The Look.

You need not see what someone is doing
to know if it is his vocation,

you have only to watch his eyes:
a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon

making a primary incision,
a clerk completing a bill of lading,

wear the same rapt expression,
forgetting themselves in a function.

How beautiful it is,
that eye-on-the-object look.

-WH Auden

That 'eye-on-the-object look' is why I'm taking a 4 credit Math class next year which frightens me to the core.

That 'eye-on-the-object look' is why I'm registering for classes over the summer in a different city than I live and work.

That 'eye-on-the-object look' is why I'm a student at two different schools and looking at a third.

That 'eye-on-the-object look' is why I'm slowly but steadily and assuredly pursuing an elementary education teaching certification.

I love seeing these little humans learn. I love watching children develop an understanding of the world. I love meeting them where they are and walking forward hand-in-hand, asking questions and answering them together. This inspires me. This energizes me. This gives me the 'eye-on-the-object look'.

(Even enough for me to brave a 4 credit math course... oh man.)

Mr Wystan Hugh Auden, you got it right. You put words to my passion. Thank you.