"Do you have kids?"
"No, not unless you count these 60 mine, because I do."
"Yeah, that feeling, imagine it all condensed into one kid. That's being a parent."

I had this conversation tonight. I teach sixty kids from three different classes ages 10-11. I never teach for work. I never teach for money (obviously). I teach because I love to teach. I have also discovered the joys and pains of teaching: emotional attachment. I leave: I worry about the kids. I wake up: I worry about the kids. I constantly have nothing but deep concern for these kids.

The woman I had this conversation with is a teacher and a mother. We were discussing what it is to love to teach. Then she opened my eyes to what it is to be a parent. This condensed emotion and deep bond is something I simply cannot comprehend. When she gave me this analogy, however, my heart clenched and I felt the hair stand on end. Things made so much more sense to me in the world.