A heartbeat

I was in my third and fourth grade classroom the other day and it just so happened to be science time when I walked in. We were talking about the heart and exercise and I was showing them how to find their pulse. The ones who needed help finding their pulse circled around and we began to search for the beat. Each of them lit up with excitement when they found THEIR heartbeat. "I found it and it feel so cool!" "Teacher, I can feel it!" It reminded me of the time when I searched for my heartbeat when I was their age and never found it. I was in the 3rd and 4th grade when I started searching for it, but never could find it or feel it until I was much, much older. But as I was thinking about my personal experience Maria, one of the 4th graders, ran up to me and explained that when she took a deep breath her heart beat stronger. She put my hand on her wrist and I tried to feel for it. I got excited for her but couldn't really feel anything. Later after school was out and everyone had gone home I tried it myself. Could it really be true? The beat is stronger after a deep breath? When I tried it, it worked! It was like a pulse of energy that ran through my veins. After that day I've done this process at least once everyday...deep breath and feel for the strong beat.

My heartbeat has been pretty weak this last month. And I haven't really tried to find a stronger beat. But when I take a deep breath I can feel the strength return. It's taking a while for my heart to gain it's strength back, and I don't expect a fast recovery, but everyday I take that deep breath and my heart becomes the smallest bit stronger. After a week I expect more strength and in another month, I hope to have a strong and brave heartbeat.