There are so many things to recap about the past week. This will be more of a stream-of-conciousness writing I suppose. But I'll try to start from the top:
-Sunday morning. Appropriately, I was watching my FAVORITE show on television--CBS Sunday morning. I don't always wake up in time, but thankfully I did this particular week. A great bio on a groundbreaking actress, Lena Horne. An interesting story about a woman who committed a crime in her teens & has now been locked up for decades. The story is bittersweet when you hear it all. And then, just when my attention was waning, an unassuming little piece about a mail delivery woman who decided to skydive for her 54th birthday. I've not learned the fancy-pants art of posting links yet..help me, Tan?...but here is the URL to copy & paste:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6489136n&tag=cbsnewsVideoArea.0
You must take the 3 minutes to watch. I had tears streaming down my face. Haven't been that moved, well, maybe ever. This story is human compassion to its fullest.
-later Sunday morn: Tan was sick, I was already in full swing & decided to have some quality family time. I went to church with my sis, her hubby, and her 3 kids. I love those girls so much that it hurts, and it was wonderful to hang with them. Two-year-old Aubrey was in a tutu. ;) And Ryann, my 11-yr-old niece, and I have a special bond. She loves music, she's a sucker for animals, and she is just about the coolest kid I know. After a quick lunch at "Mema's" she begged to come home with me. But of course! We'll have a lazy afternoon in the garden, playing guitar. Boy was I wrong...
-3 pm, Sunday. We knew the sky was acting funny. Kinda that exciting moment when you know something was going down. Mom called to warn about a hail storm. Baseball size. Yet, it swept through Edmond with rain, wind, and pea-sized ice. No biggie. We are in Oklahoma & we are used to that. Ryann & I closed the shed, the (converted, unusable garage) and literally within one minute of being inside....the crazy began. In all of my days I have never seen a storm like this. The three of us watched in the window as pea-sized, then golf-sized, and yes, BASEBALL-sized hail began plummeting to the ground. Quickly, it became evident that this was extremely dangerous. We gathered in the hallway to avoid all windows and soon after we began hearing glass break. Our roof sounded like about 50 elephants were stomping on it in anger. I actually got scared. Me, a gal who looks forward to the crazy Oklahoma springs. But this was no joke. I tried not to think about our two cars out there in the madness....but I KNEW they were toast. Ah, Mom was right! For once, I should've listened to her overdramatic warnings! It took about 15 minutes for it to be safe to go outside & survey the damage.
And boy, was it morbid.
Dead birds, broken glass, tons of green leaves, and hundreds of "baseballs" littered our yard. Ryann captured it all on film. There was nothing to do but be thankful we were all ok and listen as sirens began to sound around the neighborhood. We checked on our dear neighbor, also a Lisa, to make sure she had stayed safe. The aftermath is that there are now TONS of roofing contractors driving around, coming to our door, and putting up signs. Yes, lots of construction will be happening in the Crown Heights area this summer. Tanner & I are sick that we only had liability on both cars...but we'll make it work. It may very well mean that our honeymoon is going to be looking a little different this summer. But as neighbor Luke (and dear old Mom) said, "Twenty years from now we'll tell our children about the crazy hail storm right after we got married."
--That takes us to Monday. The first day of the last week of school. I knew it would be hectic. But I told myself that the kids come first...paperwork, office inventory.....that can all be done next weekend & such. I wanted to spend this week celebrating the wonderful teens that I've been blessed by the past few years. They have taught me, the teacher, so much. As described in previous posts, kids can do amazing things. OH, reminds me, I was emotional at high school graduation. Think I already wrote about that. ;)
-And now it's Friday. Went to 8th Grade Promotion to send off some kids I love dearly. See, I started at my school by doing damage control. A crazy teacher that needed to go left the 6th grade team in January. Misti called me --we hardly knew each other then, weird!---and asked if I'd be interested in finishing the year. I didn't know if I could. I'd never been anything but a Special Ed teacher, and at an alternative school, mind you. But I gave it a whirl. I was at a weird place in my life 3 years ago, and the toils of self-employment were wearing me down. I needed to get back into something "bigger than myself."
That first year was tough as a regular teacher. I suddenly had 130 kids to teach & empower in less than 4 months. My class was called "Explore" & focused on character, finances, the arts. I told Misti, "I am going to be pulling ideas out of the blue... just wait!" And we read books (how I heart "The Outsiders"), wrote songs, did mini-plays....anything to keep me above water that semester! Regular teaching is tough. Yes, special ed has tons of paperwork & legalities...but I forever commend the teachers who are in charge of 100+ students every day. Wow! But from that job, I moved on to being their high school special services provider. More my bag. But, boy, there were many challenges there! I'll save the details for another day. :) I just know that I found a passion inside myself I never knew I had. Yes, God did have purpose for me. My job was to help "bridge" the high school and post-high school experience for kids with disabilities. I am not done yet. I'm furthering my education so I can get even more into this important & interesting field. I can't wait to be a school psychologist....but it'll be a while. :)
So tonight I watched students I taught in 6th grade, and also taught about 20 in 7th grade in a leadership/music class, finish the 8th grade. I was proud of all of them! There's a few I got very close to that I will miss so much!! Of course, they've promised to keep me posted.
Afterwards, I stopped by the Regester's to hold my new nephew & play with Jonas & Jaxton, my other nephews. I have "inherited" the best new family. We played harmonicas and sang songs on the porch while my sis-in-law rocked the baby in the swing. It is exciting to think that these people are my family now. We have years of memories still ahead.
--And looking ahead to the NEAR future, I play music at the Oklahoma chapter of the Huntington's Disease Foundation annual dinner tomorrow. It is such a great event. Sunday, Tan & I drive to a vineyard in El Reno to play at a wine fest.
Life is busy. Life is sweet. Always like looking on the sunny side. No time wasted on anything else. Life is too short! ;)
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