Weekend

It was not my best weekend so far.  

First of all, I miss Adam.  A lot.  He has been gone.  A lot.  It has been a confluence of extraordinary circumstances and it will get better.

I hope so.

Friday, I happily said good-bye to a hard school week.  I had two students crying in the morning because they had to switch parents they were staying with. 

Life can be so hard and I am incapable of fixing things for them.  One of them stayed in for recess with me and we talked it out and I gave him a granola bar and then he wrote me a note telling me I was "awsom."

I decided to skip phonics.  We had a lesson instead about gratitude.  I told them it was magical and whenever I was sad or anxious or unhappy, if I tried to think of things I was grateful for, I always felt better.

We wrote something we were grateful for on the board for every letter of the alphabet.

You can see I'm not one of those teachers who has really perfect handwriting.  When I was in elementary school, I used to get C's in handwriting, much to my parents' chagrin.  So I guess I've improved a little?

I loved all the people they were grateful for.  Some of them are in our class and some of them were their family members.  

I also loved "Quarter" and "Bank." Capitalism is alive and well.

For every suggestion, I had them tell me why they were grateful for that.  They all agreed that without banks, there would be no money.  I felt like it was a good enough reason.  I didn't have the time or ability to explain the national treasury and economics to them. 

Our school mascot is the Broncos, specifically Rider.  Rider values are Respectful, Inclusive, Determined, Exemplary and Responsible.  And they're grateful for Rider values.

I love that.

I also had them write something they were grateful for on a leaf and I hung the leaves on the tree on the door.

Gratitude worked its magic and improved my day.

I should have enlisted some more gratitude for Saturday, because it was a hard day.  I miss Adam especially on Saturdays.  Also, I had been in survival mode for awhile and all the angst (mostly first world problem angst, but still) caught up with me.

I talked to both sisters and my mom and that helped.

Mark and I dealt with the big tree limbs that fell during the snow storm.

It rained so that melted the snow before it could damage any more trees.  I felt sad for the poor trees and sorry that I hadn't been aware enough to go knock off the snow earlier.  They weren't ready for snow.  I also felt really grateful I had Mark to help me.

Sunday, I reset all the clocks.  For the first time ever, I succeeded in resetting my alarm clock on my nightstand.  I don't use the alarm, I use my phone, but I like having the time and I can never set it right. Adam does it for me, but I did it! 

I felt very accomplished but I had no one to brag to about it so here I am.

Mark asked me if it was the good time change or the bad one.  I said the good one, but nobody wins with a time change.  I wish we could get rid of it.

After church I went to a Temple and Family History committee meeting and sat next to Marie Louise.  Everyone at the meeting asked me how I was.  They asked her the same question.  We both said, "Fine."

We stayed after and asked each other, "How are you really?"

It is nice to have friends like that.

Emma came for dinner.  She played the piano and sang; we played Monopoly Deal.  Marianne called in case I was lonely.

It's not a bad life.

(I'll still be glad when Adam comes home.)