AIAIAIIAIAIAIIAIAIIAIAIII!

Lately, my prayers seem rushed, wordless, blissful things, enormous volts of thankfulness that I fling heavenward as I scramble to enumerate all the blessings of life to the God who casually tossed them down. Or deliberately placed them exactly where they're needed.

Today was just that kind of day. The sort where my smile hurt my cheeks, and yet, as soon as I stopped concentrating, my mouth fit itself back into a grin. I Cheshire-catted my way through all my blocks, and even mandatory unpaid substituting during my planning couldn’t bring me down.

One of my favorite students showed up at my door five minutes before classes started, utterly radiant.

“Ohio State!” My neck snapped up as I turned to stare at her.

“Ohio State and Chapel Hill and Howard!”

“Oh my gawd!” What do you say to a kid who has been through hell and rides at the top of her class and has now been accepted to three great colleges? I put all my words into my hug.

Her story is astounding. It’s more than I can share on this blog post. Last week, she got one question wrong on a quiz on development, because she wrote, "deprivation leads to greater strength of spirit. It makes people better, stronger, more resilient." She refused to use the studies we'd covered, instead drawing on her own experience. Damn straight, girl.

That’s the tip of the iceberg on both her awesomeness and obstacles. So I’m going to end this post by simply saying how ecstatic I am right now, and giving my Columbus friends a head’s up that if she ends up choosing Ohio State, you must personally adopt one of the most incredible human beings I have ever had the privilege to meet.