Finding My Voice Among The Crickets

A dear friend of mine has this wonderful way of describing awkward silence in just two words:

Crickets...Crickets.

To me it so adequately explains that empty space that hangs at the end of a question and is filled with nothing.  That space that you know should be filled with something, but isn't. There's just nothing...except the sound of crickets.

We are not talking about that silent, peaceful moment at the start of a school day before the kids arrive, or the comfortable silence that my husband and I enjoy at the end of the day. We are talking about when I point-blank ask a student if they are buying lunch today and they just stare at me:

Crickets...Crickets.

And that is exactly the space I find myself in now.

A few weeks ago I declared to my principal that I was going to start blogging because I had something to say.  Something important. Something worth sharing! 

My principal was thrilled! He gushed and he encouraged. He said all the right things. And then he asked the inevitable question:

So what do you want to say?

Crickets...Crickets.

So maybe I jumped the gun here.  I don't know what I want to say, but I know it's in there.  I can feel it.  

It's the same feeling I get at the beginning of something - the beginning of a relationship, the beginning of a school year, the beginning of summer vacation!  It's the feeling I have at the beginning of Star Wars! When those first few notes play, my heart dances with anticipation and excitement.  It's that feeling that something great is going to happen. 

That is how I feel right now.  The crickets maybe chirping, but I know this is the beginning of something great.  

I'm just not sure what that something is yet.