SOMEONE used to like Miley Cyrus.  Maybe not so much anymore.  But, I do like her rendition of this song.  Since Christmas trees seem to be on my mind today, it seems appropriate.  Plus, I hear this song everyday!  One of my students plays it over and over whenever we have 5 minutes of free time.  I do that when I’ve been working with them for a long while and I can see they need a break.  We just drop everything and have five mins of fun.  We bust out the computer games, blocks, model clay, scratch paper – whatever gives them some relaxation.  They are so young after all. I hope you find time to just stop for a few minutes and have some fun.  Fun is very important.  Those good vibes keep more good vibes flowing to you.  It’s like a magic spell.  Sometimes, when I’m having a bad morning, I dump my morning lesson and just get the kids talking about all the things they want in their lives.  Of course, they start out talking about cars, mansions, atv’s etc…all the big ticket items.  And that’s OK.  It’s good to know what you want.  Bea is particularly good at that skill.  Clothes shopping with her could be difficult because she wanted a certain thing.  I was like that too, actually.  Drove your Grandma crazy!  I HATED shopping with her.  She always wanted me in some frumpy outfit.  I wanted this:

And I had the body for it at that age.  Unfortunately, I kept listening when people told me I was fat.  One boy (who actually liked me but didn’t have a clue in how to tell me this) said this too.  UGH!  It hurt so much.  Sometimes you just gotta say – I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!!!!  Maybe that’s why Miley has changed so much.  She’s pretty mad about how her world has evolved and she doesn’t care what people think about how she expresses that feeling.  I do think she’s missing an important thing: respect.  When she recorded this song, she was all about respect.  Respect for herself, the original words of the song, the company she worked for, and her fans…Respect is important and it starts with respecting yourself. In these pictures, she is lovely and she seems to feel very comfortable with herself.