In Order to Be Happy… We Have To Be Brave

**Day by Day Our Courage is on Display**

Dear Reader:

Come with me…and let’s all go back in time to the first day of first grade. We are all nervous and excited simultaneously.

We can hardly wait to meet our teacher… she walks in and is beautiful in our eyes… young but with eyes that have seen a lot of life-now filled with wisdom- she is smiling and kind… immediately arranging us on the floor around her. Instead of going around the circle to learn our names… she first introduces herself and then makes a puzzling comment.

” My name is Miss Life and guess what you will learn this year… how to be happy!” (We all clap and laugh at the news.” -much relieved! )

” But… she now looks into everyone’s eyes around the circle… there is catch. Before you can be happy… you first must be STRONG!” ( As the boys flexed their muscles… Miss Life shook her head with a sweet smile. ” Not physically strong… she points to her heart and then asks the children to point to their hearts… we must build up Brave Hearts.”

And as the year passed …failures, hurt feelings, and disappointments were recognized as new opportunities to add bravery to our hearts and happiness to our lives.”

And today… isn’t Life still our greatest teacher? And haven’t we learned that we have truly earned all the happiness that dwells within us from the difficult challenges we have bravely met head on-that made us stronger. ( And it makes happiness even more precious in our memories?)

So until tomorrow…

**Like we nurture our happiness by growing stronger… we must never lose HOPE in the process!** **( Faith Directive 4)**

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

**And this Winnie just returned from the beauty parlor and she has never looked cuter! She does love her scarves!**

Oh… almost forgot … the little white pumpkin that bravely lived on hope… it would have survived three years Halloween since Susan Swicegood decorated it for me one fall and it sat in my den window defying all the odds… but after half a can of Lysol when I went to pick it up and it fell apart on me… the farewell was pretty quick… it had gone from white to yellow and then mush! Bye/Bye my extraordinary pumpkin!

**Oh what a story this pumpkin could tell… too much July and weather change!**

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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