I wrapped up the day with a trip into the backyard while Ivy took care of her business and looked upward into the heavens. It was a beautiful starlit night and I could see the Big Dipper plain as day. I never would have been out here at 10:30 at night if it were not for Ivy. It was an incredible sight and reminded me of how small we are relative to the larger parts of our world. I try to do the right thing but sometimes I simply get in the way. It is difficult being human. Tomorrow is Father’s day. We will go to church and celebrate somehow; it will be a family day. Continue reading Day 22: Return to normal, or whatever that is…
Tag Archives: writing
Day 21: Homeward Bound – part 2
I did not finish yesterday’s post. What I mean is there is another part to the Homeward Bound and that is Julie getting home. I last saw her disappearing into the Terminal 2 security checkpoint at O’Hare and headed home. I had checked the weather Thursday night before going to bed that the forecast Friday for Chicago was thunderstorms and I checked when we landed and the National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch, as the conditions were good for bad storms. It was hot, 90° F, humid, and it made it being outside, no fun. The storms were forecast to hit the Chicago area in early afternoon. I was concerned Julie’s scheduled flight home to Memphis would be affected. Continue reading Day 21: Homeward Bound – part 2
Days 4-9: Learning, a garage sale, and household chores
Today is day 10 of summer vacation – where have they gone? Seventy-two left, will I spend them well?
Well, I have been busy with household chores and other activities the past few days. The days have counted but not in the way of the first three days. I spent Day 4 wrestling with WordPress and finishing the Indy 500 page. I got started on Memorial Day and it I continued to work on and off and on for several days until I finished it and posted it yesterday. I suppose there is irony in the day of the post – June 6 – the sixty-sixth anniversary of the landings at Normandy in 1944. June 6, 2009 is also the day that I travelled to Oxford, Mississippi to see my dad who had taken a fall and was gravely ill lying in a hospital far away from his family. I will have more about my dad and the summer of 2009 in a future post. Continue reading Days 4-9: Learning, a garage sale, and household chores
Day 1 – 5/29/2010: What am I doing?
I have been inspired into blogging this summer’s days. I teach 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies in Naperville, Illinois. Toward the end of each school year, the students begin to count the days until the last day of school. Teachers secretly take part in this annual ritual. In the spirit of trying to keep the kids on task – I have turned it into working very hard to making the days count. Hence the name of this blog, Making the Days Count.
About seven or eight days (in class days) before our final day, I admitted that I too was counting the days. A student in the back of the room piped up “Yeah!” I retorted “But I have another number for you to consider.” I opened my planner and begin counting another set of days. Dave, I said, “Add these numbers for me – will you?” “Sure,” he replied. “Three, thirty, thirty-one, and twenty-one. What does that add up to?” I asked. He replied, “eighty-five. Mr. Watkins – what is eight five?” Several students interjected and asked the same question. So, I answered, “Do you know how long summer vacation is?” Dave responded by beginning to sing the Phineas and Ferb theme song, “There’s 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it…..” I stopped him and the class laughed – I did, too. “Dave, unfortunately we have fewer than Phineas and Ferb, there are only eighty-five days for us,” I told Dave and the rest of the class. They seemed disappointed and I reminded them that our summer break this year was much longer than last year or the previous three years. I asked them about their summer plans. They responded – vacation, sleep, video games, spending time with friends. It was a great moment as they dreamed of the days to come – to spend time with their friends and family resting and relaxing. I redirected the class, and we began our lesson for the day a presentation on the Scandinavian counties of northern Europe and I put the moment in the back of my mind. After class, I re-checked my math and discovered I had made an error. It was really eight-seven days – I had shortchanged them and myself as well.