My dad was a Taurus. Today would have been his 82nd birthday. He passed away after a brief illness on July 20, 2009. He was 76, too young. His passing took me by surprise, though if I had been paying attention I would have known, or at the least been more prepared, more ready.
My dad and his mom – one year old – May 1934
It seems like just the other day, but it was almost six years ago. It was at the end of the school year and I remember the entire event unfolding in slow motion in my memory, as if it were yesterday.
A year after my dad passed away, my brothers and I escorted his cremains to France and spread his ashes where he wanted to spend eternity in the countryside of northern France. Since that summer, I’ve been on a quest to recapture and gather my history, my story – who I am, where I have been, and where I am headed. In a way, MakingtheDaysCount.org has been my journal and my travelogue. Continue reading Taurus: The Bull→
Ivy’s head rests on my knee and she gazes through the window, watching the shadows in the yard searching for movement protecting her home. Her warmth and the coffee help bring the day to life for me.
I enjoy getting up early, sipping coffee, and catching the day’s first lights as it creeps across the yard and illuminate the trees. It is quiet in the family room, at least on Sunday morning. Usually, on weekdays, W and I are out the door on our way to school and O is just rising readying for school. However, Sunday morning is different – the day begins much slower and quieter. It is just Ivy and I, peaceful and serene.
It’s been over two weeks since I wrote a post. It’s not because I haven’t had ideas. I’ve had loads of ideas and I even started a post last Sunday morning, but I ran out of time. That post died on the vine, it’s no longer relevant.
Since my last post, O has been to her first middle school social. The social was the day after her birthday and she had a wonderful time and could not stop talking about on our way to W’s final regular season football game. We arrived with a minute left in the second quarter to watch the Tigers score a touchdown and take 14-9 lead to the locker room. They needed to win the game to make the playoffs. This is how they did it.
Since then, W’s football team has ripped off two more wins and next weekend play in the state playoff quarterfinals. The team’s first playoff win was in the blinding snow and howling winds on Halloween night with a last minute field goal to tie and a touchdown to win in overtime. The second win was yesterday afternoon – it was a beautiful fall afternoon, perfect for a high school football game. Continue reading The Can Crush→
Tomorrow is picture day. School picture day. I get my picture taken every year. I’ll be in line early and looking my best for this year’s school picture. Last year, I wore a pink shirt with a blue tie and the year before, a blue shirt and a pink tie; beyond the last two years I cannot remember which year is which. It will be my school ID photo for the next year; and it will be in the yearbook. So, when my students look back on middle school, there I’ll be along with the rest of my colleagues.
We got an e-mail from the principal reminding us, but I knew picture day tomorrow.
Earlier this week I heard about a story about Dale Irby, a teacher from Dallas, Texas who wore the same outfit for all forty of his school pictures. In the beginning, it was by accident; then, he made a conscious effort to wear the same sweater every year. I looked back at my school photos, at least those I could find – and for the most part, I was like Dale Irby. I stuck to the tried and true blue shirt and sensible tie. There were a few ties that weren’t so sensible or more likely it was ‘what was I thinking?’ or ‘did get dressed in the dark?’ I am not sure. The portraits will have to speak for me.
Nevertheless, I didn’t stop there. I went back further and found pictures from elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. When I finished college the first time and started working, I stopped having an annual photo taken so there is a gap from 1982 to 1999. It was fun going back in time and refreshing my memory of what I looked like then and now. About the only thing that is different from all of the school pictures is that for the past couple of years, my hair is longer than it was in middle school OR high school.
Tomorrow is school picture day and I’ll be ready. Blue shirt, sensible tie, and a great smile. Thirty-nine years ago, I smiled an eighth grade smile and had my photo taken. Today was a great day and tomorrow will be a million and six times better. Making the Days Count, one day a time, one school photo, one lasting memory at a time.
When was the last time you went back in time and took a peak at your school photos?
Friday, July 4th. Independence Day. It’s America’s birthday and it’s a three day weekend. America will celebrate it’s independence from Britain. There will be parades, families will get together, there’ll be cookouts and fireworks. There’ll be all sorts of merrymaking – most of which I won’t partake. I’ll settle for the parade, a little boating, hamburgers and hot dogs, and fireworks. It’ll be great day.
It’s bittersweet for us, grandma and grandpa were always here for the Fourth. Always. The past couple of years they’ve been unable to make it up together. Last year grandma was here, but it was different. Regardless, I am always thoughtful of this day as well as our other national holidays – Memorial Day and Veterans Day – and how and why they are important to our culture and who we are as a people.
the Fourth of July parade with grandma, grandpa, and the kids – W and O. 2006
I am ever so grateful for the courageous men and women who went before me – Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and many more who debated and wrote the Declaration of Independence and set forth the ideas freedoms of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Continue reading Freedom Friday→
It’s that time of the year, again. There are two weeks left before summer vacation. Nine school days. Summer vacation would’ve been sooner, but we had the brutal winter with sub-zero temperatures and excruciating wind chills. Four school days closed twice for two days and days were moved from June to January to make up. There is nothing like summer vacation days in January. My students are working hard and last week it was clear they knew exactly how many days remained; some even knew down to the hour and minute.
looking closely you can read it – OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
I looked at my calendar last week and was stupefied that May was so close. It felt like the wording on the passenger-side side-view mirror: OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR. I suppose it is a lesson, which I need to heed more often. I have a habit of letting things creep up on me; it is along the same lines as not reading the fine print or asking for directions. I asked myself how it happened, but I already knew the answer. Ferris Beuller said it best, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop look around once in a while you could miss it.” Life does move fast and sometimes the only thing you can do is look around.
I’ve been looking around a lot lately. My seventh grade ELA students finished their Mask and Identity unit and we are now on The Road to Perseverance unit to finish the year. There are four units – one for each quarter. The bad weather days in January messed up the schedule and we finished the third unit in the fourth quarter and started the final unit a few days late, hence my ‘closer than they appear’ observation. It has been a good year. The students have been great and I will miss them, but I won’t miss all of them because I found out after Easter that I’ll be moving with them to eighth grade. After fourteen years in seventh grade, I finally was promoted!
It’s Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer, and I am home instead of up North. I should be there, we should be there; there is work to be done, boats to be pulled out of the water, and a dock to be pulled out, too and so many more chores – summer is over and winter is coming. We planned to be there but it didn’t happen. We didn’t leave. Usually, for labor Day weekend we leave Friday evening and come back Monday afternoon. But, with W’s football schedule we’d planned to leave Saturday after his practice session. That meant we could take in the varsity game Friday night; it was a big game against the defending state champion who had beaten us the past two years in a row.
Last week was the first full week of school; it was exhausting – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I was drained and with one look in W’s eyes, I could see it had been a long week for him, too. Going back to school (or work) after a vacation is difficult but the weather changed to make it even worse. The week began with a heat wave and ended with a spectacular storm Friday night. If it hadn’t been for the storm, I’d be sitting at the table and looking out at the lake, instead I am home sitting at the dining room looking out at the neighborhood. Continue reading Endless summer→
Today is the first day of summer vacation. Actually, it started yesterday at noon but I was packing my room and I didn’t leave until 1:30. I could have stayed and worked longer, but I had a chiropractor appointment and I needed to be straightened out. I’ll be heading back to school and the room this morning to move my teaching stuff down the hall to my new rooms. W is going with me to help move boxes. I had forgotten how much stuff I had.
There is always a last day and after the last day there is a first day of something else, something new, a new beginning. One of the teachers in our building retired and as I was leaving yesterday, I saw her family helping her pack her car with her things. She was teary-eyed at our end of the year staff lunch and she’ll be missed, she’ll miss us, too but she’ll move on to a new beginning and someday, I’ll be there. Continue reading First Day→
It’s the last day of school. In a few hours, the busses will pull out of the parking lot for the last time and take the kids home for the summer. They are excited and the teachers are, too. But, the last day of school, or of anything, is always the hardest.
It has been a good year and I’m sad to see the group move on – they are all great kids and have done fabulous job in the classroom. They will be great eighth graders. The day is only a partial day and it will be part fun and frenzy. The kids have their yearbooks and they will be asking other kids to sign and leave a note. Many kids will approach me and ask me to sign their yearbooks and I always leave a note and a message. This year’s note will be asking them to make their summer worthwhile and to use all of their 77 days to their fullest. I hope they do, the days go quickly, much quicker than a day in school. Continue reading Last day→
