Each and every time.

I ran into Jessie and her mom at the grocery store today. I was glad to see other people were in an Easter pickle due to late shopping. They were out of fresh strawberries! Who runs out of strawberries? It was fun talking with Jessie. She is such a bright, shiny person. What a treasure we have in her - since she decided to stay in town after college - so many bright, young people leave.

Salt of the earth.

Lil's funeral was as good as a funeral can get. It was a real celebration of her life. She really had three distinct families, and all were well represented. Her biological family, her church family, and her school family. I think each group was surprised at the size of the other groups! She was the salt of the earth - what you saw was most definitely what you got from her! That sentiment was expressed many times today.

Her sisters spoke at the funeral and one of them said, "My sister beat cancer on March 30. She is now cancer free and pain free - what a relief!!" What a great perspective, huh?

The first day of Spring...Break.

Yesterday was the last day of school for the week - we are moving into Spring Break. I went out with a couple of friends who make me laugh and put my life in perspective (the kind who say, "get over yourself, things aren't THAT serious, are they?") One of them is Harry and the other is Donna. We all worked together at the middle school about 15 years ago, and have been great friends ever since. One is retired, the other is headed in that direction. Both of them are hilarious and neither take themselves too seriously. It's always such a welcome sight to see them sitting there, as I walk into the watering hole at the end of the week.

Heavy hearts at school.

Our attendance secretary, a fixture at school, lost her battle with cancer last night. As a school, we have rallied around Lil and her family, holding a benefit night in November, bringing in $35,000-which sounds great until a family is paying for a long battle with this insipid beast!

Bullies wanted.

I was bullied this week. I went to EMS to watch McKenna play volleyball, and I saw Harry (here’s a public Happy Birthday to Harry!) Harry razzed me about not writing in my blog recently! (Of all the nerve! Does he have any idea how hard it is to find something even mildly interesting or marginally relevant [bear with me, I'm being generous] every day?) He first harassed me via text that morning “I cant read your blog if you dont write anything” and then later in the day, he zinged me again – in person! It was a figurative noogie, nothing less!

Life is like basketball.

I've been consumed by basketball lately. While I love watching basketball (how could you NOT love this team?), the season goes on and on... with LOTS of games... Even with all of the games and all the time away from home, I would take in a hundred basketball games before ONE football game. I have to sit - make that STAND - through a LOT of football games too... I refer to each as "three hours of my life I can't get back."

Civility.

So many people are frustrated or disappointed with young people today because they dress in poor taste, use offensive language and talk in code, dance suggestively and listen to terrible music. Let's face it though; every generation criticizes the generations that come after. I can live with bad music, underwear showing, and embarrassing dancing. I can even live with coarse language - heck, anyone who knows me knows I'm no stranger to the F-bomb! (sorry, mom)

Making it up on the fly

Isn't it funny that we have to go to college to be "certified" to do certain jobs - like teaching? It's funny for a few reasons. The first is that "certified" and "qualified" are two different things. I have known many paraprofessionals who are more qualified to teach so students can learn than the teachers in whose rooms they work! Secondly, most of the learning for a job like this happens - on the fly!

Little victories matter.

 

It's hard to see this picture, but it is a picture of a retired teacher and a former student. The student is a guy who most certainly rides a Harley - tattoos up and down his arms, long hair - in short, he's a caricature of a biker. We were having drinks last night (emphasis on the plural) and debriefing a particularly trying week. We were talking about all of the bullshit we put up with at school and how important it is to hang on to little victories.

As if she knew it were true...

What is it that people enjoy so much about gossip? I can almost understand teenagers gossiping... they are emotionally immature and are still trying to figure out their places in the world. They don't realize the consequences of what they are saying - how their words can leave lasting scars on the victims of their stories.

Go ahead, I'm listening.

I'm disenchanted. It's not about my thighs this time or my inability to make good decisions about my bed time. It's about listening (or lack thereof).

I'm disenchanted by people who SAY they are "listening," when it really feels like they want to LOOK like they are listening. Listening is a great, generous thing (just what we want to have people see us doing!), but when one says he's listening, but doesn't act like he's HEARD, it kind of negates the listening, doesn't it?

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” ~Karl Menninger

Christmas in the Castro.

I was engaged in an email conversation with Larry the other day... talking with him makes my day... I love having someone to chat with who will most certainly crack me up... I wish he were closer than San Francisco, but such is life... that's where email comes in, right? ...here is a snip of our conversation: