Sunday, December 26, 2010

Holiday Update 3

Finally – Christmas.  I say it every year – that Christmas has just snuck up on me – but it was especially bad this year.  We were unable to go to Utah to spend it with our children so I did not have the luxury of knowing I will have a shopping day before and no need to plan ahead so gifts could be mailed.  I literally shopped on Christmas Eve.  I sent digital gift cards, and then made some phone calls.  (I know I’m SO bad)  I vow, here and now, to do a better job next year.  The thing is, despite the opportunity for this year to be depressing (since my heart is in Utah with the grandkids) it really wasn’t.  My sister-in-law, Linda, came to dinner on Christmas Eve.  We had a pleasant evening visiting.  I slept in yesterday morning, then we puttered around together for the morning.  We opened some gifts. Santa gave Monte a new mailbox!  I’m SO excited about that.  He gave me a Star Trek version of Scene It.  And Bill & Stephanie gave me a boxed set of Star Trek movies!! He swears he and Santa were not in cahoots.  Then we went and sat in the dark, ate popcorn, drank a bladder buster of soda and saw the movie True Grit.  It was a good movie.  I liked it as much as the original with John Wayne and that’s saying something.  After that we went to lunch at Linda’s house and visited with Linda and Emmie and Bradley and Anna & Jeff.  We finished off with a quiet evening at home.  Great stuff.

Holiday Update 2


 The next event of note was our annual Gingerbread Party.  I’ll preface this report with a brief review of what precipitated this party in the first place.  One of the traditions I had while my children were growing up was making gingerbread houses with them and (sometimes) their friends.  When Monte and I moved to Minnesota our daughters were already in college in Utah and their lives were well underway.  Bill was entering high school.  I felt distinctly obsolete and I went through a depression that took me a several years to actually get a handle on.  By that time, Bill had finished high school and gone on a Mission.  I had fallen into a serious apathy about Christmas, I kept saying I hated it.  I remember being a real killjoy – just thinking about it makes me sad. I went through the motions, more or less, I remembered “the reason for the season” just fine; but I could not seem to find the cheer.  One afternoon I realized that what I was REALLY missing about Christmas was the traditions I’d observed with my children.  That was what inspired the Annual Gingerbread Party. My intention is to have a party that is specifically for the children in the family.  I want them to get to know their Auntie Jan and to have memories of spicy gingerbread and creative expression in connection with Auntie Jan’s house.  Usually Wyatt and Willa (my niece and nephew who live next door) help me do the baking but I’ve been so busy this year that I let it get too late to be able to work around all our schedules, so I baked 14 houses.  I like big houses so that there is plenty of “scope for the imagination” when decorating.  This year we really had a blast. We made some Christmas tree ornaments as the children arrived.  Then we had hot dogs and mac & cheese for lunch and decorated the houses after that.  Bill, Stephanie, Ben, & Elodie joined us in a video conference on the computer. I had sent the gingerbread house pieces to Bill so he could put the together and they would have a house to decorate. It was SO much fun to listen while everyone caught up with each other.  The kids had so much fun and were really well behaved. What a great family we have.  NO more depression at Christmas.  I do miss my children and especially my grandchildren at this time of year, but I love my little nieces and nephews and especially my sisters-in-law so much.  I’ve embedded the photo album containing pics of this party into the slideshow in this blog.

Holiday Update


   Okay, here we go.  At Thanksgiving Monte and I went to Flower Mound, Texas to spend it with Monte’s brother, Scott, and his family. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Scott & Sue, their daughter Megan and her husband Mark, their sons Myles, Marshall, and Marc, and some family friends.  Dinner was great.  Scott usually does the turkey but he had recently had surgery on his shoulder so he “instructed” Marshall in how to stuff the turkey and put it in the oven.  Then Sue and I (and other members of the family) cooked a lineup of really tasty things.  The boys watched football (of course) and Scott napped – his pain meds were pretty effective.  Sue’s friend Sharon had provided a variety of pies so, when we were capable of eating again, we engaged in a sort of taste test.  Sharon repeatedly declaring that they weren’t any good.  In a roomful of men and teenage boys the pie was declared eminently edible, and they did – well we all did.
   The next day we went to the temple.  Marshall will be leaving on his mission to Ontario, Canada in January and needed to receive his endowments.  What a great honor it was to be able to be there for that event with him.  Marshall is a valiant young man, an excellent example of what it means to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We topped off the trip by having a celebratory dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we consumed multiple baskets of chips and salsa, some pretty great Mexican food, and celebrated Marshall’s accomplishment along with celebrating his birthday (it was also Scott’s birthday!) Whew!   

Saturday, October 30, 2010

October Update Revisited

Halloween!  I like this holiday.  I like the time of year, with its brisk weather. I like mildly scary stuff (not the awful stuff).  I LOVE costumes, although I haven't dressed up now for several years.  I LOVE seeing the kids in their costumes, all excited to try out a new persona for a few hours.  I get a big kick out of watching to see what kids choose to dress up as.  Remember when that was the toughest decision you had to make?  My school had a family Halloween dance put on by the PTO.  I carved a couple of Jack-o-lanterns and volunteered to help.  It was so much fun but I couldn't stay.  I went out to my car to get my costume and discovered that my car wouldn't start.  My co-worker offered to jump start it for me but she was leaving so I figured I'd better take her up on it and and just get home.  Last weekend, Monte took me to a Gophers game at the new TCF stadium on the University of Minnesota Campus. Anna and Jeff came with us. It was really pleasant.  The weather had been rainy and cold all week and the forecast said it would rain and be in the 50s.  I dressed warm, so of course I was dressed too warm.  The sun came out and it was beautiful!  The game was fun to watch - despite the fact that the Gophers lost. I ate hot dogs and popcorn and pop - woo hoo!  After the game we went out for curry.  We discovered that Anna does NOT like curry but Jeff just may.  Monte, on the other hand was not impressed with the restaurant I picked.  Ah well, my curry was great.  I enjoyed spending time with my husband and brother and sister in law.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

October Update

I really do want to write more regularly but I'll have to settle for what I can get at this point.  First, a brief tribute to my first born.  Yesterday was her birthday.  She's 32! I can't believe it.  
This is my Anna, Anna-banana-sketti to her childhood friends.  She is smart and beautiful and loving.  She is loyal to a fault.  Anna is the caretaker of the family.  She's the one I call when I'm worried about one of her siblings because she generally already knows what is up with them. Anna walked at 9 months old and could read before she entered kindergarten. I couldn't seem to give her information fast enough. One of my favorite stories about my little Anna is about her first day of Kindergarten.  Her new Kindergarten teacher found her standing and staring at a bulletin board.  Of course her teacher asked her if she wanted it read to her.  Anna's response "No I've already read it.  Can I read it to you?" Now Anna is a college graduate, working in a research lab.  She and Stan will be moving to Tempe, Arizona in the next couple of weeks.  She hand her sister have lived in Salt Lake City since we all moved there together in 1991.  They have been really close so I'm wondering how they will do after they move apart from each other.

My job has been really tough this fall.  I still love it but I can't seem to get my head above water and I hate the feeling.  I have worked evenings and weekends, gone to work early, and stayed late every day since the beginning of school.  Yesterday, I got up early and gathered up all of the mending in my closet and settled in at my sewing machine.  After that I did all our laundry, baked some cookies, and went grocery shopping with my hubby.  I intended to get some school paperwork done tonight but decided to blog instead.  It feels great.  My sweet husband gave me a blessing today and I think I'm going to find my balance now.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

My Summer Fun

Well, I've been having a great time with my summer.  I dragged out the boxes of pictures of my children that I've neglected for 30 years and have been sorting through them.  I'm having a blast. I noticed, however, that I have to be careful about how long I spend going through them.  I tend to get melancholy.  I start to miss my children so much, and then I start to think about things "I wish I'd done differently".  Not productive, let me tell you.  The best part of the whole thing is that I've gone to a couple of crops at Archivers and done a few scrapbook pages AND I've scanned a bunch of pictures and posted them to an online file.  I feel so good about this.  It means that the pictures are safe from destruction, (a lot of pictures were lost in the fire in '91) and it provides a chance for my kids to enjoy them.  They certainly haven't done anyone any good sitting in those boxes.  Bill and Stephanie taught me how to do a video conference so we've been able to do a couple of those and visit with my grandbabies.  Seriously fun.  Technology ROCKS!  Anyway.  the other thing I've been doing with my summer is tending my garden and canning the proceeds. The garden is a mess the weeds have completely taken over the herb sections and the pumpkins are literally growing right through the gate and across the lawn!  Monte keeps saying "just cut it back, we only need ONE pumpkin anyway.  Far too late for that and I'm fascinated by the thing.  It's really amazing.  The cucumbers and zucchini are producing well, too.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

It's About Time to Update

  I can't believe the last update I wrote was in May.  I told myself I'd have more time in the summer but the list of things I need to get done this summer is indeed long.
  First, at the end of the school year Anoka-Hennepin School District closed 7 elementary schools.  I was blessed (and darn lucky) to be retained in the same school I've worked at for the past 6 years.  It did not mean, however, that we got off without upheaval.  The second to last day of school was officially "moving day".  If you were not personally moving into or out of a classroom you were assigned to go help someone who was.  I had to move out of my classroom a week before that so that my classroom could undergo renovation to make it functional for the new Autism program moving in.  On moving day I was required to move out of the temporary spot I'd gone to and into my "new" room for next year.  The next day I spent the whole day trying to organize sped files that had been moved and discussing placement for sped kids for the coming year.
  The day after the last day of school I got on a plane for Salt Lake City.  My newest grandaughter, Elodie Vae Oelkers, had been born and I couldn't wait to hold her!

  It was a really brief visit but lots of fun.  We had a cookout at Anna and Stan's house and a potluck at Bill & Stephanie's, went to a movie with Mom, Derek, Xavey, and Daevius, and even had a visit at Dad & Diane's.  I took lots of pictures which I have posted in my Mobile Me gallery.  http://gallery.me.com/joelkers

  Next, I taught summer school. I had 11 4th graders (10 boys and 1 girl) and was part of a pilot program using a specified curriculum.  We worked really hard, but the kids were great fun.  They were each so unique. I had one who hardly said a word until week three, then he decided I was okay and spent the next 3 weeks telling me all about himself.  Then I had 2 who talked nonstop about anything and everything that was running through their heads.  One of them was interested in Transformers so I got to hear all about "his universe" and how he doesn't really belong in this universe anyway.  He did tell me, however, that I was the "Queen of this Universe" and he would do what I told him. (Which he mostly did,  if given sufficient advance warning that I was going to expect something.  The girl loved crafts of all kinds.  She showed up for the first time the day before the 4th of July weekend and was REALLY good at the beadie buddy we were making for the occasion.  She finished hers in record time and was able to help some of her classmates with theirs.  We also had some additional visitors during our time at school.


This family of ducks was the third one to be moved out of the central courtyard.  They were so cute!

A couple of days before the 4th of July, Scott and Sue and their son Marc came to stay.  They brought Scott's friend Russ with them and the men did the usual round of golfing while Sue and I had a truly grand time making a large and complicated cake for the 4th of July Party.  The cake was a hit and the party was a blast even if it did rain.  It was a riot to watch all of the kids playing in the pools and on the slip and slid in the rain.  The potato chips were all soggy, though.
Sue and my castle creation.  Everything is edible except the foil flags on top and some foil in the top of the turrets.
       
My friend (and sister) Sue hard at work.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Daughters

My daughter, Brenda, turned 30 on Monday.  This is an event that gives a mother pause under any circumstances but this was also the day I received the news that one of my students was in the hospital and not expected to recover.  The two events should not necessarily be linked but in my head they most definitely were.  I'm so incredibly grateful for 3 decades of association with my sweet Brenda.  Let me tell you a little about her.  When my first child was born I loved her so intensely that I couldn't imagine ever having as much love for anyone else.  I was actually worried when I discovered I was expecting again that I might not love this child as much.  So I chose to name her  Brenda, "the warrior".  Brenda was named this because I knew in my bones that she would have to be able to advocate for herself.  I also chose the name in honor of my older sister (also Brenda) who has always been my advocate.  Brenda is the original "tough chick".  Like her mother she is a study in opposites.  As a child she was my little princess all in pink, lace, and rhinestones and the first one to eat the bug or jump in the pool.  As an adult she is a tree hugging, vegetarian, Air Force Reserve soldier girl, mom. I'm proud of my baby.  Not the kind of pride spoken of in the scriptures where I take any credit for or claim any glory in connection to the person Brenda has become; but the heart full of joy kind of pride I feel as I have watched this unique person define who and what she wants to be.  She has not made all of her decisions in the directions I would have her but she always, always takes responsibility for her own choices.  Brenda is loving, smart, and constant.  She throws herself completely into every responsibility she accepts.  My son in law and grandchildren are lucky to have her. (I suppose I could be biased).
   Now for the rest of this observation.  My student passed away on Thursday.  She will be buried next Saturday - on her 7th birthday.  She was born with Cerebral Palsy and has been in discomfort, if not outright pain all of her life.  Her parents will not know the joys I've experienced as Brenda's mother.  Yet their expressed desire for her memorial service is for us to celebrate their precious daughter's brief life.  We are each given very different tasks to accomplish in our time on earth.  Could it be that Brenda and I have so very much more to learn than my little student did that her mission on this earth could be accomplished in a mere 7 years?  Either way, I'm grateful for having known her, too.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A State of Well Being

I sleep with someone who likes to watch television at night, all night.  I often wake to some interesting infomercials...  This morning's infomercial was all about how to have "rock hard abs".  Never a good wake up call, but it did have an effect.  After I turned off the unrealistic, unproven promises that insult my intelligence even as they offend my self-image I lay quietly thinking about how much I really need to get my body moving again.  When my arthritis was diagnosed I could barely move enough to get to and from the daily activities that are required of me.  Everyone told me that exercising would make it better but every time I tried I'd have another flare up and spend a day or 2 in bed (this was something far beyond sore muscles) and then require higher doses of steroids to get moving again. Which the doctor warned me is a bad thing. So I got far, far out of the habit of getting moving.  Anyway, in January the doc increased my medication, again, and as I was pondering the exercise situation this morning I realized that I have not had even one flare up this winter. SO, that makes it time.  Two years ago I took a class at the YMCA that was a combination of yoga, tai chi, and pilates.  I loved it...and hated it.  I loved the low impact, stretching, and whole body-mind approach.  I hated being part of  a class (oooh people watching) when my body is so well cushioned and inflexible that I was unable to do most of the routines and some of it was SERIOUSLY painful on the joints.  So guess what?  Netflix has a yoga video called "Healing Yoga"  I got out of bed this morning and did the whole routine!  This brings me to the title of today's blog.  This was a really wimpy routine.  I could do ALL of it and it felt great.  Nothing hurt and I went to work feeling energized instead of wiped out. I even felt like I could think more clearly. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow morning.  Okay, I realize I'm rambling and I feel a little sheepish about this whole entry but I'm posting it anyway.  My purpose is to record the events of my life.  This feels like an event that I'd like to preserve.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Softball Season revisited

Okay, last Monday Monte's team played their third game - in the rain.  I missed that one. I guess I'm not quite that dedicated.  They won though ;)

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Mothers, Choices, Mother Eve

A few days ago we had some people at our house who asked some great questions about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden.  Here is my take on this particular story.  I feel it is especially appropriate today in honor of Mother’s Day.  I believe, and the scriptures tell us, that in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were given a choice.  They were warned not to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but they were also told to start a family.  They could not have it both ways.  I used to ask my Seminary students if they were “set up to fail”.  No, here is the thing.  All parents know that sometimes our children will have to make hard choices.  They will have to choose between things that are neither the wrong choice nor the right choice, simply a choice.  No parent wants his children to experience pain and failure, but no parent wants her children to remain “immature” for eternity.  He had to give Adam and Eve a choice.  Adam’s choice, at first, was to follow God’s advice not to eat the fruit, stay safe in this pleasant place.  Eve made the hard choice, she took the biggest risk.  Mother Eve chose pain, and strife, and hard work, and death so that all men might live.  Eve risked having Adam choose other than he did, he still had agency.  Sometimes this story is told with the perspective that Eve committed a “terrible sin” and then led Adam astray if that is so, then the lives we all have on this earth are a consequence of that sin.  It makes it sound like life is a punishment.  This is just not so.  Our lives on this earth are the greatest gift our Father in Heaven could offer us.  This is our opportunity to become like Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, completed the plan.  Our Father knew the end from the beginning but he also knew the the key would be in the choice.

Today, I want to express my gratitude to every mother for making the hard choices.  Being a mother is really hard work.  It is painful (both emotionally and physically) and often thankless but it comes with an equal measure of joy.  Happy Mother's Day.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Talent Show

Madison had its talent show last night and of course the school was able to see the show during the afternoon.  Second grade Janie (not her name) stood in front of 500 students and 60 plus adults dressed in her Little Orphan Annie dress.  Her mother had to hold her up but she belted out "Tomorrow".  She knew every word.  Her audience cheered and her teachers wept.  Janie attends Madison in the centerbase program.  She has Downs Syndrome and is Severely Multiply Impaired.  Sure, her performance wasn't ready for "American Idol" but I was far more entertained than I've ever been watching that program.  There was an amazing range of talent in our little school.  What a lovely memory.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Softball Season

Monte's softball team had their first game of the season last night.  They won - by a lot.  If I weren't a lady I'd phrase it another way.  In the past few years I have neglected these games.  I've had lots of excuses but this year I'm determined to attend most of them.  It was really fun to sit in the fresh air and visit with all of the fans.  It is a "church" league, meaning all of the teams are from a different church.  This makes for fun discussions in the spectator section because nobody gets so competitive that it overrides their Christlike attitude (usually).  I could sit and groan with the other side's fans when our team scored their 20th run, and as my husband threw the ball to first base for a really pretty double play I could say "that one's my hubby" without fear of getting my ears boxed.  It was fun - more to follow.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

End of the 09/10 school year.

The end of the year is rolling in sorta like a tsunami.  Our district is closing 7 (or is it 8) schools at the end of the school year.  My school isn't one of them but it means staffing shakups district wide.  Our principal is being replaced by someone with more seniority.  It is never comfortable when your supervisor is being replaced with an unknown. You may remember a few posts ago, I mentioned what a superior principal this woman is.  I will greatly miss working with her.  There was also a real possibility that I might be replaced by someone with more seniority.  The staffing announcements came out on Thursday and I will still be working at Madison.  Hooray! (I think) No really, I've been lucky to work at Madison for the past 6 years.  I will be back in my previous position as the EBD teacher half time and the Sped Department Lead the other half.  AND I will be teaching summer school at Madison this year which puts me closer to home than the past 3 years. So most of the news is good.  My son and his wife are having a baby this summer and I'm beginning to plot ways to get to Utah this summer to see the new baby. (For more info see their blog "Why Not")  Monte has gone back to school.  He has had his nose in his books since January.  I'm so proud!  Anna and Stan are talking about moving to Arizona (or maybe Florida?)  I lost track, but there will most certainly be a move in their future.  Brenda had an emergency surgery in March (if you don't already know for what you'll have to ask her yourself.  She thinks blogging and facebook are far too public as it is so I'll respect her privacy - a little) She's almost as tough as she thinks she is, though, and seems to have healed up well.  So, I'm really starting to look forward to summer coming, getting ready for it is the tsunami part I'm treading water as the wave curls me under.  Maybe my baby brother will teach me to surf!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring has sprung and so have I

It was 60 degrees yesterday!  There is no longer a huge slab of ice covering my driveway. I can see green shoots peeking through the detritus on the lawn.  Summer school applications were due last week.  Kindergarten observations and registration, pink slips for untenured teachers, 5th grade transition meetings, and last chance for special education evaluations.  Spring cleaning in all it's many forms rears its ungainly head.  At home and at school the task is screaming for attention. Pack it up, purge it out, plant it, or prune it.  I LOVE SPRING.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Good week so far.

I'm having a pretty good week so far. I almost hate to say it, it's like "tempting the evil eye" but there it is. We had conferences last night. I was dreading it for a variety of reasons but the main one was that I had a parent who vehemently wanted to retain their kindergartner for a second year in kindergarten. Minnesota school districts, in fact most school districts in this country, simply don't retain a student who is already identified as disabled - it really is counter productive. It is like using a general ed approach to address a special ed need. On top of that, the research shows that there are very few situations in which retention of any student is an effective way to "help them" progress. I had already had several tentative discussions with these parents to that effect but at the bottom it is up to the school Principal to make the final decision. I knew what she was going to say and was NOT looking forward to these parents' certain disappointment. Our school Principal is awesome! She was so gentle but immovable. It was an education to watch. The discussion lasted over half an hour but by morning the dad had left us all a message that he understood what we were trying to tell him and he agreed after all. And he thanked us for taking the time to talk it through with him!! Since he is an attorney I was pretty impressed by this message. I was ready for another round.

Today the snow made me 10 minutes late for a Child Study meeting (I'm the Child Study Chairperson) and the meeting was in progress when I got to school so I had to scramble to get my part put together and present it. By the time I was finished with that I had to teach a social skills lesson. Then I had to cover a class for a teacher who had to go to another building for a transition meeting. When that was done I had to leave to attend a meeting at the Staff Development Center. I had to leave that meeting 45 minutes early in order to be back at Madison for an IEP meeting! After such a day, of course, my phone was ringing when I finally walked back into my office (40 minutes after my duty day is supposed to have ended.) When I picked it up the person calling said "I called you at 8 this morning and you haven't called me back yet!" I had to laugh. I ran full blast all day but it all went really well so I had fun! I sincerely hope all my friends and family are having as good a week as this is starting out to be. ;)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Church Today

I had a great time at church today. Usually by the time I get home my head gets so full of "what comes next" that I can't remember what the talks were about. Today, I remember some specific impressions. Sister Howell (sp?) made a specific point that we "keep the Lord's commandments" with exactness" Her words made me take stock of my own apathy. I go through the motions but there is no "fire" in my testimony right now. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's church with all the keys of the priesthood restored. I know that I, like all God's children, am entitled to personal revelation. It's not that I'm doing anything particularly wrong but watching Sister Howell's impassioned speech lit a little fire under my own testimony, I hope I can fan the flames this week. Next was the sweet feeling of the spirit that attended the talk given in Primary. The speaker was 4 years old and I was struck at the incredible wisdom of having the many jobs that need to be performed in our church community done by "laypeople". Here was this sweet 4 year old girl learning how to speak in front of a group. Nearly from the time our children can speak we begin to develop the skill to stand up before others and share God's word, by the spirit of the Lord. While this little girl was speaking a room full of children were also learning to listen both to their peer and to the spirit who would speak through her. We learn from the Book of Mormon (1 Neph 3:7) that "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" Most active members in the church have held a variety of callings (jobs). I've had a family member of mine refer to our leadership as "a joke" because they are not "trained" but over the years I've come to understand just how sweet and wise it is that our bishops are not always "polished" and have rote methods by which to serve. We all have to rely on the Lord to "prepare the way" and we learn and grow so much more in the process. My service in the church is the greatest training I've ever had over and above the university level courses I took to prepare me for my career. I do what I do because I was called to it by the Lord and the most useful training I've had I received in Primary, Young Womens, Relief Society, and Sunday School.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Friends

Some people collect friends. It is a gift I don't posses. Don't get me wrong, this entry is not going to be a "poor me, nobody likes me" wallow. As a matter of fact, what's on my mind this morning is how well I have done in making good friends despite my poor skills in the area. A couple of weekends ago I spent Saturday morning playing around with paper in my craft room and decided while I did to check out facebook to see what was going on. It turned out that my friend Sue was facebooking at the same time. We got into a 2 hour long chat online. (Doesn't the internet rock!!) We talked about everything from crafts to family to ancestry and our faith. Sue has always been like that. She and her husband Mike used to be our Saturday night card/game buddies when my children were small. We played Pinochle, Spades, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit. Once, we took a trip together to Mike & Sue's hometown in Idaho. We played Trivial Pursuit over CB radios the whole trip! Sue's children were friends with my children so that when we did get together everyone seemed to have a good time. After we moved away from Winnemucca Sue kept in touch. I'm terrible at that but she is always willing to forgive and forget and when we do manage to connect again it seems like we can just pick up where we left off. Sue is the kind of friend who just seems to encourage you to be better.

Sue isn't the only good friend I have, however, just the one with the most history. I'm lucky to have good friends I work with and friends at church all of whom seem to basically forgive my antisocial ways. I'd list them but I'd be bound to forget someone and run the risk of hurting someone's feelings. You know who you are. ;)

Okay Sue, if you are reading this here is the card I made at your suggestion while we were talking. Thanks for the idea.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Change is Good

Another decade down and a lot has changed since the end of the 20th century.

I am an empty nester.
Some of my children have children.
I finished school.
My best friend is going back to school.
I have a job that I love.
My body does not work like it did in the last century.
We moved to Minnesota.
My son served a mission.
My husband decided against having hair.
My hair decided it is curly - and some of it is gray.
We adopted a cat.
I taught seminary for 6 years
I taught Primary for 2 years
I changed schools (my place of employment) 3 times in 4 years.

Today I spent more than an hour with administrators from our district talking about major changes to take place at the school where I work. I know in my heart that change is good but I can't help wishing next year would be easy enough to skate. But then I'd get bored. Some people are never happy with the grass on their side of the fence.