Five Minute Friday / Welcome

Five Minute Friday: 'Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing them over here (Lisa-Jo's blog.) Where we just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.'

{GO.}
As I sit here with the company of my sewing machine beside me, I think about my trip this afternoon to my local fabric shop. A smile of familiarity from the owner greets me, welcoming me into her shop. She extends her welcome further, offering me a chocolate from the fresh box of Celebrations that sits on her desk and I wonder if all shoppers receive this welcome, or just those with familiar faces. Although it's just a fabric shop, I feel at ease here, welcomed in and given the freedom to browse, knowing that there is no pressure to buy. And this is the feeling that I see as synonymous with welcome - ease. I wonder in contemplation at how much I value that feeling. When I go somewhere new - I value a friendly face, welcoming me. My desire for the children I teach and their parents who entrust me with their offspring's first encounters with education, is that my classroom would feel like a welcoming place - not simply through the physical environment, but through a consistent warmth in the welcome I have the privilege of extending daily. Welcome says, 'I value you being here, come stay awhile and be yourself.'
{STOP.}