DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET walked over to me, and calmly said, “I could never understand why a teacher would spend more time preparing a project than the children would actually spend doing it.” I stopped. I looked up from my cutting, directly at her. I glanced over at her children. They were all engaged, painting at the easel, building with Legos and blocks, reading books, coloring with crayons and paper, and playing dress-up. I looked at my children. They were running around the room. I was begging them to come back to the table to “make one more,” hollering at them to just use “a little bit of glue” and to “watch me,” so they would do it right. In the middle of it all Cynde was quite literally telling me to “cut it out!” A light bulb went off in my head and I had my first career changing AH-HA! BEING READY If you take what Cynde said out of context, it wasn’t anything major or profound. What she said made an impact because I WAS FINALLY READY TO HEAR IT. I’ll never know how many gems she placed in my path prior to that moment, because up until that time, I simply was not ready to receive them. It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was finally ready and Cynde was there for me. She guided and assisted me as I began the journey of rediscovering the teaching style that was in my heart. 16 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL