Weekend

 It was no one's idea of a restful weekend, but we had a good time!

I left school during lunch on Friday, came home and grabbed my stuff, picked up Emma and headed to the airport.

We were early, which is part of the flying with Thelma experience.

We went on Spirit airlines, one of those budget bare bones situations.  Emma said, "Whenever you hear about drama on a flight, it seems like it was Spirit airlines."

She is clairvoyant.  

The family in front of me had brought dinner and the daughter that looked like she was about in 5th grade, spilled her ranch dressing on the flight attendant's shoe accidentally and you would have thought that it was the end of times.

The family didn't apologize which peeved the flight attendant and then she ended up yelling at the mother who sobbed for the remaining two hours of the flight.

It was something.

I kept hoping to see the family at Disney World, to see how they were doing, but we never did.

I told Emma that if everyone just learned two lessons that I try to teach my students, all would have been avoided.

1- Apologize when you hurt someone even if it was an accident.

(Your daughter spilled ranch dressing on her shoe.  Say you're sorry.)

2- When someone does something wrong, that doesn't mean you should do something wrong.

(They didn't apologize, which was sort of rude.  Get over it.)

I don't tell my students to stop crying, but I think it regularly.

We were happy to see Adam.  We went to Portillo's for dinner, which was delicious.  Then we took Emma with us to the Gaylord Palms where the conference had been and where we had a room.  It was incredibly beautiful.  Adam and I love Spanish style architecture and the lobby was amazing.

We had another room at Coronado Springs, which is a Disney Property so we took Emma there.  That girl loves Disney stuff.  It was a great hotel and a great room (it had one and a half baths!).  Adam had a third room at another hotel, but he and I stayed together at the Gaylord.

We had our own drama Saturday morning.  We thought we were supposed to meet our group at 8:00.  That felt really early, since it was 6:00 mountain time.  Adam and I decided to get up at 7:00 and just hurry over to Coronado Springs.  Adam didn't set his alarm properly so I woke up about 7:20 and we had a full on panic get ready for the day.  We zipped to Coronado Springs, getting there just a hair past 8:00, which was kind of amazing.  Emma was there, but no one else in the group was.  Adam called them and we were actually meeting at 9:00!

But, the jolt of adrenaline was nice to get the day started.

There were a total of 8 of us going on the VIP tour.  We had a very nice tour guide who was as unflappable as she was knowledgeable.  We had her from 9:00 AM-6:00 PM.  She was there for whatever we wanted and we decided we wanted to try going to all four parks.

We started at Animal Kingdom, which we had never been to.  We went on some rides there (I sat out the roller coasters which is also part of the Thelma experience).  We enjoyed that park.  There is great atmosphere there and the safari was fun.  It was also fun to be driven to the backlots and never wait in line.

Will we be able to return to Disney as a civilian?  (We'll have to be, I think this was a once in a lifetime experience.)

We went to Hollywood Studios and Epcot and every time we changed parks we were met at the van and presented with a selection of free for the taking snacks.  Our guide also bought us drinks several times and did a complimentary Starbucks run for us.  They had a strawberry lemonade that revitalized my flagging spirits!

This is in Hollywood Studios:

It was 90 degrees with all the Florida humidity and it was a lot for us desert dwellers.  So hot!

We ended at Magic Kingdom, which was where I mostly wanted to be, but it was open the latest so it was good to end there.  We hit lots of favorites and our guide was going to take our group to Tron for the last ride with her (no lines) and Emma asked if she and I could go to Haunted Mansion instead (which is Emma's favorite).  Our guide took us through a back entrance and Emma and I were the only two people in the stretching room.

Emma snapped a picture and I was in motion so she said I was mid being possessed by a ghost.

After that, we met back up with Adam and the three of us ate a big dinner in an air conditioned space.  It was divine.  We'd only been snacking and walking all day.

We went to Small World...

...and Pirates of the Caribbean and then Adam and I were done.  Emma was not and she is an independent girl if she is anything.

Adam and I went back to our hotel (we stayed at the third hotel that night--part of the traveling with Adam experience) and Emma stayed until the park closed.  It was exhausting but also really fun.

It was another early-ish morning on Sunday (mostly because of the time change) and we were back to the airport.  There was a little more drama on the return flight where some passengers wouldn't move like the flight attendant wanted them to and Emma had her AirPods in so she'd missed the altercation.  I typed it up on my phone and passed it to her and I loved seeing her eyes bulge from my description.  I'm always entertained by some melodrama.

Emma is a great traveling companion.

She knows the best way to get from here to there and is up for almost anything.  She is like her dad in that way.

I was so happy that I got to see Adam.  I have another full week ahead of me with no Adam, but we were able to have a packed exhausting weekend together and I'll take it!

Grateful Friday

 I feel like I have a lot to be grateful for today.

First, I'm finished with my master's degree.  That keeps making me really happy whenever I think about it.

I'm grateful that I get to go see Adam.  I miss that guy.  We talk every night when we are both tired and yawning.  He has full days and finally gets back to his hotel around 11:00 and that is 9:00 for me and I'm also tired, because that is close to my bedtime.

It will nice to be together-though briefly-when we aren't exhausted.

(Although we're going to Disney World, so we might be exhausted.)

I'm grateful I get to go to Disney World!  It's an unexpected delight in my life.  

I'm grateful Emma is going on the trip with me.  I get anxious about flying, especially without Adam and it will be nice to have her there to keep me afloat.

Once when we were in France in a cave (which I hated), she talked to me in soothing tones and got me through the horror.

Daughters are a good invention.

I'm grateful I get to be a teacher.  They are still kind of killing me.  I don't have it figured out with this group yet.  I'll keep fighting the good fight though.

And I'll keep rearranging desks.

I'm grateful that I am an activity day leader.  I feel like I'm getting away with something that that is my calling.  We had our first activity at our house last night.  Four very cute boys came over and jumped on the trampoline and played corn hole and ladder golf.  We roasted s'mores and chatted.  One boy said, "I have a confession to make.  I like roasting marshmallows, but I don't like eating them."

I told him if he roasted one, I'd eat it.

It was a very nice symbiotic relationship.

One boy had me guess what he is allergic to.  I listed everything I could think of and he kept saying no.  I finally said, "Girls?"

He was taken aback.  "I'd better not be, or I'd be dead by now."

(He has four sisters.)

They're cute and earnest and well-mannered and I think I'm going to love it.

I'm grateful for my people.

Yesterday Raul, who I went to high school with and had a good chat on the phone with the other day, is the local electrician we needed for the Home Place.  He was going yesterday to fix some lights and I texted my mom and sisters to see if anyone could meet him.  They were all so willing and I felt grateful.

Last night I was on the phone with Emma (not an every day occurrence, that girl hates to talk on the phone).  My doorbell rang and I ignored it because I thought it was a sales bro.  

It was Marie Louise!  She texted me that she had left me an "airport snacking bag."  She is the best!  I'm so grateful for my dear friends.

Owl done

 I got the very good news yesterday that I had passed everything for my master's degree!  I am so happy!  It was a lot of work and I had a very nose to the grindstone summer, but I did it!

I had this message on my student portal:

The mascot for WGU is Sage, the owl.  As in night owl because a lot of people work on their degrees while having full time jobs.

I texted my family and Mark and Emma sent this:

My children know that I think Future Thelma is "an incompetant cow," which is why I don't like to  procrastinate.

Also, Emma, let's do it! (We're going to Disney World with some of Adam's co-workers and yes, I will be bragging to them about my graduation!)

This weekend feels like it will be a very good celebration.

Braeden called last night to congratulate me.  He said, "Both my parents have master's degrees!"

I said, "Your dad's is a little different than mine."

He said, "What yours lacks in prestige is made up in speed and lack of student debt."

He's not wrong.

Then we talked about the presidential debate which is expected when your son is a political science PhD candidate.

Brothers and sisters

She told me her brother was, "so annoying."

He told me his sister was, "not that smart for her age."

Every day after school they meet up halfway between my classroom door and the door first graders leave from.  They clutch each other's hands tightly and walked together to meet their big brother and then walk home.  The big brother has a long suffering look on his face when he meets them, like he can't believe this is his lot in life.

He is also watching for them intently over the heads of shorter children.  Aggravated as he looks about having to wait for them, I get the sense he'd do battle to protect them if needed.  

If that's not what it is like growing up with siblings, I don't know what is.

***

I had Relief Society last night, which was perfect this week with Adam away.  It was a progressive garden party, which is something you can do in Utah County for Relief Society.  We started in one lovely yard and had salads.  We walked next door and had sandwiches and then walked next door and had desserts.

It did not come easily for me to make friends in our ward.  I am introverted and if I don't know someone, I would rather not.

I'm glad that I kept trying.  I'm glad that things like callings and ministering assignments propelled me along, because I have friends.  I sat by someone different in every yard.  I heard about a scary diagnosis in a hushed aside from a dear friend.  I complimented someone else on her jeans.  Someone asked me how school was going.  Someone told me about her job.  A teenage son wandered in and his mom told him in no uncertain terms to leave.  We all said he could stay, but she gave him a very firm no.  Then she told us that he was there to sell something to raise money for a school trip, right in the middle of the guest speaker.

It cracked us up because we are also mothers and we get it!

There was laughter and chatter all along.  Highs and lows and everything in between.  We had a guest speaker in the sandwich yard.  She gave everyone one of those glow stick bracelets and said that we should let our lights shine.  In the waning light, up and down the rows of chairs, women helped put the bracelets on each other, because it was pretty impossible with one hand.

If that's not what it is like being a sister in Relief Society with stellar women, I don't know what is.

Monday

It was quite a Monday.

Some days I'm just grateful to go home with my sanity and patience intact.  Sometimes those little darlings really push it.

I moved a lot of desks because students are just so chatty.  I spent my entire recess picking crayons up off the floor because a student had had a come apart and had thrown my entire bin onto the floor.

We didn't have specialties.

Maybe it's good that Mondays are the hardest days because the rest of the week will be easier.

I met with my team after school and I said that my reading group during WIN time was boring and I didn't know how to spice it up.

Alissa shared some gross reading passages with me.  They are about things like earwax and boogers.  She said students love them and I don't doubt her.

I'll give them a try.

We're all just doing the best we can.

As a counterweight to a manic Monday, I assembled a little shelf for my plants.  

It made me happy.

Weekend

 It was a good one.

Saturday I talked to Olivia (nice), had a phone call with my instructor from WGU (helpful) and worked on my capstone.

I told Adam I am like a horse who can see the barn and I want to be done. My last bit is the multimedia presentation.  I could never be a podcaster.  I don't like the sound of my own voice.

I also watered and pruned my plants which is restorative to me.  I like the rhythm of it and I like checking in on everybody and seeing if I need to make any adjustments.

Adam sat down with me and taught me how to record myself presenting my powerpoint slides.

Later in the afternoon we went to Provo.  I dropped Adam off at the Provo Rec Center and he and Emma and Mark swam.  I went to the library and worked on my capstone.  Then I got to a stopping spot and my neck was feeling a little stiff so I decided walking around would be the move.  I went to JCPenney and maybe I just need to go with my grandma and sisters again.  I used to love going to the mall with them and now it is just kind of lame.  I walked around, uninterested, and went next door to Target and bought some prizes for my classroom from the little dollar aisle.  

The store clerk was very enthusiastic about my purchases.  She said everything was so cute.  I said, "I teach 3rd grade and these are for my prize box."

"Of course you do! They are perfect."

Maybe she is an 8 year old on the inside.  Maybe we all are.

I met up with the rest of them for dinner and we had a very good time visiting. 

Late Saturday night, when I was almost going to bed and Adam and I were contemplating the sadness of him being gone for two solid weeks, he said, "Why don't you fly to Orlando next weekend?"

We'd talked about it a few times already and it felt like a long ways to go for a quick weekend.

Adam found some flights that would only cause me to miss Friday afternoon.  We texted Emma to see if she wanted to go too.  We got intermittent responses from her since she was at a concert--one of her main pastimes. 

We decided to go!

You wake up in the morning, anticipating a long quiet slog of home alone for two weeks and you go to sleep with a trip in the near future! The consequences of being married to a spontaneous man are many and varied.

It makes the prospect of Adam being gone for two weeks much more palatable.

Sunday afternoon I drove Adam to the airport and then stopped at Emma's to eat and plan our trip.  

I won't be golfing when we are there.  I talked to Adam this morning and he was looking out his window at the golf course and there was an alligator in the water hazard.

Gives whole new meaning to the hazard in water hazard....

Grateful Friday

 I had a headache all week.  Wednesday I did the fun Tylenol, Advil, Excedrin thing at school and it made it so I could get through the day, but not...well.

Adam heroically rubbed my shoulders and tried to help, but I was kind of a wreck. 

I took my sumatriptan, which had never failed me before, but I was awake for hours during the night with a splitting headache.

Finally in the 3:00 hour, I wrote sub plans.

How coherent do you think 3:00 AM sub plans are?  I'm guessing not very.

I felt bad about missing school so close to the beginning of the year, but also, everything hurt and I was dying.

I also felt so discouraged.  This darn neck of mine is both a literal and figurative pain.  In the neck.

Before going to work, Adam said, "Go to the chiropractor."

I went faithfully to the chiropractor for years, but then quit when physical therapy helped so much.  Adam said, "Your neck is...messed up.  It isn't muscular."

I called the chiropractor, barely croaking out my words, still in my pjs.

She said, "Can you come right now?"

I said yes.

I threw on some clothes and avoided the mirror altogether.  I am sure I looked like someone who had been up with a migraine most of the night.  I drove to the chiropractor, they got me right in and gave me a hero's welcome.  The prodigal daughter had returned.  (I think they mostly missed my every two weeks payments.). He confirmed that my skull was sitting on my spine in an unfriendly way and fixed me. 

For the rest of the day I moved gingerly and felt like I'd been hit by a truck (the aftermath of both the migraine and the sumatriptan), but I wasn't in excruciating pain and I will take that.

I finally felt hungry and Jersey Mike's has a drive thru so around lunchtime I texted Adam and asked him what I like at Jersey Mike's.  He catalogs all my favorite things from restaurants in that big brain of his.

He always either knows what I have liked in the past or can parse out what I'm in the mood for.  

He texted me this:

He wasn't wrong.

I alternated ice and heat on my neck and drank water and read and worked a little on the last assessment for my degree and talked to Marianne and felt grateful.

I'm grateful I can take a day off and the world doesn't stop spinning.

I'm grateful for chiropractors when you really need them.

I'm grateful for Adam.

I'm grateful for ham and provolone because it is what I wanted.

Heart and soul

I talked to a friend in our ward (my co-activity day leader--we already met; we are not going to let any grass grow between us and getting started!).   She is the music teacher at the local neighborhood school.

I told her we didn't have music at my school.

She was surprised and I said, "Maybe the PTA pays for the extra specialty teacher at your school."

She said, "I don't know about that, but I know there are 13 pianos at the school and the PTA purchased 12 of them."

It staggered me.  The PTA at our school is this small but mighty group of women who are amazing and most of the dues come from teachers (and their husbands).  Adam is a member because I signed him up.

We have one ancient and generally out of tune piano at Bonneville.

There aren't many pianos, but we still have heart.  And soul.

Yesterday was picture day.  Even though I told them multiple times that it was optional and they didn't have to buy pictures and even though I texted their parents it was optional and they didn't have to buy pictures, some of the students were worried because they didn't bring any money.

My little guy, who is new to the country and speaks wobbly English, had come running up to me before school started and said, in his adorable accent, "Good morning, Teacher! It is cold, Teacher!  So cold!"

It was in the 60s and I don't want to tell him about January.

He came up to me and said, "For photos," and handed me two wrinkled five dollar bills.  I looked at the order form and the cheapest package was $12, plus tax.  

When Matt came to tell us it was our turn, I explained and said, "Can I just pay the difference?"

He said, "Tell the lady taking money," so I took my credit card down to the gym.

I explained the story to the lady whom I had never met and who knows nothing about this earnest and charming and maddeningly chatty little guy.  She said, "Just give me the $10.  That's enough."

It was so kind.

He wondered for the rest of the day where his photos were.  I kept trying to explain and then I gave up and asked two Spanish speakers to explain.  (Why I didn't do that hours earlier is beyond me.)

Shortly before the end of the day, Matt wrecked read aloud by announcing that it was Chick-fil-A night.  (The PTA has monthly restaurant nights and some of the proceeds go to the school.). This time, the Chick-fil-A cow was there to greet the kids after school.  He said, "Be gentle with the cow."

The kids lost their ever loving minds.  I couldn't read another word.  They were so excited!  One little girl said breathlessly, "I've never seen a mascot!"

Another girl wondered why it was a cow if it was Chick-fil-A and I said, "The cow is to convince you to eat chicken instead of burgers."

She said, "Ohhhhhhh," like it was the most clever thing she'd ever heard.

We didn't get into the fact that the Chick-fil-A cow is a Holstein, which always bugs me.  Shouldn't it be a Hereford or Angus?  

Many of my students wondered if it would cost money to go to Chick-fil-A.  I was so sad to tell them yes.  I wish I could just buy some chicken for every kid.  Put it on my tab!

They have never cleared out so fast from school.  I followed them and snapped a picture.

I love this school and those kids. 

Who needs 13 pianos anyway?

When you can't make this stuff up

 During math, they were working in groups on whiteboards and one girl had spent the entire time writing the group name very decoratively and hadn't done any math.  All the other groups were finished.  I erased the name and told her to do the math.

Friends, she sobbed, sobbed, for 30 minutes.  She had her head on my desk sniffling and shaking and every time it seemed like she was calming down, I would say, "Are you ready to talk about it?" and she would start up again.

It was amazing.

I kind of wished I had Covid (not really, but still.  30 minutes.).

Also during math a student came up to me for help because her pen was stuck in her hair.

These things...happen?

At the end of our phonics lesson (we had been reviewing silent e), I showed them the PBS Between the Lions silent e videos that I will never outgrow. 

One girl said, "Is it OK if you show us these videos at school?"

Um....

I have a worrier who is afraid he won't meet up with his brother so I help him to the meeting spot.  On my way back to the school, two separate kindergartners threw their arms around me.

I have no idea why.  They are not even the apparent younger siblings of anyone I know.

Just another day at my wacky and wonderful job.

P.S.  I submitted my capstone...once it gets approved I have just one more step!

MVP

Adam still has Covid.  He felt better yesterday than Sunday, but still sick. 

He spent the day helping me, which was noble of him, especially considering he is sick.

I needed help creating tables and figures to insert into my big capstone project. (With all the appendixes and everything it is 63 pages long.  How is this my life?)

Also, I created a professional development.  He looked at it and pointed out inconsistencies in my thinking.  He is the smartest person I know and his brain just cuts right through any vague or meandering language and demands clarity.  Years ago, when he was at Yale and we attempted studying the scriptures together, I resisted his challenges and said, "Hey, I'm not in graduate school with you."

So now I am in graduate school. (Not Yale, thank you very much!)

I told him to be gentle and he was and I am also better at being challenged, so it worked.

Then he would ask, "Do you want me to fix this font?"

I would say, "What's wrong with the font?'

And that happened about a thousand times.  I don't notice or really care about stuff like that and Adam notices and cares.

My project is way better because he was quality control.

In the evening we had Mark over for a socially distanced picnic on the deck.  The biggest challenge was to keep Adam out of the kitchen while I was gathering the food.  I kept saying, "Go away," and "Go sit down," and like Lucy, in A Charlie Brown Christmas, that kid wants involvement.

Adam really wanted to invite our nieces and nephews that are around and I kept reminding him he had Covid and they probably wouldn't want to come over and he would agree.

Covid is the worst.

We invited Emma, but she had plans with friends.  Also, it was Mark Monday which is our day to low-key interrogate him about how his life is going (who has more fun than our children?!?).

It was nice to spend some time with Mark.  And now I'm off to a new week of school with all my fingers crossed I still won't get Covid!

Weekend

 It's been a weird weekend.

Adam tested positive for Covid on Friday.  He had been feeling sick and we assumed he got the cold Braeden had (which also ended up being Covid).  I felt really run down and achy so I assumed I was getting it too.

I took a test Friday night and it was negative.  The test said if you were exposed and had symptoms and a negative test, test again in 48 hours.

Maybe it was just too early to tell?

Saturday morning I felt awful.  I was sure I had Covid.  I had a sub for Sunday School and a sub for Tuesday.  Then, by the afternoon I was starting to feel better.  

Sunday, I felt all the way better.  It reminded me of one of the things I hate about Covid, not knowing what to do about it.  It seems like we make choices and analyze risk and we're almost always wrong.

Adam and I watched our sacrament meeting.  I was released from Sunday School and was called as a primary activity day leader for boys.

Being a Sunday School teacher was stressful, but I also really liked how much more I studied the lesson when I was teaching (I know, there's nothing stopping me from studying that much even when I'm not teaching....).

Children 8-11 (which are the ages of the boys) are kind of my jam and I'm looking forward to it.  I told Adam I need a curriculum and a scope and sequence.  There isn't one, but there's a website with activity ideas, so that's good.

I watched some training for activity day leaders that I found online and I did some family history. 

It's a long quiet Sunday when you don't go to church or see your kids.

Adam gets stir crazy when he's home too long (I do too, but I have to be home about 100 times longer than he does before I get stir crazy).  We decided to take a drive.  We talked about the risk of being in a car together.  Did I already have Covid?  Certainly I did after being with him all that time.  He wore a mask and kept the air blowing and we went.  We drove past the Provo city center temple and the demolished other Provo temple.  

One thing about Utah County, there's always a temple to drive by.

Later in the afternoon, when it had been 48 hours, I took another Covid test.

It was negative.

Good news because I want to go to school tomorrow.

Bad news because will I still get it?  I was kind of hoping that feeling sick Friday evening and Saturday morning was going to be my Covid.

Ugh.