Pencils.

I decided today that pencils are my favorite renewable resource. (Well, or at least a close second to water...).

I'm a teacher.

I had a parent ask me a question today that I was used to fielding in Uganda (with this exact phrasing) but haven't dealt with so much in the US:

"Are you a teacher by profession?"

My response today, as it almost always is, was affirmative: "Yes."

Today's parent followed up with encouragement: "I can tell. You're very good at it." (A blessed confidence booster after a crazy afternoon of traffic that resulted in me reaching my teaching site ten minutes before that class started - so glad I didn't procrastinate this week's prep!)

I don't have a degree in Education (yet). I don't hold a teaching certificate. But I do have a decent amount of training in teacherly type things (and plenty of it specific to the work that I'm doing now) and a fair amount of experience.

I am a teacher by vocation - and, at least currently - by profession.

And, as a teacher, pencils are essential to my line of work. Other writing utensils can be useful, but even with my adult students, there are times when a good sharp pencil - with an easily rubbable eraser - is just a basic necessity.

Because I often require students to write with pencils (or at all), I have a bag of them that I bring to every class. Three weeks into this teaching term, I've seen a fair number of my pencils walk away. Or, perhaps I should say, I haven't seen them: students or their parents have (usually accidentally) walked away with them.

Given the frequency with which I lose pencils, one might expect my supply to be rapidly dwindling. This is not, however, the case.

Enter today's grand realization: Pencils are a fabulous renewable resource.

What do I mean?

Only this: as quickly as I lose pencils, I seem also to be gaining them. And some of the ones I've come away with are more fun than the ones I started with. For example, although I originally filled my bag with plain yellow #2 pencils, today's assessment notes were taken with a lovely white and green "Happy Halloween" pencil.

It might bother me that so many of my pencils tend to find new homes so easily - if not for the fact that I keep coming away with others to replace them.

Like I said, a fabulous renewable resource.