Grateful Friday

 I am feeling very grateful today for our lives and our people and that we were able to fly to Seattle for a quick trip.  It was uplifting and sad and joyful and a little bit nostalgic.

Scott and Megan came to dinner at Geri's and it was great to see them and visit.  At one point, I had a story to tell Megan and we settled on two ends of the same couch and faced each other and I felt like we were in junior high with some hot gossip (it was a good story).

On Wednesday we stopped by Linn's grave before going to the funeral.

For once in my life, I was remembering to take a picture and then this is Adam (helpfully?) pointing out he didn't think his mom's name would fit on the headstone. 

We went to the church where we spent memorable and formative time with our young family years ago.  I hugged Stephanie and she is tiny--I think even more slender than usual--but oh, so strong.  She told me her glimpse of eternity sustained her and that she is not broken.  She has a strong assurance of Heavenly Father's love.  She believes Jesus Christ is her Savior.  She inspires me like she always has.

I got to throw my arms around Gavin, who goes by Penn now.  In a voice thick with emotion he said, "Thank you for putting up with me all those years."  Sweet boy.  I would do it all over again.  I loved having him and Mark and all their noise and shenanigans.  I would do it again and I'd give them better snacks.

We saw so many friends we love.  It felt like a family reunion.  We ran into Heidi and Howie last summer so randomly in Denmark.  It was great to see them.  Howie told me that they pray for me by name every day.  What can I even say to that? It is so kind and means the world to me.  Heidi asked me who my oncologist is and when I told her, she said that he is her brother!  It was shocking and wonderful and we took a picture for her to text him.  (Also she told me he is her smartest brother, so that's good news for me.)

I got to visit with Jill and Mike, Frances, JoLyn, the Jacksons, and say brief hellos to a lot more people.  I felt like it was a testament to how people feel about Brent and Stephanie that friends who had moved to Idaho and Arizona and Utah (us) came back for the funeral.  

We went back to Geri's and changed clothes and I tried to rehydrate (funeral + people I love = tears for Thelma).

Geri let us use her car, she is always so kind and generous to us, and we spent the evening at the Jorgensens.  I had assumed we would be going to a restaurant, but Janet wanted to have dinner there and she made extra of the food she prepared for the funeral dinner.  It was delicious and I was happy to be able to see their girls too and be in their lovely and familiar home.  

We visited for hours.  Janet and I compared all the notes about cancer treatment.  It is still so bizarre to me that we both have cancer.  

Yesterday, Adam had a few morning work things and Geri and I sat in the sun on her porch swing.  So nice.  We met Talia for lunch in downtown Everett and it was great to see her.  She is a beautiful and confident young woman.  After that we drove to the waterfront and walked a little and just enjoyed the beautiful day.  We stopped by and saw Megan (and Larry a tiny bit) before returning to Geri's, gathering our stuff, and heading to the airport.

On the return trip, running all the events over in my mind, I felt grateful.  I am grateful for Adam's family.  They mean more to me all the time.  I'm grateful for good memories of a place where we were very happy.  I'm grateful for dear friends who make me feel like no time has passed.  I'm grateful for my knowledge of a Savior and the plan of salvation that lessens the sting of death (though it still really stings).  I'm grateful for Adam.  Stephanie said when she spoke that who you pick to be your companion is a really important decision.  She is not wrong.

I am grateful that I chose so well.

Memorial Day

 I missed my mom.

My parents weren't there when they served their mission in Nauvoo, but I also wasn't there because that was when we lived in Washington.  Every time I've been to the cemeteries, my mom was there to straighten out my memory of who was who.

We met up at the Murray Cemetery first, like always.  It is clear that the tradition means more to the women of the family than the men.  Besides my uncle Richard (and his wife, my aunt Launa), everyone else was daughters.

Mary is carrying on, bringing flowers from her yard for everyone in tin cans that she secured to the ground with hangers exactly like my grandma used to do.  We hugged and cried a little, missing my mom.  Her daughter, Melanie was there, along with Olivia and Desi and me (and our families).  We found headstones and told stories and took pictures.

Blessed honored pioneers.

After Murray, we went to Sandy and Crescent.  At the Crescent cemetery, Olivia and I couldn't remember who Dee was and who Romell was.  Their headstones were nearby and I know my mom told us every year.

I looked it up on Family Search, because we have to carry on.  Olivia, when you read this, Dee was Homer Sr.'s brother.  Romell was Dee's son.  

We'll remember together.

We had lunch at Golden Corral.  It strikes the balance between not all that exciting, but everyone can eat at the same time and get pretty much what they want.  Olivia has a predilection to not get her boys sodas at restaurants because they are overpriced.  They are overpriced, but Mary and I, in an attempt to curry favor with our nephews, bought everyone a Dr. Pepper.

When Olivia protested, I told her that if she was as cute as her sons, I would have bought her one too.  

I am not one to remember to take pictures, but we enjoyed being together for lunch.

We hit the West Jordan cemetery next.  According to Family Search, there were 377 people there that I am related to.

So...we didn't see them all.  We put flowers on the graves of my Egbert and Dahl great-grandparents, traversed to the far side of the cemetery to see John and Matilda (it wasn't too far of a walk compared to last summer when we saw where they were christened in Sweden), and we stopped by and saw some more Gardners and Livingstons.  

Olivia and family had left by then, but we were still in a mood for cemeteries, I guess.  We went to the Salt Lake City cemetery.  Emma, who is a daughter who will never abandon the cemetery tradition (it is basically her personality), knew exactly where our family was there.  My great great grandparents Isabella and Charles Rich are buried there.  Emma visits them periodically and cleans off their headstone because it seems no one else does.

Daughters hold the line.

Emma knew where Anna Pearson Olsen Rowan was buried.  

She had a hard life and her faded little headstone made me a little bit sad, but I remember her.  I've been to the church in Sweden where she was christened too.

There is no fading for Archibald Gardner, whose headstone was taller than I am:

We were planning to go to Kilsyth in Scotland where he was from.  Maybe another time....

When we got home I napped and did a little laundry.  Adam and I did a crossword puzzle and I cooked some corn on the cob because it won't be good when we get back from our trip.

Today we fly to Seattle for a few days.  It will be good to see family and friends and tall trees.  We are going to honor Brent and show our love for Stephanie and their family.  

Some things matter more than others and people are high on that list. 

Weekend

 Friday our school year was over.  I loved seeing sixth graders come in to have me sign their autograph books or shirts.  Some of them asked me if I'd remember them when they went to junior high.  Yes.  They looked around the classroom (shrouded in plastic drop cloths) and said, "I remember this room."

My own students wondered if I will remember them and I will.  And just like childbirth, the negative parts will fade and I will remember them as mostly angelic.

At the end, two of the boys were crying.  We got in a big circle and I said I was the middle of the cinnamon roll.  We wound up in a concentric spiral and then hugged.  (I said, "Don't crush anyone!")

They ran off to their summer when the bell rang.  I hope it is good.  I hope they are fed and cared for and don't spend the whole time playing video games and watching YouTube.

We had our end of year faculty celebration.  We ate a delicious catered lunch and had farewells for the people leaving.  There were awards for staff member of the year, team of the year (we didn't repeat, but in our hearts we did) and teacher of the year.

They went with the pity vote I think and I was awarded Teacher of the Year.  Adam and our kids said it wasn't a pity vote.  They said they wouldn't have given it to me if I was a terrible teacher.  That is true, but I also don't think they would have given it to me if I didn't have cancer.

I appreciated it all the same though.

When Matt called me to the front of the room, he said, "It is hard to fight cancer and low reading scores at the same time."

He is not wrong.

I loaded another armful of things to take home into my car and went home and took a nap.  I was tired and not too productive for the rest of the day.

When we had planned the meals for the week, Mark said we should go to dinner to celebrate the end of the school year on Friday.

We pretty much eat out every Friday, but this time we were celebrating....

Saturday I put stuff away and we had a big Costco trip.  We bought a deck box to put out by the fire pit for the chair cushions.  I got Mark to come and help unload the car.  Adam said, "We got you something..."

Mark thought we'd brought him home some lunch, but Adam said, "We brought you a project."

So Mark gets to build the deck box, which is almost as good as lunch, I guess.

We went to The Sheep Detectives which I liked and also fell asleep during a few times.

I led the singing in primary on Sunday.  The hardest part I think is the age range.  The children are ages 3-11 and I feel like no matter what I do, some of them are a little disengaged.

I had requested an audience with the queen so Braeden called on FaceTime and we got to talk a little.  The Young Prince was sleeping.

Adam and I took a walk in the evening at Harvey Park where I used to walk with Clarissa.  It made me miss that girl.

Today we go to the cemeteries.  It will be a depleted group, but I am looking forward to seeing the ones who will be there.  I love Memorial Day.

Grateful Friday

 My team and I had matching end of year t-shirts:

When I saw this picture I thought, "I'm a little teapot, short and stout."  I'm destined to be the short one in any group it seems.  Also my teammates have normal smiles and I'm just ecstatic apparently....

When I got home yesterday I texted Kim that I wasn't up for a walk.  I said, "I feel like I already took three walks."  I was SO tired.  

There was all kinds of bedlam.  I realized that Mark as a third grader was exactly like most of those boys.  I only had one of him--or two when Gavin was over.  A bakers dozen of Marks is a lot.  When we have unstructured time, things get crazy.  They love making paper airplanes so I put some origami videos on Google Classroom so they could pause the video as needed.  They made and flew so many paper airplanes!  One landed on top of the whiteboard and I said, "I'll get it," and started walking across the room.  One boy started hoisting another boy to reach it and I said, "I'll get it." The boy stood on a shelf and snapped the not all that strong shelf in two.  

A bakers dozen of Marks at age 9....

We cleaned out desks, including for the ones who weren't at school.  You never saw so much chaos.  We got it all accomplished.  I squirted shaving cream on their desks when they were done and they had a good time playing with it and then cleaning it all up.  

I made sure everyone took everything home with them.  By the end of the day I was exhausted!

And I still had miles to go.  

Mark came and brought me a soda from Maverik.  I met him in the office and I told all the ladies, "Sons are worth a lot."  They concurred, even the ones who don't have sons.

Mark and I consolidated everything and took stuff to the gym for surplus and sorted out what I was taking home for the summer and what was staying at school.  Then we covered everything (floor to ceiling in places) with plastic drop cloths.  I have fabric over some of my bulletin boards and I don't want dust from 1977 on my fabric coverings.  

I told Mark I had I-have-a-grown-son-helping-me survival guilt so we went to go help the 4th grade teachers who were working in their teammate's classroom while she is home on maternity leave.  Then I gave the rest of my drop cloths to my team and offered them help, but they said they were in good shape.

I got home and unloaded everything.

Then I. Sat. Down.

I am grateful for my sweet students.  Several of them brought me gifts and the homemade ones are the best.

I am grateful for my team.  Miriam brought pulled pork and homemade rolls for lunch.  Alissa gave me the shaving cream and ideas every time I asked her this last week. (She had the idea for origami and it was a winner!)

I am grateful for the helping spirit among teachers, because they are a pitch in and help group, always.

I am grateful Adam is home!

I am grateful for Mark.

Sons are worth a lot.

Field Day

 (I love living in the shadows of a mountain range and I always will.)

Yesterday was field day and it was pretty good.  There were the struggles of herding children from station to station, but I told them I would carry neither water bottles nor jackets and for the first time ever, no one lost anything.  Pretty amazing.

Most of them had a good time.  The aides and specialty teachers run the stations and do a great job.  Besides field day we did some math and I read to them--I am in the second to last chapter of our Humphrey book.  

The teachers beat the 6th graders in the kickball game and the PTA sold candy to the students and I think they made good money!  Most of the younger kids sit in the grass and eat candy and ignore the game.  Alissa and Miriam both played kickball so I was minding the third grade.  A boy in Miriam's class couldn't find his money.  He 100% knew that he had brought it outside.  I offered Takis for anyone who could find it and they fanned out around the grass, scouring the place.  

One of Alissa's students came up to me and said, "I'll share my money with him if he can't find his."  They really are the sweetest sometimes.

Finally the boy said, "Maybe I left it in the classroom..." So a group was sent on a quest back to the classroom.  Sure enough it was there.

I opened soda cans for kids who bought soda, but couldn't open it.

One of my students came up to me with a wad of chewed up caramel.  He showed me that one of his teeth was stuck inside.  I said, "Wow," because I had no other way to respond.  He dug the tooth out and held it out for me and I really didn't want it.  I said, "Do you have a bag the candy came in?"

He fished a ziplock bag out of his pocket and said, "It might have a hole in it."  Then he stuck his finger in a hole and said, "Yep."

I said, "Well put it all in your pocket."  He put the holey bag and tooth in his pocket and popped the caramel back in his mouth.

Besides that, I told everyone who asked if they could use the bathroom to go in the PE door because it was open.

Today we will do all the end of year things for real--I will show them the slide show, give them their awards, clean out desks, send everything home.  Friday is an hour and a half long and a lot of kids don't come.  I don't know why we go through that charade, but we do.

Also today (late), Adam is coming home.  That guy is having about 5-6 weeks of traveling off and on.  Happily I will be along for some of it.

I think I can, I think I can

 Yesterday we had Camp Day.  Miriam and Alissa moved their desks and set up tents in their classrooms.  My part of Camp Day is an art project and they need desks, plus I don't want to mess with tents. 

(I like not camping.)

My same student who groused about not liking the treat from testing, was unhappy we didn't have tents (even though we were rotating classes and he would get to be in tents).  I called him over to my desk and told him that him complaining made me want to do less for him.

He stopped complaining.  

I read them The Berenstain Bears book The Bear Scouts.  They love it just like I loved it when I was their age.  That silly Papa Bear....

Then we did our art project.   It all went well and I did it three times and didn't run out of any of the art supplies so high fives all around.

We worked on their memory books in the afternoon and I spelled a million words for them.  One student was just having me spell everything.  She even asked how to spell OK.

I said, "I bet you can figure that one out."

She looked mystified and then it occurred to her.

They got to sign autographs with other third graders so everyone was running around getting signatures like they weren't going to lose the memory book 15 minutes after they got home.

During recess, I noticed the 6th grade boys playing kickball with all the intensity of 6th grade boys who are going against the teachers the next day.  I said, "Are you guys practicing for tomorrow?"

One of my former students said, "Yes, and Coach Childs thinks we have a 50-50 chance."

I didn't tell him, but they don't have a 50-50 chance.  The teachers are not in a mood to show mercy to 6th graders at the end of the school year.

I will do my typical duties of holding all the teachers' keys and cell phones and minding all the children.  In addition to liking not to camp, I like to not play kickball.

Mark came after school and helped me get my room whipped into shape.  He'll come back Thursday to help me cover everything since we are getting new ceiling tiles and the other ones have been there since 1977.  They are expecting a lot of dust and we need to plan accordingly.

The last week of school

Yesterday my team and I were talking before school.  We all agreed that this is not our favorite week.  We are less teachers and more camp counselors.  Basically we are just trying to keep things going.  For science we talked about pushes and pulls and force and I had those little frogs you push down on and they jump.  I made a bracket and we had a competition.  A little bit educational.

My hardest student was gone.  It was an amazing day.  Remarkable.  I kept wondering where half the class was.  

He was the only one absent.

Never let anyone tell you one person can't make a difference!

In order to balance the aggravation scales, I didn't have that extra measure of energy sapping, but I have lost our mail key!

It is so frustrating.  Losing things is the worst.  We have a locked mailbox down the street and I always keep the mail key in a little compartment in my car.  For reasons beyond my understanding, we don't have a spare.  But in nearly 12 years of living here, I've never once lost the mail key.

I have looked everywhere. Multiple times.  I have looked all over my car and in my bag and every coat pocket.  Everywhere.  The best I can determine, maybe I accidentally threw it in the recycling bin when I was recycling junk mail.  (Although I always leave it in the car, so I don't know why I wouldn't have done that.  Except I didn't.)

I need to go to the post office in person, which feels like adding insult to injury.  They will likely have to drill it out and issue a new key and it will take "7 to 14 days" and I just want to hit my head against the wall.

Ugh.

At least my hardest student was absent.

Also, we had our animal showcase.  Each student had an art project about their animal and they had written a paragraph about the animal they had researched.  They did a great job.  Their parents came to see the projects.  The students were super nervous, which I didn't really understand.  Then I realized some of them were nervous their parents wouldn't come.  And several of the parents didn't come.

The parents who did come went around and looked at other students' work which was so kind.  One of the mothers in particular was so friendly and made even the most reticent students come alive and talk about their projects.  It made me happy.

There are a lot of ways in this world to be a hero.