Confusion reigned

Awhile ago I was told I was getting a new student.  A boy. 

Then a few weeks later, I got an email from the secretary.  It had the name and it was a girl.  No problem.  There must have just been a mixup.  

My students found out last week we we were getting a new student and that's always super exciting news.  They wanted ALL the information and I didn't have much except a name.  "It's a girl," I said, like we were having a gender reveal party.

I spent time Friday labeling everything.  I made a nameplate for the desk, I labeled a Chromebook and headphones and a take home folder and all the text books and notebooks and everything.  I went to town with my label maker.

A mother showed up at my door yesterday with a masked child.  I figured it was the new girl.  I said, "Are you ____?"  

The mom said, "Oh, no.  That's my kindergartner."

Oh.  Oops.  No problem.  I asked the third grader what her name was.  I said, "I'm sorry for the mix up, but I'm glad you're here!"

The mom asked me about the pickup time.  I said, "She'll leave out this door at the end of the day."

The mom said, "He's a boy."

"Oh!"

He has long beautiful braids and I already had girl in my brain but once I really looked at him, it was 100% clear that he was definitely a boy.

I was wondering how many ways I could botch this poor kid's first day of school.  Everything he had was labeled with his little sister's name.

I introduced him to the class and everyone kept referring to him as a she because that's what they had been prepared for (and the braids).  I told him again how sorry I was and that I would fix all the labels.  He said, "It's OK.  It's just a misunderstanding."

I think I love this kid.

I had them clean their desks like I do on Monday and then they can read silently in the remaining time.  His desk didn't need cleaning of course so he asked me if he could do origami.  I figured I owed him!  Pretty soon he had a circle of students doing origami with him.  One of my world class tattletales asked, "Aren't they supposed to be reading?"

I said, "It's fine.  It's his first day."

He made origami Yoda and I chatted with him about Star Wars.  He showed me his Star Wars sweatshirt and then he showed me the t-shirt he had underneath it that had Star Wars ships with sequined lasers shooting out of them.  He's pretty much an awesome kid.  I loved talking to him.  When I was setting up his password for his Chromebook he wanted Bugatti in the password.  Maybe.  He may change it to something else.  I said, "So you like cars?"

And that opened another chatty floodgate.  That's when I realized, this kid is basically Mark.  That's why I loved him right away.

I want to remember forever his grace when I thought he was a girl and labeled everything wrong.  "It's OK.  It was just a misunderstanding."

A little child shall lead them.

Aggie mom

 Adam and I are reading a book out loud together.  Mostly he reads.  Saturday night I was folding laundry and he was reading.  And stumbling over words.  I told him he'd never make it as an audiobook recorder (I strive to be a supportive wife) and he said, "I would be great!  Nobody wants just one version of a book."

Then I went and found some reading glasses for Adam and he did a lot better.  

We're at that stage of life.  The reading glasses stage.

Also, we are at the our kids are leaving us stage.

Later, I was lying on the couch and Adam was reading to me and I looked on the wall and saw this picture tacked up on a little board in our kitchen.  I could update those pictures but I don't have the heart.

It's from ten years ago.  If I could go back to that Thelma, I would tell her to buckle up.  The ten years have a been a wild ride.

That picture was taken after we'd spent a sunny day at Lake Sammamish with Stephanie and her kids.  The kids have pink cheeks from the sun and Mark's hair looks not quite dry because I'm sure I had to drag him out of the water at the last possible minute.  Adam picked us up after work and there we were, crowded in the green Saturn.  

A lifetime ago, but yesterday too.

Braeden and Anna have decided on UC Davis for graduate school.

Here's how Emma met that news:

She'll only ever be Emma and I'm grateful.

Mark has decided on Utah State for college.

Braeden told me I should get an Aggie Mom shirt because both schools are Aggies.

I know full well that I've been spoiled with my college kids being basically in my backyard and I'm going to have to be an actual grown up and be OK with my sons moving away.

Maybe an Aggie Mom shirt will help.

Mostly I'm trying not to think about it.

It didn't help when Mark recently went to the dentist.  I asked him how it went.  He said fine.  I asked him if he had cavities and he said no.

He said, "I will need to figure out when to have my next appointment during a school break or something."

Because in 6 months he will be gone.

It's fine.  I'll just rip my heart out and send it to Logan (see, I'm not going to be dramatic about it or anything). It's fine.  I'm fine.  Everything's fine.

Grateful Friday

Things I'm grateful for today:

Sunshine

Asking what the dress code is and being told it is casual

Lunch with my team 

Salmon

Yoga with Mark

Learning new things about teaching reading, even when those new things make my brain hurt a little

Tonight we're going to dinner with Cortney and Jordan and we haven't done that for over a year

More and more people can be vaccinated

Adam and Mark take care of me, particularly when I can't sleep

The Swig gift card I got in my box at school from the PTA and you'd better believe I'm using it today (see above)

Reminder

Sometimes I feel like I'm hurtling through my day.  There is a lot of hurrying.  There is a lot of activity.  There is a lot of stuff. 

Ever since Mark had his patriarchal blessing, I have been wanting to reread mine.  Last night I finally took the time to do it.

In a shocking turn of events, I cried.

My grandpa gave me my blessing and it is a tender memory to remember sitting in their house with my parents. My grandma was the scribe as my grandpa lay his hands on my head.  I see his signature on the paper and hear his voice in my mind and I'm filled with gratitude for my heritage and my blessings and opportunities.

Even more than that, my patriarchal blessing is a gentle reminder of the fact that some things matter more than others.  They just do.  

I think I should read it more often and hurtle through life a little less.

Lemonade

Camie is a secretary at our school and we all love her completely.

Her son is in my class and he is a redhead.  Camie and I swap redhead son stories.  There are a surprising amount of similarities with their personalities.  He is stubborn like Mark is stubborn but it is terrain I've visited before.

Besides administering compliments to us like it's her job, Camie is the go to for copy machine troubleshooting.  And when the copy machines are on the fritz (and they definitely have been lately) she takes those lemons and makes lemonade.  In the form of emails.

She sends us things like this:

At this point none of us mind if the copy machines work or not, as long as Camie keeps us updated.

(That's not actually true. We NEED those copy machines.)

We also need Camie.  The world needs people like her.  The copy machines are broken whether or not she entertains us.  I'm glad she chooses to make lemonade.

Battle of the Books

I don't have a picture and I wish I did, or maybe I'm glad I don't.

The teacher team had costumes.  We were the Wonder Dogs (inspired by Bobby the Wonder Dog: a True Story--and yes that's the complete title because you have to know the complete title) and we had capes and dog ears and an eye mask-worn up on our foreheads.  Then we had our regular face masks and I was wearing my glasses (because my eyes were struggling).

I've never had so many cranial accessories.

I brought a stuffed dog of Mark's that is a puppet and barks to the tune of How Much Is that Doggie in the Window.

My student who is a namer, much like Emma was when she was little, promptly named him Boris.  It totally fit.  Some people can just name things.

My student who was SUPER serious about the competition and was quickly rereading books in snatches of time all morning said that dog was mocking him.  I said, "No, he's cheering for you."

We assembled in the library and we had a teacher videoing it and my class was watching the video from my classroom.  An aide took over for my class and she asked me what my attention signal was for my class.  I said, "I don't know...hey?"

I'm not really into those cutesy things teachers say to get students' attention.  "One two three, eyes on me.  One two eyes on you." I think I just use a mom voice and it works.

We soundly conquered the children.  We gloated as much as is socially acceptable when grown women are competing with 8 year olds.  The dog started cheering for them but they wanted me to make it sing when we got a point too.  The teachers missed a few questions (not on purpose) and the students knew the answers so they loved that.

I think the teachers, besides our trash talking (as much as is socially acceptable when grown women are competing with 8 year olds) were all secretly rooting for the students.  We clapped for their correct answers and leaned forward encouragingly when they were trying to think of the right answer.  

It might just be in our DNA.

After trouncing them, we told them how amazing they were and applauded their great efforts.  I walked back to class with my three and they were happy and energized and I think had had fun.

I received a heroes welcome from my students.  They had written messages on their white boards and held them up and cheered for me.

It was a good day to be a teacher.

Weekend

Friday Adam and I were so tired from the week that we got takeout from a Thai restaurant and watched a movie.  Sometimes you just have to do nothing.

We did all our somethings on Saturday.  We helped clean the church, did some chores around the house, went to Costco (in Spanish Fork and SO many people had their masks on incorrectly.  There are lots of big flags around here and they're all at half mast because so many people have died from Covid but we still can't wear masks correctly?!?  OK, that's the end of my rant).

We went to Spanish Fork because Adam wanted to have lunch at a restaurant in Springville.  It was good, so maybe worth going to Spanish Fork Costco).  While we were there, we saw one of Mark's friends.  His dad lives in Springville so that's why he was there.  They engaged in a complicated high five, fist bump, handshake combo.  It was just short of doing the hokey pokey and turning yourself around.  I like teenagers.  We talked at lunch about how Mark wants to celebrate his graduation.  He doesn't want to go, so he's clearly expecting a big hoopla.

Adam made dinner before Mark had work in the evening.  He was making chicken tikka masala and said, "We don't have sour cream."

My wimpy palate likes sour cream to cool the spices in chicken tikka masala so I said I would go to the store to get some.  Joan needed gas anyway.  Mark volunteered to come too.  He put the gas in the car and he pushed me along when I got distracted looking at pots outside the store.  (Felicia--the fiddle leaf fig--is well over 6 feet tall now and will need to be repotted soon.)  Next to the sour cream was the yogurt I like (and they haven't had at Costco lately).  We had decided we didn't need a cart and Mark said, "You can only get as much yogurt as you can carry."  More often than not, Mark thinks he's the boss of me.  I stacked yogurt up and tucked it under my chin and Mark walked ahead of me like he was trying to keep his distance from the crazy yogurt lady.

If I'd have gotten as much yogurt as both of us could carry, I really could have done something.

Sunday was a full and wonderful and busy day.  I am newly a member of our ward Relief Society presidency and we met for a couple of hours.  I feel happy and overwhelmed about it all.  I love the other ladies but I also wasn't exactly looking for more to do in my life but here we are.  I know my capacity can and will increase and I know it will work out, I just need to figure out how.  Besides that, we also had church and I did some family history with Marie Louise and the highlight of the day was that Mark got his patriarchal blessing.  It was an incredible and joyful experience.  I felt grateful and overwhelmed by the love I have for Mark and the love I could feel that Heavenly Father has for Mark.  

I'm also grateful for priesthood power on the earth.  What a gift!  I am grateful for worthy priesthood holders who use that power to bless others.

In the evening we had our kids over.  "Our kids" are an ever expanding and shrinking group.  They are dynamic in more ways that one.  Last night Desi brought the boy she's dating and it was fun to meet him and have them in our house.  Add in Emma and Hyrum and it was a party.

After Desi and Hyrum and Mason left, Emma asked us questions about the day Grandpa Linn died.  She wants to write about it for a class and she wanted to see if her memories aligned with ours.  After an already emotional day, I felt all the emotions again as I told her what I remember.  I remember feeling sad for myself and our family, but I also remember feeling loved by all the people who reached out with kindness.  One of the jobs I kind of took on was answering the door and I remember the parade of people who dropped off food and plants and flowers and cards and to me it was a testament to how much good Linn and Geri had done in the world and how that had made an impact because all of these people cared so much about them.

By association, I felt that love as well.

So all of this is to say that I cried a lot yesterday and my eyes are puffy this morning to prove it.