Brutal – not a word I use very often. My Sister-in-law uses it and I have to say that from August 2nd until now that word fits my life. Do not get me wrong there have been some great things that happened in July and in October. Unfortunately the stress of work has outweighed the few great and has kept me from being creative in any shape or form. My sister, niece, aunt and best friend have all been reminding me that I have not blogged in awhile so I am going to give it a shot. In all honesty if I had not read TC’s comment about wondering where I was the other day on my blog I am not sure I would be writing. I was pretty sure that the blog world did not notice that I was missing. I know my family and friends tell me I need to write but they hear from me in emails, phone calls and FB so if I did not write a blog for them they would eventually get over it. In fact they have kindly stopped bugging me.
July took us to Yankee Land; we got to see both sides of the family. While we were in Yankee Land I attended my high school reunion, I graduated 30 years ago. Gasp where has all the time gone? This was not the main reason for the trip there was an even more import event that was a very special one. My siblings and I hosted a surprise 50th anniversary party for our parents. Technically their 50th is not until January 14, 2011 but traveling to Yankee Land in the winter can be tricky so we decided to play it safe and throw the party early. A wonderful time was had by all and my Dad was surprised. We had to give in and tell our Mom because of information we needed that only she had. Family and friends both old and new were at the party, good food, great conversation, music and a little bit of dancing along with toasts and memories shared with each rising of a glass. Once the party was over and the church hall was clean the immediate family went back to my parent’s house where we had dinner together and more great conversation. Along with the party the gift to my parents was a scrapbook memory album. People sent well wished and pictures to be included in the album. The best was one of my Dad’s cousins found there original wedding invitation in with some old pictures he was sorting through and he sent it to my parents for the album. If I had been able to write this shortly after it had happened I am sure there would have been all types of details but that point has come and gone. It is the end of Thanksgiving break and I am just now finding time to write.
We returned home with a day or two to spare and it was back to work for me as the Lead Content Teacher (LCT). We were starting another school year with a new principal. The powers that be in their glass and ivory tower downtown do not know how to “fix” the school I work at so they keep changing principals. Ah gee let me help you with that … you with your PhD. Leave us with a principal in place for more than a year and a half. That’s how you fixed the other “problem schools”. We did not “break” in a year we can not be “fixed” in a year. So I have a new principal she is number 4 and of course she knows what we need to be “fixed”. Therefore the first order of business is to change everything that we do, even if it worked great. To make matters worse the four of us that wear the LCT hat got to be schedulers for two weeks because the student’s schedules were a mess. I therefore taught for 1 day in the first two weeks of school. Crazy…I know. Oh and we switched to a block schedule a whole different nightmare. With all that being said I still love my job I am just worn out at the end of each day and I use the weekends to get caught up which leaves little time for anything else. I am starting to get a grip on all the new requirements and responsibilities that have been given to me and it will be all right in the end.
October found me making a trip by myself to Yankee Land again. Two times in one year Wowy-Zowy for me. I went home to receive an award, I along with two gentlemen from the class of 74 were named alumni of the year. I was thrilled to be nominated but to win was just amazing. I told my Mom I will not get chosen they will select research scientist, lawyers and those types of people. I am a high school teacher and while what I do is important lots of people do what I do. The two gentlemen were…you guessed it a research scientist and a lawyer. When I got to Yankee Land my sister met me at the airport and we went out to eat and then dress shopping. An occasion like this warranted something awesome to wear so I purposefully did not go shopping here but waited for my sisters input. We do not get to do sister things very often, we plan to change that in the coming year. That will be another post. The night of the ceremony arrived and I was very nervous but I calmed myself by practicing my speech in my head. So my Dad, Mom and I met my Sister, Brother and Brother-In-Law at the country club where the dinner was being held. It was very nice and the food was excellent. My husband and sons were not able to make the trip so my Brother was my date and he was a great date. The one mistake I made was thinking that I had my short speech memorized – after all I talk all of the time it is part of my job. So my speech did not come off smoothly because I left my notes behind. A big piece of advice; never leave your notes behind if you win an award. I also started to cry something that I did not foresee either. So humor me because I am going to write what I should have said.
Good Evening; when I received the message that informed me I could speak tonight my first thought was oh no. But I quickly realized if I can speak in front of students, staff members and parents daily I could do this.
I want to take a minute to thank the committee for selecting me for this honor. I am honored and humbled.
I need to thank my husband and sons even though they are home in Texas their support and love is what keeps me going day in and day out.
I also want to thank my sister Heidi and my brother Derrick for cheering me on and being there for me and for being with me tonight. My brother-in-law Kevin for understanding my profession I thank you as well.
Most importantly I want to thank my mom and my dad Alice and Stanton. My parents have encouraged, supported and given advice when I needed it. I know they are very proud of me and this award is as much theirs as it is mine. So again thank you.
Yes I know some of you want pictures. I had to get a new computer and my pictures are not on this one. That will have to be another day that I post pictures. I have papers to grade, a test to create, lesson plans to write and grad homework to finish all before Monday morning. I used this week to rest and relax. I can not promise that there will be a post before the New Year but I will try to stop by more often and read everyone else’s blogs.
