is. If it’s a crossword puzzle clue, or learning to tie a shoe, or finding out what’s false and true-there is immense satisfaction in earning it after learning it. Right?

But…in order for us to enjoy those moments of blissful satisfaction…you know what we need? Faith.

Picture Principal Donadoni half running, half walking, half falling across a snow swept beach in the misty rain with a dog that thinks he’s in the Iditarod chasing a ten year old to the waves. The slipping and sliding and sinking in the sand was an adventure that required faith today. Faith, that no matter what happened, I was not going to break a leg, do a face plant, or suffer any other catastrophic fate on Singing Beach in Manchester this day. No. I had faith that all would end well… and it did. For me.

But for Wally, whose curiosity sent us flying across the beach faster than the Principal was confident keeping up with- his day did not end as well. The poor dog has very short hair. And after a winter of discontent in the dust of cats and rooms of remote learnin’ kids, his skin is rather dry, and the hair is no longer as white as the virgin white snow of my rooftop. So, as we piled into the car to head home from the cold, rainy, windy adventure on the beach, I realized wet Wally was now a shivering, sneezing, shaking sugar cookie. You know what I mean?

And now that he was deemed a dirty sugar cookie of a dog, his day was doomed. The ladies of the house declared he needed a bath. Poor guy. All he wanted to do today was lie on the couch and watch college basketball.

But I digress. The point is, sometimes, you need faith to get through the wet, misty beaches of life and when you arrive at the end of the day’s journey sometimes you find yourself transformed…into a sugar cookie. And the look on his face when he realized that the bath was not for a human being- but for him…was priceless. Yup, the light bulb went off in poor Wally’s head as he realized he was going to have to get in the bathtub. And I got to appreciate it. I saw that he did not. Oh well.

He made it through the bath ok and we still got a chance to watch at least some of the college basketball games before we fell asleep. Having gone from a shivering sugar cookie to a warm blanket, the dog’s day was done. And I found relief in my long held belief that some days the dog will get a bath, while I get the couch. And the remote.

Thanks for Coming!