We Have Snow!

It took me an hour and a half to get to work yesterday - it's quite disconcerting to arrive at the school after the students have been there for 20 minutes.  I was thankful for my cell phone - at least I could let the office know I would be late due to the fact that I-15 traffic was going 10 miles and hour and Bangerter Hwy was a sheet of ice - (I passed 2 accidents). I guess that's what I get for agreeing to a job where I have to commute every day in the winter.  :P

More snow today..... and I am reminded that winters in Utah really aren't my thing.....

But on a lighter note, today was "The Polar Express" party in my classroom.  A couple of parents told me students were SOOO excited for it.  And they were.  They all showed up in their pajamas, handing me their "Polar Express" tickets.  I dressed up as the "conductor".  We read the book and watched the movie with a projector.  The kids could hardly wait for the hot chocolate - and some had so many cups (three or four 1/2 cups, really) that they didn't want any of the other snacks.  After the movie, I showed them a box from the "North Pole" that we opened to reveal bell necklaces for them to take home.  I know at least a few of them were positive Santa had sent them.  Do you BELIEVE?

It was so fun to see those little first graders excited about Christmas and a party and everything.  And I was pleasantly surprised at how many of them came to me during the day of their own accord and said "thank you" or that it was "the best party they've had".  Some parents are raising polite, thoughtful kids out there.  

High School Musical is not just for kids...

I got this picture from Kirsten and started thinking about awesome friends....and High School Musical. Which naturally leads me to thoughts of last summer, Kirsten taking her shoes off because her feet were hurting and, germaphobe though she is, walking the streets of Salt Lake (after we saw the High School Muscial play at the Capitol Theater) and her freaking out about the dirty sidewalk.  Then, as we are laughing hysterically, all of us trying to locate which parking level the car was on - taking the elevator up...down....up again.....

The chemistry is really something else - the three of us together, High School Musical, live theater, caffeine.  And poor Jason was there to have it all slopped on him.  At least we had a good photographer.  Oh, yeah.... and it wouldn't have been possible without him, our sponsor.  (:

Let Us All Be Kind

My first graders are learning the songs and lines to a children's play, "Elfis the Elf Impersonator".  It is about not judging others and always being kind.  There is one song that makes me tear up every time I hear the students sing it.  I think the words are simple but profound.  And little first graders singing it is beautiful.

"Look past faces and look past clothes

Look past troubles you might suppose

Let us all be kind

Let us cause no pain or harm

Let us all walk on arm in arm.

Don't be fooled by the face you see

Don't be judging so easily-

Let us all be kind let us cause no pain or harm

Let us all walk on arm in arm.

Use the rule that's golden still 

Give respect and share good will.

Work together, don't work apart

Work to see what is in each heart.

Let us all be kind

Let us cause no pain or harm

Let us all walk on arm in arm."

Life Never Slows Down

I am truly busy these days - so there is my excuse for not writing for awhile.  The cliff notes version: I began teaching first grade at Welby Elementary. I have a half hour each way commute every day. I entered student grades and had a parent open house. I got sick. I participated in two craft boutiques. I had a birthday. I spent a few days in the San Francisco Bay area. I joined the ward choir. I put up Christmas decorations.  I thought about cleaning and organizing the mess in my second bedroom. I enjoyed some dinners and lunch with friends. I got a little Christmas shopping done.  Hooray for life!

Boston

I've always wanted to go to Boston, and last week I was able to go there for my last training assignment with BrainStorm. What an amazing experience! The mix of old-time and modern architecture was breathtaking. I walked the streets, loving the feeling of the history that permeates everything. Boston Common, the oldest public library and park in America, the North Church ("One if by land, Two if by sea"), Feneuil Hall, etc. Someday soon I will return to spend more time with the ghosts of the past.

Bittersweet

I said goodbye today to someone who is a friend and colleague, and I've been feeling the finality of that all day. I have spent most workdays sitting about 4 feet away from him, training with him, working on projects with him, asking for his help, and sharing verbal sparring matches. My heart hurts.

Next week I will be saying a lot of goodbyes at my current workplace, BrainStorm. I get too attached to people and places. I know that. It is why I usually stay at a job for a long time and like to live in the same area I've always lived in. Yet I also crave change - just a little bit of change. That's why I buy a lot of clothes (well, one of the reasons) and get a new hairdo every few months. But, like a year-and-a-half ago, I am about to experience a big change once again in my professional life.

I will be starting school with a first grade class in South Jordan on November 10. They need a teacher and I need to feel needed again. I need to be able to wake up every day and go to work in a place where my talents and professional abilities are appreciated and respected. I need to feel like I know how to do my job and do it well. I need loving children to put their arms around me every day and tell me how glad they are that I am their teacher and that I am at school.

My heart is full when I think of all the children in my past career who have loved me and who I have loved. And all the wonderful friends I have made along the way - goodbye is not for always. Only for a time.

Precious Children

       

On a Monday a week ago, my nephew, Peter, was born.  He is a beautiful baby - well, what I can tell from the couple of pictures I've seen.  I now have 12 amazing nieces and nephews.  They are each beautiful and unique in their own way and I love them dearly.  A few years ago, when I had only one niece to spoil, someone asked me what I thought it would be like to be a mother.  I have never had children of my own, you see.  In trying to imagine it, I thought of how I felt about that sweet niece of mine and was overwhelmed by how much I loved her - I couldn't imagine the strength of love a mother must have for her children.  Amazing how with each new child, your heart grows to be able to love them all. 

On Monday of this week, a beautiful little first-grade girl died of cancer.  Her time on this earth was over much sooner than any of her loved ones would have wished.  I don't really know her.  But I know and love her Aunt Kirsten.  I remember crying with Kirsten last fall when it was discovered that 5-year-old Mara had cancer.   I could not truly understand how her aunt, much less her mom and dad, must feel.  But I could imagine it.  I imagined what it would feel like to have my little niece, who was the same age, be diagnosed with cancer, and my heart was wrenched. 

Tonight I am imagining what it would feel like to lose to death one of the precious children who belong to my family.  I am intensely grateful that they are all healthy and well. 

No one but God knows the length of our lives.  There is hope in knowing that our families can be together forever and that death is not the end for our loved ones.  But there is also grief and pain in a child whose presence is gone from our lives for a time.  I am crying tonight not for Mara, but for her family and loved ones.  I can only imagine what they must be feeling.  Mara's Story

Being Grateful for Small Things

So I am home in Utah and find myself wanting to write an "Ode to my bed". Truly, as we learned from the Wizard of Oz - there is no place like home. I think the nature of life is that we get used to what we have with us all the time. At least, I do. I don't mean to take things for granted, but I inevitably do, until I don't have them anymore.

Case in point, my bed. I don't realize how much I love it until I have to sleep on hotel beds for awhile. Another fine example is my health. Something I don't really think about until I am sick and realize how great being well feels. I often don't appreciate things until they are gone. Fortunately, many of those things are only gone temporarily. But a few times, there are the things that you truly appreciate only after they are out of your life forever. A good lesson in being grateful for everything we have every day.

Country Roads....take me home....

I got homesick tonight. Strange, though, because I have only been away from home for a week, and will be returning on Saturday. And I am in lovely Virginia where people are friendly and I have met some really great people through my trainings. Maybe the homesickness trigger was eating by myself at a restaurant, where I felt the need to clarify to my waiter that I was alone because I am in town on business.

On my way from my hotel to my work location each day, I pass a beautiful LDS church building. Every time, I have looked at it and felt a pang of.....something. Tonight, on the way back from the restaurant, I saw many cars parked there, and I stopped for a few minutes. Overwhelmed with wanting to be home in Utah, I went into the church building and was wrapped in familiarity. It was the next best thing to really being home. I feel a measure of peace. But I am still looking forward to really being home.

On the road again

Before every trip I take, for work or pleasure, I find myself spending hours packing and taking care of all the little things that need to be done now because they won't be able to be done while I am gone. No matter how many times I travel or how organized I think I am beforehand, I inevitably find myself finishing up the packing at midnight or later the night before departure. Exhausted. Ready for another adventure to begin. I have to say, though, I do prefer packing to unpacking.

I'm off to Phoenix and Virginia - with my very full suitcase!

I found myself again

So, due to a little prodding and mocking by friends around me that I did not remember how to navigate to my "new" blog, I put forth the effort yesterday to find it. I'm not promising, however, that I will remember to add entries all that often. But maybe more, now that I know how to find my own blog.

This weekend I put aside a lot of the things I "had" to do, or in other words, the tasks the responsible person inside my head was telling me I needed to do, and spent a lot of time playing. Now, playing for me involves anything that I am doing for fun or enjoyment - reading a new fiction series I've recently discovered, watching movies, going out to eat, and sleeping in. Much of that, but not all, involves friends. Friends I feel comfortable with, who I can be myself with (and that can get a little obnoxious for them, I'm sure, but they smile at me like I am funny & witty) and who I don't see all the time (which makes the together time even better).

I have been reminded this weekend of who I am. What I love and what makes me happy. How I act when I am happy (watch out, world, I get a little hyper and crazy). And what a 3 day weekend should really be all about.

There - take that, Jason and Melissa! I think this is a pretty darn good blog entry. (:

I knew it.... I just knew that I would forget that I had a blog. But I will try to remember more often. Even if the only purpose is to help in learning about blogs and the purpose of them for my job. I guess some people just need to feel like they are known in some way.

I have recently become converted to "Facebook" as friends from many years ago have contacted me on that. So maybe I'll become fully converted to blogs someday.

Today is where your book begins....

With a few gentle nudges in this direction by friends, I begin my own personal blog. I actually train on computer software for companies that includes blog features for employees to use, so I suppose I should have my very own, personal blog so I can say.... been there, done that.