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Showing posts from April, 2014

"Every strike gets me closer to my next home run."

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I freaking love baseball!  I love watching it on television (which almost never happens until the World Series, and then it is so late I become not very nice), listening to it on the radio (yep, if you pass me in my car and I am animatedly discussing something with no one, you know what's going on), but the very best of all is being there.  I love walking up to the ball park and seeing all the people in their sports attire. I love the food in the ballpark--the Crackerjacks and the Kettle Corn and those almonds covered in sugar are my favorites. I love that it is in spring so you are never sure what the weather will be. I love that perfect green and brown of the field.  I love that in baseball there is time for the fans and friends to wander in between innings, or discuss with their neighbor something either about the game or something totally random--and this is acceptable and expected behavior.  But, mostly I love the game.  I love that at any moment; someone could do something a

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

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Beautiful Spring Day with these two amazing people! It is Easter Sunday.  I am blessed.  I have really thought about what to write about today.  It was a great week.  My students and I worked on their final Huck Finn projects, which ended up being hilarious, beautiful, and profound, just as Twain would have wanted.  I got to spend a little bit of quality time with my son, which is something I treasure more and more each passing moment.  I laughed with my daughter and one of her dear friends over ice cream as the days continue to amaze me with their beauty.  I do, indeed, cherish all these things, but that is not what has been on my mind as I have seen so many beautiful posts about the sacrifice and redemptive promises of Easter. As a human being, I label myself with many titles, mom, wife, teacher, daughter, sister, and friend.  I have failed at all of these things.  I am an extraordinarily flawed human being.  I have made so many mistakes it would be hard to know where to b

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it."

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My dad, my son and I after one of his first treatments  I want to start off with a huge thank you to everyone who took a second (some of you much longer) to pray for my dad (or offer your thoughts and wishes) over the last four months.  Some of you, I know, prayed for my mom and our family as well.  On Tuesday, April 8th we learned that my dad is 100% cancer free.  I will never forget reading that text, sitting by my dear friend, holding up the phone, and smiling with tears in my eyes.  I was not doing something that I loved (I was away from my students in a meeting), and I was having a kind of difficult day.  In fact, I had told my husband before I left how much I was dreading the day.  But, the  moment my phone buzzed, everything shifted.  The text was two sentences long, sent to my sister and I: "Best news ever! Dad is 100% cancer free!"  That is all it took, to change my entire day.  From the moment I got that text, all the frustration I had been feeling in the meetin

“A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.”

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This is the first week back from Spring Break.  It was a short break, only three days because of snow day make-up.  Then, we had CAP Conferences (these are conferences with our students and their parents to prepare their schedule for next year) two nights this week until 7:30.  Then, we had more CAP conferences on Saturday (to make up ANOTHER snow day) from 7:30-3:15.  This is the equivalent of working a seven day week.  First of all, I really do love CAP Conferences.  I learn a lot about my students and their future plans and I get to meet their parents, which is almost always great!  However, I am tired.  Like go to bed at 9:30 tired.  Maybe that's why it hit me so hard that my seniors only have 20 days of school left this year.  I am extra emotional this year.  It probably doesn't help that my favorite senior of all time is among this group (my son).  Just typing this sentence made my eyes fill up with tears--seriously!  It also doesn't help that some of these people (du