It is now 4 plus years post treatment. I don't really keep up this blog right now because who the heck wants to hear about my dull day-to-day life?! No one wants to know that I sometimes go to sleep at 6PM, or that I love my grands? Boring.
But there are people that have followed my blog for a while or stumbled upon it while researching information related to their own struggle with the Big C.
I'm 4 plus years out. No evidence of disease. That's the closest they can get to saying, you're cured. Cancer cells can hang out and re-appear later, and if it does, I'll deal with it then. In the mean time, I've celebrated my 60th birthday. I'm living life as fast as I can, just in case. I still like travel and have used a bequest to give me the freedom to travel around the US. I have bought a little A-frame camper called an Aliner Alite. It's essentially a bed with storage. It sets up very quickly (30 seconds) and is just the right size for me and a grand to go adventuring.
I'm, hopefully, within about two years of retirement and hope to travel and have fun and be a good grammy.
I'm alive. Happy. Moderately healthy. I've experienced some wonderful changes in my job in the last year. Life is complicated, but it's GOOD. Really, really, really good. I wish you the same joy and good health. Blessings.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Complaint Department
I've heard from some that I need to keep writing. I'm not sure why as I think I live a very dull life now.
I've gotten a few weeks of rest now and that has helped me to feel a little more sane. The last few weeks of school were just nutso. I just operated out of some kind of obligation and don't have any idea where I got the energy from to manage those last weeks.
I just heard that my dear friend in Richmond, is in the hospital after a fall today. She has a "minor" hip fracture. That's an oxymoron like "Gigantic Shrimp." "Minor Hip Fracture." Nope, that's an oxymoron. I hope to hear what's up with her tomorrow. I hope it's so minor they don't have to operate. If you're a praying person, please remember Lucille and her family and physicians.
Tonight I was reflecting back on my days as a Mental Health Provider on a homicide / suicide hotline. I was remembering this guy that called in and said, "If you want to tell something to God, tell me and I'll relay the message because I'm blowing myself up at Midnight." Now, I don't know about you, but for me those words made my heart skip a beat. This was way, way back in the day when caller ID was just coming out and we didn't have it. In order to get a trace on a call, took about 15 minutes that I had to keep the person on the line.
He explained that he was a munitions worker in Vietnam and that he had all the ingredients for Napalm and was planning to blow up his house. Now, I'd grown up watching the nightly news and seen what Napalm could do. Do you know, off hand, what the ingredients are? I sure didn't. I figured worst case scenario he could have gasoline, and that wasn't a highly controlled substance. So, I had to believe him. Now blowing up a city block ... that also got my attention, and it was about two hours until Midnight.
With five incoming lines, I walked to another desk, called the hotline myself, and when the phone rang I asked Mr. Napalm if I could put him on HOLD. Being the polite homicidal maniac that he was, he allowed me to put him on HOLD. Whereupon, I immediately called the operator, asked for a supervisor, and informed her I had a homicidal person on X phone line and was requesting an emergency trace. Naaaah, that didn't take long.
Thankfully when I went back to line X, he was patiently holding. I now had two phones with two different people talking to me: one phone applied to each ear. This was going to be a LONG night.
So the phone company traced the call, and then transferred me over to the police who were using me to funnel information to them from the caller. They'd ask me questions like, "Can an officer come to the door?" I'd then turn around and ask my caller, "So look, I'm thinking this isn't the greatest plan you've ever had. So, what about surrendering to the police?" His reply back to me was, "If someone comes up to my house the whole thing will blow. I have booby traps all over the yard and house." So, then I'd repeat what he just said, "So the yard and porch are covered with booby traps." And the caller would feel affirmed that I was listening, and the police would get the information on the other line.
What made me think of this experience today was watching a hospital show where a guy was clearly nuts. You see, at the time I'm talking to this guy, I don't know he's nuts. I think he is homicidal and has the stuff to make a bomb and blow a city block to kingdom come. I've often thought of him because he and the police frightened me so much that night.
After an hour or so of phone and verbal juggling, the police asked me to get him to show where he was in the house by turning on a light. I worked a "No." into my conversation. They were incredulous, and asked me again to get him to turn on a light to show where he was. I worked another "No" into the conversation. The police officer asked me, "Are you saying 'No" you won't get him to turn on a light and show us his position?" I worked a "Yes" into the conversation.
I couldn't be directly responsible for his death, and I had visions of a sniper trying to get a "bead" on him. I couldn't be on the phone with this man and hear him get shot. I just couldn't do that.
After about another 45 minutes of wrangling with him, we'd found out more information about him. The police tracked down his parents and he'd been thrown out of the Army as unfit for service (because he was nuts) and he had no knowledge of how to make munitions. (Big sigh.) I'd also talked enough to him to find out he'd been in jail before and was scared of men. So THE only female officer on duty that night in a rather small, rural county got her to drop writing a ticket to some schmuck on the highway, and she went over to, what by then was, a BIG deal. By now the police had blocked off his whole neighborhood. The bomb squad was there, and pretty much every officer in the entire county. I'm still talking to two people on two different phone lines.
I got to listen as the female officer carefully came to the door and knocked. Loudly knocked, I might add. I encouraged him to open the door and let the female officer (I promise) in to arrest him. I got to hear as he was taken down, as the phone went klunking across the floor, and finally as an officer picked up the phone line and said they had things under control now. And he was alive. Sick. But alive.
That is probably one of the most scary times I've ever had in my life. With five incoming lines, there were calls I ignored. Were any of those calls people who were genuinely suicidal in that moment? Whatever happened to that poor guy? Was he taken to a hospital where he belonged or was he charged with something like a "false police report" and sent to jail? Or both?
I talked and trigaged lots and lots of calls over the three years I worked on that job, but this was one of two really memorable calls. I have since talked to officers that were in the field that night and remember that call, from the police side of things, and yes -- there was a sniper there. For a woman that follows the "rules" and does what the nice officer instructs, it was also scary to me to defy the instructions of the officer who was attempting me to get the caller to turn on the lights. It was frightening to me to think I might be listening on the phone when some guy got his brains blown out. It was two hours of terror. At least one of those hours, I was fearing for the lives of many. The other hour (it was about 11:45 by the time all this ended -- I didn't get my message through to God via this guy) I was terrified for one man's life. I don't think I can ever forget those two hours.
But you know, when a kid shows me a tiny dab of blood and begs to go to the nurse, "It's an EMERGENCY!!!" I can't help but think, "You have no idea how NOT an emergency this is."
It's been 18 years since that event. The mentally ill don't live as long as the rest of folks. If I was a betting person, my bet would be that he's no longer with us in this life. I hope in the next life, if there is one, that he is relieved of his illness and the chaos it brings into his life.
Yup, an EMERGENCY is definitely not defined as a drop of blood or a scratch or a blister or a bloody nose. You have to think really big to get my attention and have ME call it an emergency.
I've gotten a few weeks of rest now and that has helped me to feel a little more sane. The last few weeks of school were just nutso. I just operated out of some kind of obligation and don't have any idea where I got the energy from to manage those last weeks.
I just heard that my dear friend in Richmond, is in the hospital after a fall today. She has a "minor" hip fracture. That's an oxymoron like "Gigantic Shrimp." "Minor Hip Fracture." Nope, that's an oxymoron. I hope to hear what's up with her tomorrow. I hope it's so minor they don't have to operate. If you're a praying person, please remember Lucille and her family and physicians.
Tonight I was reflecting back on my days as a Mental Health Provider on a homicide / suicide hotline. I was remembering this guy that called in and said, "If you want to tell something to God, tell me and I'll relay the message because I'm blowing myself up at Midnight." Now, I don't know about you, but for me those words made my heart skip a beat. This was way, way back in the day when caller ID was just coming out and we didn't have it. In order to get a trace on a call, took about 15 minutes that I had to keep the person on the line.
He explained that he was a munitions worker in Vietnam and that he had all the ingredients for Napalm and was planning to blow up his house. Now, I'd grown up watching the nightly news and seen what Napalm could do. Do you know, off hand, what the ingredients are? I sure didn't. I figured worst case scenario he could have gasoline, and that wasn't a highly controlled substance. So, I had to believe him. Now blowing up a city block ... that also got my attention, and it was about two hours until Midnight.
With five incoming lines, I walked to another desk, called the hotline myself, and when the phone rang I asked Mr. Napalm if I could put him on HOLD. Being the polite homicidal maniac that he was, he allowed me to put him on HOLD. Whereupon, I immediately called the operator, asked for a supervisor, and informed her I had a homicidal person on X phone line and was requesting an emergency trace. Naaaah, that didn't take long.
Thankfully when I went back to line X, he was patiently holding. I now had two phones with two different people talking to me: one phone applied to each ear. This was going to be a LONG night.
So the phone company traced the call, and then transferred me over to the police who were using me to funnel information to them from the caller. They'd ask me questions like, "Can an officer come to the door?" I'd then turn around and ask my caller, "So look, I'm thinking this isn't the greatest plan you've ever had. So, what about surrendering to the police?" His reply back to me was, "If someone comes up to my house the whole thing will blow. I have booby traps all over the yard and house." So, then I'd repeat what he just said, "So the yard and porch are covered with booby traps." And the caller would feel affirmed that I was listening, and the police would get the information on the other line.
What made me think of this experience today was watching a hospital show where a guy was clearly nuts. You see, at the time I'm talking to this guy, I don't know he's nuts. I think he is homicidal and has the stuff to make a bomb and blow a city block to kingdom come. I've often thought of him because he and the police frightened me so much that night.
After an hour or so of phone and verbal juggling, the police asked me to get him to show where he was in the house by turning on a light. I worked a "No." into my conversation. They were incredulous, and asked me again to get him to turn on a light to show where he was. I worked another "No" into the conversation. The police officer asked me, "Are you saying 'No" you won't get him to turn on a light and show us his position?" I worked a "Yes" into the conversation.
I couldn't be directly responsible for his death, and I had visions of a sniper trying to get a "bead" on him. I couldn't be on the phone with this man and hear him get shot. I just couldn't do that.
After about another 45 minutes of wrangling with him, we'd found out more information about him. The police tracked down his parents and he'd been thrown out of the Army as unfit for service (because he was nuts) and he had no knowledge of how to make munitions. (Big sigh.) I'd also talked enough to him to find out he'd been in jail before and was scared of men. So THE only female officer on duty that night in a rather small, rural county got her to drop writing a ticket to some schmuck on the highway, and she went over to, what by then was, a BIG deal. By now the police had blocked off his whole neighborhood. The bomb squad was there, and pretty much every officer in the entire county. I'm still talking to two people on two different phone lines.
I got to listen as the female officer carefully came to the door and knocked. Loudly knocked, I might add. I encouraged him to open the door and let the female officer (I promise) in to arrest him. I got to hear as he was taken down, as the phone went klunking across the floor, and finally as an officer picked up the phone line and said they had things under control now. And he was alive. Sick. But alive.
That is probably one of the most scary times I've ever had in my life. With five incoming lines, there were calls I ignored. Were any of those calls people who were genuinely suicidal in that moment? Whatever happened to that poor guy? Was he taken to a hospital where he belonged or was he charged with something like a "false police report" and sent to jail? Or both?
I talked and trigaged lots and lots of calls over the three years I worked on that job, but this was one of two really memorable calls. I have since talked to officers that were in the field that night and remember that call, from the police side of things, and yes -- there was a sniper there. For a woman that follows the "rules" and does what the nice officer instructs, it was also scary to me to defy the instructions of the officer who was attempting me to get the caller to turn on the lights. It was frightening to me to think I might be listening on the phone when some guy got his brains blown out. It was two hours of terror. At least one of those hours, I was fearing for the lives of many. The other hour (it was about 11:45 by the time all this ended -- I didn't get my message through to God via this guy) I was terrified for one man's life. I don't think I can ever forget those two hours.
But you know, when a kid shows me a tiny dab of blood and begs to go to the nurse, "It's an EMERGENCY!!!" I can't help but think, "You have no idea how NOT an emergency this is."
It's been 18 years since that event. The mentally ill don't live as long as the rest of folks. If I was a betting person, my bet would be that he's no longer with us in this life. I hope in the next life, if there is one, that he is relieved of his illness and the chaos it brings into his life.
Yup, an EMERGENCY is definitely not defined as a drop of blood or a scratch or a blister or a bloody nose. You have to think really big to get my attention and have ME call it an emergency.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Inertia
I realized when I went to the police today that this phone harassment has been going on for THREE years! What a dork I am for putting up with this for so long! A police officer likely went to see him today though, and I'm hoping that will take care of things.
Breast Cancer Survivor Support Group tonight. Almost didn't make it because I dozed off after next-to-no sleep last night.
Two more work days, and I'm outta there!
On June 13th I'm going to take a Science exam to see if I can qualify to teach Science. History teachers are a dime a dozen, but Science teachers are harder to come by. I'm also signed up to get an endorsement for teaching gifted. I'm trying to make myself as indispensable as possible. I'll surely end up with some weird sets of qualifications. The gifted endorsement is a given. The Science ... that'll be harder. If I don't pass it this time, I'm going to surrender.
A meeting tomorrow, another on Thursday and pack up my room and I'm done. I also get to meet my soon-to-be foster "child's" judge on Thursday for the first time. The judicial system keeps a close eye on foster kids these days, which I think is good! I have three more big homework assignments to turn in to DFCS and then my application will be complete. Those homeworks will get tackled next week.
Breast Cancer Survivor Support Group tonight. Almost didn't make it because I dozed off after next-to-no sleep last night.
Two more work days, and I'm outta there!
On June 13th I'm going to take a Science exam to see if I can qualify to teach Science. History teachers are a dime a dozen, but Science teachers are harder to come by. I'm also signed up to get an endorsement for teaching gifted. I'm trying to make myself as indispensable as possible. I'll surely end up with some weird sets of qualifications. The gifted endorsement is a given. The Science ... that'll be harder. If I don't pass it this time, I'm going to surrender.
A meeting tomorrow, another on Thursday and pack up my room and I'm done. I also get to meet my soon-to-be foster "child's" judge on Thursday for the first time. The judicial system keeps a close eye on foster kids these days, which I think is good! I have three more big homework assignments to turn in to DFCS and then my application will be complete. Those homeworks will get tackled next week.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Update
Well I've been trying to rush to the end of the school year without faltering. I think I made it to the end without the kids without fainting or just not being able to get up one morning. I have three more days and a few meetings to do, and I am pretty sure I can get through them.
I recorded it, and have saved it back for a couple weeks until I felt emotionally strong enough to handle watching "Farrah's Story." I watched it tonight (Memorial Day) and I am very blessed. She was diagnosed with stage IV at her first diagnosis. I am blessed to have been diagnosed with probably stage II.
It was frightful to see how much suffering she has gone through in order to try and continue living. Clearly the time has come where treatment is no longer worth the hassle. Interestingly, my motto, was expressed similarly by her, but is summed up as "All days on this side of the dirt are good." As a movie star she said it more nicely.
It's nice to have the financial where-with-all to go anywhere in the world to get treatments. I'll have to make do with American treatments, all of which are FDA approved and therefore 10 years behind the rest of the world. With luck, I'll never have to find out what comes after what I've already had. Cancer doesn't care who you are or what kind of money you have, or how beautiful you might be/have been. It doesn't let you keep your dignity, your hair, or all your parts. Suddenly things you thought you'd take to your gave, precede you in death, and you hope you're not going to be right behind them.
I've always hoped that I'd never be able to say, "What was that?" and just wake up dead. No big transitional thing... but I think cancer probably robs you of that kind of opportunity. My grandma went a pretty awful way. It took her 10 awful, horrendous days to die. Farrah has managed to drag it out for two years and to have some nice times in-between the awful stuff. Ultimately though, her thoughts and feelings are those of lots and lots of those afflicted with cancer and those who hope they have overcome it.
I hope she can just take lots and lots of morphine and surrender. It can be a gentle slide, I think. It appears she's still struggling to stay on this side of the veil. Doesn't seem like she is likely to have many more days with us though. In one hour's time, 5 people will die of some kind of cancer, and in that same hour 30 more people will hear the words, "You have cancer." At least I think that is what Oprah quoted.
Just as I've been stuck by lightning and lived to tell about it, I hope to be able to live a long time to tell the story of being struck by cancer and surviving it. I bought a lotto ticket tonight, but I'd rather live the "life" lotto. So would Farrah.
And as I write this bit of emotional stuff, a student that has repeatedly called me and called me and called me -- before I got sick, while I was in treatment and then.....a pause and some quiet. I sat behind him at graduation on Friday night, and was surprised to feel so much bile inside me against him. I know who it is. I can't prove it. I can't do anything but change my cell number to stop it. I thought at graduation, "He's maturing and growing up and maybe isn't so bad anymore." But tonight as the phone rings and he "stalks" me with his adolescent pranks, I know that he is really, through-and-through, just a plain old asshole. I've never "encouraged" him by responding back. I've always just hung up. Tonight I told him where I thought he'd reside upon his release from this life. While I pray for compassion for myself, there is a great part of me that hopes his Karma kicks his ass!
I recorded it, and have saved it back for a couple weeks until I felt emotionally strong enough to handle watching "Farrah's Story." I watched it tonight (Memorial Day) and I am very blessed. She was diagnosed with stage IV at her first diagnosis. I am blessed to have been diagnosed with probably stage II.
It was frightful to see how much suffering she has gone through in order to try and continue living. Clearly the time has come where treatment is no longer worth the hassle. Interestingly, my motto, was expressed similarly by her, but is summed up as "All days on this side of the dirt are good." As a movie star she said it more nicely.
It's nice to have the financial where-with-all to go anywhere in the world to get treatments. I'll have to make do with American treatments, all of which are FDA approved and therefore 10 years behind the rest of the world. With luck, I'll never have to find out what comes after what I've already had. Cancer doesn't care who you are or what kind of money you have, or how beautiful you might be/have been. It doesn't let you keep your dignity, your hair, or all your parts. Suddenly things you thought you'd take to your gave, precede you in death, and you hope you're not going to be right behind them.
I've always hoped that I'd never be able to say, "What was that?" and just wake up dead. No big transitional thing... but I think cancer probably robs you of that kind of opportunity. My grandma went a pretty awful way. It took her 10 awful, horrendous days to die. Farrah has managed to drag it out for two years and to have some nice times in-between the awful stuff. Ultimately though, her thoughts and feelings are those of lots and lots of those afflicted with cancer and those who hope they have overcome it.
I hope she can just take lots and lots of morphine and surrender. It can be a gentle slide, I think. It appears she's still struggling to stay on this side of the veil. Doesn't seem like she is likely to have many more days with us though. In one hour's time, 5 people will die of some kind of cancer, and in that same hour 30 more people will hear the words, "You have cancer." At least I think that is what Oprah quoted.
Just as I've been stuck by lightning and lived to tell about it, I hope to be able to live a long time to tell the story of being struck by cancer and surviving it. I bought a lotto ticket tonight, but I'd rather live the "life" lotto. So would Farrah.
And as I write this bit of emotional stuff, a student that has repeatedly called me and called me and called me -- before I got sick, while I was in treatment and then.....a pause and some quiet. I sat behind him at graduation on Friday night, and was surprised to feel so much bile inside me against him. I know who it is. I can't prove it. I can't do anything but change my cell number to stop it. I thought at graduation, "He's maturing and growing up and maybe isn't so bad anymore." But tonight as the phone rings and he "stalks" me with his adolescent pranks, I know that he is really, through-and-through, just a plain old asshole. I've never "encouraged" him by responding back. I've always just hung up. Tonight I told him where I thought he'd reside upon his release from this life. While I pray for compassion for myself, there is a great part of me that hopes his Karma kicks his ass!
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Gizzard
Well, I went through the colonoscopy and they kept me asleep and the results are all good. THAT is a good thing.
Slept most of the afternoon. Have to grade some papers and do an IEP and stay late to do two IEPs tomorrow. Just a little pressure. Back to the grind tomorrow.
Relieved to have this over with. Very relieved.
Enjoying some goofy games on Face Book.
Now it's a race to get through Tomorrow and Friday and then Saturday I'm cleaning and going to a baby shower. I'm actually looking forward to the shower. Something fun about the positive expectations. Babies make everyone smile.
Slept most of the afternoon. Have to grade some papers and do an IEP and stay late to do two IEPs tomorrow. Just a little pressure. Back to the grind tomorrow.
Relieved to have this over with. Very relieved.
Enjoying some goofy games on Face Book.
Now it's a race to get through Tomorrow and Friday and then Saturday I'm cleaning and going to a baby shower. I'm actually looking forward to the shower. Something fun about the positive expectations. Babies make everyone smile.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Hor de Ourves
Or however you spell it. I've been putting out sunflower seeds and I've been getting birds. Thelma the co-owned cat is also getting birds. I saw her Sunday hiding in the really high pansey's, unmoving, just wating for birds to come get seed. So I took the pansey's up today so she can't hide in the foliage quite as easily. I don't like the idea of serving her up hor de ourves avian style.
Off from work for two days to get some testing done. Not really excited about it because I've had adverse issues in the past with this test.
Will try to use tomorrow to grade papers, do some other paperwork, and maybe clear off the dining room table. That presumes I can. Not sure I'll feel all that great.
More rain coming our way. You can practically watch the grass grow right now. My birdhouse gourd plants are growing while I watch them. Everything is just soaking wet.
My next door neighbor was encouraging his dog to attack Thelma the co-owned cat tonight. His dog has been a huge annoyance here at the townhomes. I have heard rumors that they are moving. I hope so because their lack of respect for living things, is really getting to me. I feel sorry for their dog, but am getting pretty fed up with it annoying me and the rest of the neighbors.
God, I hope my students are relatively decent tomorrow and Wednesday to those taking the class. I don't expect they will be, but I can hope. There are 13 more days of school, and the students already thing they are on summer break and they are being very uncooperative. Very rowdy and very uncooperative.
Off from work for two days to get some testing done. Not really excited about it because I've had adverse issues in the past with this test.
Will try to use tomorrow to grade papers, do some other paperwork, and maybe clear off the dining room table. That presumes I can. Not sure I'll feel all that great.
More rain coming our way. You can practically watch the grass grow right now. My birdhouse gourd plants are growing while I watch them. Everything is just soaking wet.
My next door neighbor was encouraging his dog to attack Thelma the co-owned cat tonight. His dog has been a huge annoyance here at the townhomes. I have heard rumors that they are moving. I hope so because their lack of respect for living things, is really getting to me. I feel sorry for their dog, but am getting pretty fed up with it annoying me and the rest of the neighbors.
God, I hope my students are relatively decent tomorrow and Wednesday to those taking the class. I don't expect they will be, but I can hope. There are 13 more days of school, and the students already thing they are on summer break and they are being very uncooperative. Very rowdy and very uncooperative.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Spring Fever
Boy the students have it. I have it. They're cranky. I'm getting cranky from the way they're acting. 1100 vs. 100 for the next couple weeks makes a bad ratio when the 1100 seem ready to take over like Santa Anna at the Alamo. I'm feeling like I'm being run over on a daily basis. Can't wait for FRIDAY tomorrow. I bet they'll be restless as roaches on a warming fry pan.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Enquiring Minds Want to Know
What was the FUNNIEST part of your journey?
OK, so I've flown into NYC with plans. Things I want to see and do -- and it's raining cats and dogs. A real frog-strangler of a rain. What the heck is Plan B? What IS plan B? WHAT is plan B? Well I went to the Museum of Natural history which I had not visited since 5th grade field trip. Guess what? That was plan B for most of NYC. It was shoulder-to-shoulder with people. It was OK, but I finally made my way to JFK airport and was sitting down reading. I'm just sitting there when this WEIRD lady comes over to me and says, "I've prayed about it. I asked God who I should talk to to, and I decided it was you." Now, I don't know about you, but THIS is not a good way for a conversation to start! So she asked me, "I missed my flight to Dublin. I'm wondering if you know how to get from Shannon to Dublin?" Well, in actuality, nerdy-girl here HAS thought out how to get from Shannon to Dublin. I pull out the bus schedule and explain how we have to take a bus to Limerick, and then we can catch a train in Limerick for Dublin. So she has somehow asked the right person all the right questions and gotten the answers she needed. I'm not thinking I'm God's answer to her prayer or anything, but it did work out for her. So....I tell her, "It's very possible for you to get to Dublin on your timeline, if you like just follow me. I'm going there."
Well it turns out she's a flight attendant for Delta. She's going to Dublin to hook-up with a friend that has backstage tickets for her to see Tina Turner in Dublin. That's cool. Well I get to my seat (16A) and she gets to go up to first class. Nice perk of working for the airline. I'm settling in to my seat in the sardine section when I see her come down the aisle. I wave to her and she give me the "come here" finger. So I get up and move toward her (that's real easy on a plane) and she says the flight attendants have one more first class seat left and since I'm her friend they're going to let me sit up there with her (Don't tell anyone.).
So I get the nice warm wash cloth to warm and clean my hands. I get my choice of dinners (I get the prime rib and shrimp scampi). I get the nice WIDE-BODIED chairs to go with my WIDE -BODIED body! I get the nice chair with the leg rests that allow you to actually lay back and get comfy. I get all this because I was nice. I have to tell you that after dinner I took some nice Xanex and took a nice snooze and woke up over Ireland. It was GREAT! In the generous spirit of the times, I offered a little sleep to my new friend. She and I both arrived in Shannon, Republic of Ireland well rested and ready to travel at 8AM Irish time.
How bazaar though to have a strange woman come up and make me Queen for a Day (flight). That was the most weird thing that happened on this trip, full of other synchronistic events. It's a testimonial to the fact that if you're nice, good things can happen to you. This was the most "funny" (unusual) thing that happened to me on this trip.
What was the WORST part of your trip?
Well, the night that I blew into Belfast and found my Hostel, there was a soccer team staying on the same floor as me. Very little sleep while the testosterone crowd stay up drinking all night and playing loud music and being boring, loud drunks.
I go downstairs and say I want to stay another night but not close to the soccer team. They put me in a different dorm. It's one pound more a night though, is that ok? Well it's one more pound a night it turns out, because it's "en suite." The bathroom is IN the dorm, you don't have to go down the hall. Shrug, OK. Then I'm showering and getting ready for bed, when the rest of the room come back from sightseeing. Ohhhhhhhh. It's a co-ed dorm! The OLD woman with NO BOOBS is in a dorm with GUYS and girls who are all young, strong, and very in-love. Take my word for it, they're in love! They're from the Basque region of Spain and so some speak English, and some don't. Their Spanish is SO accented, that I can't for the life of me understand them. I do understand that it's three couples and each couple is very, very good friends with one another! So what the hell?! I figure I'm there to sleep. They're in their bunk bed, and I'm in mine, and I just sleep. At least the dang soccer team wasn't close by anymore! So I slept. Next morning everyone is polite and everyone averts their eyes from everyone else. The guys don't watch me; I don't watch them in their skimpy, form-fitting, Lycra briefs that have no fly (not that I was looking). I'm hoping they weren't looking when I hoisted up my store-bought "girls" and put them on. We'll never know if I scared their youthful minds forever, since I'm not good at Castillion and won't read their blog, but I'm guessing I just might be the "funniest" thing that happened to them while they were on their vacation! Just a little stomach acid. That's all, just a little stomach acid when I realized it was a co-ed dorm.
What was the most EMOTIONAL part of your trip?
One of my goals was to see if I could find the grave of my mother's sister who died in 1935. Now I don't know about you, but I think finding a graveyard in a foreign country and finding the grave of someone in particular in that foreign country, from something like 70 years or so ago -- that sounds like spitting into the wind to me. An impossible task that can't possibly be done on a whirlwind trip. Well, I have to tell you. I found the town. I found the churchyard, I found the keeper, and I found the little grave of the little girl that would never grow up to be my aunt. It was a miracle. It was the hole-in-one, miracle that I didn't truly believe would be possible. Then when I got to the grave and the keeper left me alone with her, I lay down on top of the grave. I thought of the book "The Lovely Bones" and I talked to her. I just told her about her mom and dad and sister and how I was related to her, and that I had a daughter with children of her own now. I told her the story of her family and apologized that she didn't get to be a part of our lives for so long and that I was glad I found her. I lay there for a good 30 minutes and just chatted up a dead girl that died at age 6 when my mom was 11. She lay beside the stone with the large CLARKE on it in a churchyard that had acres and acres of graves from 1700's on, and the fates allowed me to find her that day despite the fact that everyone and everyone was closed for the Easter week. Laying there and being with her was really much more emotional than anything I expected. Yet, it was the right thing to do at that time. It was my connection to the innocent past. She died of a disease that we don't know today. She died of diphtheria. She died of something that started like a cold and cough, and ended with her windpipe swelling, and swelling until that point in time that she could breathe no longer and she suffocated. What a terrible death. Now days we're all immunized against diphtheria. Thank goodness! I don't know if there is a here-after or if the dead can hear us or if we can communicate with the past in any significant way, but it was really, really emotional for me to find that grave.
What was the very BEST part of your vacation?
The BEST part of the vacation was coming home. The second best was spending one night in a B & B in Newry. The lady there was SO nice. She picked me up in town, and offered me tea. I had a nice big, light, airy room with a door. I had to go down the hall for the bathroom, but I had all the hot water I could want and I showered $45 worth of hot water! I had a comfy bed with an electric blanket on it, and I was warm and cozy. After several days of hosteling, I loved the luxury of the B & B. Catherine was so nice. Because I didn't have more than cereal for breakfast, she made me a lunch to take on the train with me. How nice! I loved having the privacy and the civility of the B & B after the emotional time I'd experienced above. Catherine was just as surprised as I that I found the grave of Anna Freida McPherson 74 years after her burial. If I ever knew her first name I didn't remember it, and it so surprised me to discover her first name since it is a name that threads it way through the decades. There is a tiny part of Anna Freida McPherson in Joann and maybe even in Julianna. I don't know if Frieda knows that her legacy moves through four more generations or not. But I'm really happy I got to stay with Catherine and her nice B & B the night after I found Freida.
OK, so I've flown into NYC with plans. Things I want to see and do -- and it's raining cats and dogs. A real frog-strangler of a rain. What the heck is Plan B? What IS plan B? WHAT is plan B? Well I went to the Museum of Natural history which I had not visited since 5th grade field trip. Guess what? That was plan B for most of NYC. It was shoulder-to-shoulder with people. It was OK, but I finally made my way to JFK airport and was sitting down reading. I'm just sitting there when this WEIRD lady comes over to me and says, "I've prayed about it. I asked God who I should talk to to, and I decided it was you." Now, I don't know about you, but THIS is not a good way for a conversation to start! So she asked me, "I missed my flight to Dublin. I'm wondering if you know how to get from Shannon to Dublin?" Well, in actuality, nerdy-girl here HAS thought out how to get from Shannon to Dublin. I pull out the bus schedule and explain how we have to take a bus to Limerick, and then we can catch a train in Limerick for Dublin. So she has somehow asked the right person all the right questions and gotten the answers she needed. I'm not thinking I'm God's answer to her prayer or anything, but it did work out for her. So....I tell her, "It's very possible for you to get to Dublin on your timeline, if you like just follow me. I'm going there."
Well it turns out she's a flight attendant for Delta. She's going to Dublin to hook-up with a friend that has backstage tickets for her to see Tina Turner in Dublin. That's cool. Well I get to my seat (16A) and she gets to go up to first class. Nice perk of working for the airline. I'm settling in to my seat in the sardine section when I see her come down the aisle. I wave to her and she give me the "come here" finger. So I get up and move toward her (that's real easy on a plane) and she says the flight attendants have one more first class seat left and since I'm her friend they're going to let me sit up there with her (Don't tell anyone.).
So I get the nice warm wash cloth to warm and clean my hands. I get my choice of dinners (I get the prime rib and shrimp scampi). I get the nice WIDE-BODIED chairs to go with my WIDE -BODIED body! I get the nice chair with the leg rests that allow you to actually lay back and get comfy. I get all this because I was nice. I have to tell you that after dinner I took some nice Xanex and took a nice snooze and woke up over Ireland. It was GREAT! In the generous spirit of the times, I offered a little sleep to my new friend. She and I both arrived in Shannon, Republic of Ireland well rested and ready to travel at 8AM Irish time.
How bazaar though to have a strange woman come up and make me Queen for a Day (flight). That was the most weird thing that happened on this trip, full of other synchronistic events. It's a testimonial to the fact that if you're nice, good things can happen to you. This was the most "funny" (unusual) thing that happened to me on this trip.
What was the WORST part of your trip?
Well, the night that I blew into Belfast and found my Hostel, there was a soccer team staying on the same floor as me. Very little sleep while the testosterone crowd stay up drinking all night and playing loud music and being boring, loud drunks.
I go downstairs and say I want to stay another night but not close to the soccer team. They put me in a different dorm. It's one pound more a night though, is that ok? Well it's one more pound a night it turns out, because it's "en suite." The bathroom is IN the dorm, you don't have to go down the hall. Shrug, OK. Then I'm showering and getting ready for bed, when the rest of the room come back from sightseeing. Ohhhhhhhh. It's a co-ed dorm! The OLD woman with NO BOOBS is in a dorm with GUYS and girls who are all young, strong, and very in-love. Take my word for it, they're in love! They're from the Basque region of Spain and so some speak English, and some don't. Their Spanish is SO accented, that I can't for the life of me understand them. I do understand that it's three couples and each couple is very, very good friends with one another! So what the hell?! I figure I'm there to sleep. They're in their bunk bed, and I'm in mine, and I just sleep. At least the dang soccer team wasn't close by anymore! So I slept. Next morning everyone is polite and everyone averts their eyes from everyone else. The guys don't watch me; I don't watch them in their skimpy, form-fitting, Lycra briefs that have no fly (not that I was looking). I'm hoping they weren't looking when I hoisted up my store-bought "girls" and put them on. We'll never know if I scared their youthful minds forever, since I'm not good at Castillion and won't read their blog, but I'm guessing I just might be the "funniest" thing that happened to them while they were on their vacation! Just a little stomach acid. That's all, just a little stomach acid when I realized it was a co-ed dorm.
What was the most EMOTIONAL part of your trip?
One of my goals was to see if I could find the grave of my mother's sister who died in 1935. Now I don't know about you, but I think finding a graveyard in a foreign country and finding the grave of someone in particular in that foreign country, from something like 70 years or so ago -- that sounds like spitting into the wind to me. An impossible task that can't possibly be done on a whirlwind trip. Well, I have to tell you. I found the town. I found the churchyard, I found the keeper, and I found the little grave of the little girl that would never grow up to be my aunt. It was a miracle. It was the hole-in-one, miracle that I didn't truly believe would be possible. Then when I got to the grave and the keeper left me alone with her, I lay down on top of the grave. I thought of the book "The Lovely Bones" and I talked to her. I just told her about her mom and dad and sister and how I was related to her, and that I had a daughter with children of her own now. I told her the story of her family and apologized that she didn't get to be a part of our lives for so long and that I was glad I found her. I lay there for a good 30 minutes and just chatted up a dead girl that died at age 6 when my mom was 11. She lay beside the stone with the large CLARKE on it in a churchyard that had acres and acres of graves from 1700's on, and the fates allowed me to find her that day despite the fact that everyone and everyone was closed for the Easter week. Laying there and being with her was really much more emotional than anything I expected. Yet, it was the right thing to do at that time. It was my connection to the innocent past. She died of a disease that we don't know today. She died of diphtheria. She died of something that started like a cold and cough, and ended with her windpipe swelling, and swelling until that point in time that she could breathe no longer and she suffocated. What a terrible death. Now days we're all immunized against diphtheria. Thank goodness! I don't know if there is a here-after or if the dead can hear us or if we can communicate with the past in any significant way, but it was really, really emotional for me to find that grave.
What was the very BEST part of your vacation?
The BEST part of the vacation was coming home. The second best was spending one night in a B & B in Newry. The lady there was SO nice. She picked me up in town, and offered me tea. I had a nice big, light, airy room with a door. I had to go down the hall for the bathroom, but I had all the hot water I could want and I showered $45 worth of hot water! I had a comfy bed with an electric blanket on it, and I was warm and cozy. After several days of hosteling, I loved the luxury of the B & B. Catherine was so nice. Because I didn't have more than cereal for breakfast, she made me a lunch to take on the train with me. How nice! I loved having the privacy and the civility of the B & B after the emotional time I'd experienced above. Catherine was just as surprised as I that I found the grave of Anna Freida McPherson 74 years after her burial. If I ever knew her first name I didn't remember it, and it so surprised me to discover her first name since it is a name that threads it way through the decades. There is a tiny part of Anna Freida McPherson in Joann and maybe even in Julianna. I don't know if Frieda knows that her legacy moves through four more generations or not. But I'm really happy I got to stay with Catherine and her nice B & B the night after I found Freida.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Relay for Life
I didn't get to do Relay last year. It's a HUGE thing with the school systems. Last year in the county, over $60,000 was raised in our teeny, tiny county. Last year I was luxuriating in some beach time, and I had the time off because I was recovering from the most nasty chemotherapy ever. I had some peach fuzz for hair. This year I'm doing much better in the hair department. It's about the length I wore it when I worked at Georgia Tech, so I don't look like a space alien to myself anymore.
The good thing about doing Relay for me is that I get to see people who are long time survivors. When you're getting treatment you're also seeing the sickest of the sick. And the sickest ones are often the terminal ones (not that we all aren't terminal -- none of us gets out of this life alive but some are clearly going faster than others of us and that who you see a lot of the time when you're in active treatment). So, anyway, it's good for me to talk to other people who are 16 and 25 year survivors. That makes me feel hopeful.
I'm really, really tired tonight. The first week back from spring break the kids are all very wound up, and the weather is breaking nice so we've all got spring fever finally. The next few weeks of school are going to be challenging -- for a whole variety of reasons. Achy and grouchy and tired now though. Looking forward to being grammy tomorrow with Miss Jewel. MUST do grocery shopping for Betty. I hear she is OUT of everything now. Time for a big haul at the grocery.
Maybe Jewel and I can grocery shop and then come home and nap afterward. We'll have to see how it goes.
Interesting how the students today who saw my pictures and heard the story of my trip to Ireland reacted. The idea of a hostel seems to totally be abhorent to my students. They'd only go somewhere first class or not at all. I'd rather go third class and get to go. I guess I'm a bit Bohemian in that respect...remnants of the flower child. European youth seem much more willing to embrace the idea of hosteling as an alternative to camping. Many American young people seem to think there's something just too weird about it -- that it's unsafe just because you're in close proximity to other people, especially other people from "strange" countries. Sounds like xenophobia to me, and a fear of anything somewhat different from American expectations.
The good thing about doing Relay for me is that I get to see people who are long time survivors. When you're getting treatment you're also seeing the sickest of the sick. And the sickest ones are often the terminal ones (not that we all aren't terminal -- none of us gets out of this life alive but some are clearly going faster than others of us and that who you see a lot of the time when you're in active treatment). So, anyway, it's good for me to talk to other people who are 16 and 25 year survivors. That makes me feel hopeful.
I'm really, really tired tonight. The first week back from spring break the kids are all very wound up, and the weather is breaking nice so we've all got spring fever finally. The next few weeks of school are going to be challenging -- for a whole variety of reasons. Achy and grouchy and tired now though. Looking forward to being grammy tomorrow with Miss Jewel. MUST do grocery shopping for Betty. I hear she is OUT of everything now. Time for a big haul at the grocery.
Maybe Jewel and I can grocery shop and then come home and nap afterward. We'll have to see how it goes.
Interesting how the students today who saw my pictures and heard the story of my trip to Ireland reacted. The idea of a hostel seems to totally be abhorent to my students. They'd only go somewhere first class or not at all. I'd rather go third class and get to go. I guess I'm a bit Bohemian in that respect...remnants of the flower child. European youth seem much more willing to embrace the idea of hosteling as an alternative to camping. Many American young people seem to think there's something just too weird about it -- that it's unsafe just because you're in close proximity to other people, especially other people from "strange" countries. Sounds like xenophobia to me, and a fear of anything somewhat different from American expectations.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Belfast Surprise
When I left Dublin and went to Belfast, I put my things away at the Hostel and then set out to go get some pub grub. When I started out for the pub, I came upon an "Orange Parade."
Go HERE to see the Orange Parade. It's supposed to be a practice for the biggest of big Orange Parade on July 12, the anniversary of a 300 year old battle. It appears they do need a tad more practice. But it was exciting to see the event, even though it's hard for us American's to understand the political/religious issues behind these.
I do have to say that there was one scary moment where I thought a riot was going to break out, and you could fairly smell the testesterone and tension in the air. People there said I was in a safe place, others I asked later told me I was a nut case for hanging around that area at all.
So exciting moment to capture, by total accident that I was there and glad my camera had the ability to handle movies as well as photos.
Go HERE to see the Orange Parade. It's supposed to be a practice for the biggest of big Orange Parade on July 12, the anniversary of a 300 year old battle. It appears they do need a tad more practice. But it was exciting to see the event, even though it's hard for us American's to understand the political/religious issues behind these.
I do have to say that there was one scary moment where I thought a riot was going to break out, and you could fairly smell the testesterone and tension in the air. People there said I was in a safe place, others I asked later told me I was a nut case for hanging around that area at all.
So exciting moment to capture, by total accident that I was there and glad my camera had the ability to handle movies as well as photos.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
In the USA
I'm sleeping in my bed tonight! I've been up about 40 hours now, and in the last 10 it's become over abundant that I need a shower. I just spent about 30 minutes in the shower and I've had a protine drink and I'm catching up on my favorite shows that played while I was gone, and will soon close my eyes, hopefully, for a long time. Realistically, I'm wound pretty tight right now, but I really need to catch up some, and I need to do a hellovalot of laundry! It was good to fly into the USA today. It's GREAT to lay on MY bed tonight! Will write more after some of my neurons have gotten a little more melatonin from sleep. Adventures. Lots of adventures.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Limerick
No, I'm not smart enough to make one up. But my butt is in Limerick, Ireland. I just had a couple of amazing days. Yesterday I went to Newry to see if I could find the grave of my mom's sister who died in 1935. Amazingly I did. It was very special, especially since I thought it was a task that would be like finding hen's teeth. It was easy as pie, but I'll have to write about it later as I'm at an internet cafe right now and the clock is running.
I went to Brigid's Well in Kildare today. It was so lovely with all the spring flowers blooming and special flowers put out on account of the Easter holiday. It's lovely, but COLD. It's cold like Atlanta in Febuary here.
Sat on a train most of the day today, except for the time in Kildare. I'm going to a pub (don't worry, my liver won't let me drink) and have some pub grub and then I'm going to check in REALLY early for my 11-somthing AM flight tomorrow. I'm too cheap to pay for a night in a hotel at this point. The Republic of Ireland is very expensive, but I splurged last night and spent the night in Newry at a real B & B and it was lovely. Met a very nice lady who worked her whole life as a midwife in Newry. Fascinating.
Gotta run before the clock runs out and the machine cuts me off. Having fun on the cheap but ready to make my way home. I miss all of you. ALL of you.
I went to Brigid's Well in Kildare today. It was so lovely with all the spring flowers blooming and special flowers put out on account of the Easter holiday. It's lovely, but COLD. It's cold like Atlanta in Febuary here.
Sat on a train most of the day today, except for the time in Kildare. I'm going to a pub (don't worry, my liver won't let me drink) and have some pub grub and then I'm going to check in REALLY early for my 11-somthing AM flight tomorrow. I'm too cheap to pay for a night in a hotel at this point. The Republic of Ireland is very expensive, but I splurged last night and spent the night in Newry at a real B & B and it was lovely. Met a very nice lady who worked her whole life as a midwife in Newry. Fascinating.
Gotta run before the clock runs out and the machine cuts me off. Having fun on the cheap but ready to make my way home. I miss all of you. ALL of you.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ireland North and South
Exhausted and working hard at having fun. Seen a lot but not as much as I'd like. It's tought work getting around on public transportation. I have to say that the trains and buses here are fabulous though.
Anything less than a 30 minute walk and they recommend that you walk it though. So I've been walking with about 50 pounds of luggage behind me. Phew. Tiring.
Have seen Dublin (tourist trap) have seen Belfast (nicer and much more friendly), and am now headed to Newry with the hope of getting a B & B tonight. Have been youth hosteling it and am not ready to sleep, sleep, sleep.
Must run only have a few minutes here for the follow of paying a guy $2 American so the fellow would let me check in. Internet access here is difficult to get if you don't have pounds and all I have is Euros. He thought dollars was a lark.
Having fun. Tired but fun.
Fly back on Sat/Sun. Love you all.
Anything less than a 30 minute walk and they recommend that you walk it though. So I've been walking with about 50 pounds of luggage behind me. Phew. Tiring.
Have seen Dublin (tourist trap) have seen Belfast (nicer and much more friendly), and am now headed to Newry with the hope of getting a B & B tonight. Have been youth hosteling it and am not ready to sleep, sleep, sleep.
Must run only have a few minutes here for the follow of paying a guy $2 American so the fellow would let me check in. Internet access here is difficult to get if you don't have pounds and all I have is Euros. He thought dollars was a lark.
Having fun. Tired but fun.
Fly back on Sat/Sun. Love you all.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Technology Impaired
OK, tonight is the last post for a week, more than likely. I'm packing like a mad woman for tomorrow's trip to NYC and then tomorrow night on to Ireland. I don't know if I'll get to an internet cafe, or if the hostel I'm staying in will have internet access, so if you see a post, I have access. If you don't, when I get back I'll NEED SLEEP and then I'll post pix.
I promise Gigi, I'm brining you and your mom a clover. Everyone else, that's exactly the kind of souvenir I can afford, so that's likely what you're getting. God bless my daughter for hauling me to the airport at 6AM! She gets yet another star in her heavenly crown.
Right now both cats are asleep on the outfit I plan to wear tomorrow. There's no escaping cat hair! It looks like some is even going to Ireland with me.
I'm excited because by the time I get back, they'll have done the criminal background check on me, they have copies of my driver's license and insurance, and the person I'm interested in fostering will probably be allowed to come spend some day visits with me. Good Lord but you should see the size and length of the questionnairs and forms I have to complete. It's more than I even thought was possible or necessary. I'm having a kid at 57! (presuming all things come together) Who'd have thought?! (Including me! I never expected to be ambushed by maternal feelings at this point in my life. Wow.
I promise Gigi, I'm brining you and your mom a clover. Everyone else, that's exactly the kind of souvenir I can afford, so that's likely what you're getting. God bless my daughter for hauling me to the airport at 6AM! She gets yet another star in her heavenly crown.
Right now both cats are asleep on the outfit I plan to wear tomorrow. There's no escaping cat hair! It looks like some is even going to Ireland with me.
I'm excited because by the time I get back, they'll have done the criminal background check on me, they have copies of my driver's license and insurance, and the person I'm interested in fostering will probably be allowed to come spend some day visits with me. Good Lord but you should see the size and length of the questionnairs and forms I have to complete. It's more than I even thought was possible or necessary. I'm having a kid at 57! (presuming all things come together) Who'd have thought?! (Including me! I never expected to be ambushed by maternal feelings at this point in my life. Wow.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Giving Back to My Job
After putting the non-contractual employees on five days of furlough, privatizing the janitorial services, turning the lights off at night (duh!) and all sorts of other money-saving schemes. the school system will still fall about $150K short. So they're asking us contractual employees to donate anything but they're hoping for five days of our time. And, we have to tell them by Friday! One of the staff figured out that if every teacher gave $483 back to the system, they won't have to lay anyone off. Obama money doesn't get here until next fiscal year. So between now and the end of school we have to figure out how to not be sick or off from school because they're not able to spring for any substitute teachers. We're lucky though. Carroll County has laid off 243 employees. So far, attrition is what they are using, and no one (other than the janitorial staff) has been terminated.
State law requires the school budget to be balanced so they have to come up with the moola. They changed the state law about contracts too this year. So they don't have to give us our contracts until May 15th. Wow, that's really pushing things to the last possible moment. Teachers are used to getting contracts by late March or early April. If you're not offered a contract, while school is still in session, you can run around and look for a different job. The new date for contract offers means that teachers won't find out until just about when school is over and won't have much time to locate other employment. This is a nerve-wracking time of the year for teachers.
I prefer to give something back than force someone to be laid off. Tough times everywhere. I'm sure that lots of other places would prefer to have their people give something back rather than have to be forced to lay off non-contractual employees. I do feel the school system is doing the best it can. I'm sorry that there will not be a summer school, or than after school tutoring will be as available, and I hate it for our janitors that they become $6.25/hour employees with no benefits and found out about it on e-mail. Very stressful at work right now.
State law requires the school budget to be balanced so they have to come up with the moola. They changed the state law about contracts too this year. So they don't have to give us our contracts until May 15th. Wow, that's really pushing things to the last possible moment. Teachers are used to getting contracts by late March or early April. If you're not offered a contract, while school is still in session, you can run around and look for a different job. The new date for contract offers means that teachers won't find out until just about when school is over and won't have much time to locate other employment. This is a nerve-wracking time of the year for teachers.
I prefer to give something back than force someone to be laid off. Tough times everywhere. I'm sure that lots of other places would prefer to have their people give something back rather than have to be forced to lay off non-contractual employees. I do feel the school system is doing the best it can. I'm sorry that there will not be a summer school, or than after school tutoring will be as available, and I hate it for our janitors that they become $6.25/hour employees with no benefits and found out about it on e-mail. Very stressful at work right now.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
New Shoes
When you wear ugly orthopaedic shoes like I do, a new pair is a big deal. I got a black pair of Mary Janes today that are slightly less ugly than the average ugly orthopaedic shoe.
So that's the high point of my day.
Hope you and those you love are happy, healthy and have full bellies tonight.
So that's the high point of my day.
Hope you and those you love are happy, healthy and have full bellies tonight.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Poem
I was searching the townhouse up and down this evening looking for a really OLD scrapbook/picture album. While in the middle of the search, I found a relaly old poem that I wrote back in 1977 or 1978 or so. I think my daughter can enjoy it now while she has:
Helping Hands
Don't play with our records
Don't dial the phone;
Dismanteling the TV
For reasons unknown!
Floating your toys
Inside the commode;
Writing on walls
In your own little code.
Unpotting the plants
Was fun for awhile;
I saw you empty
Those drawers with a smile!
Life is more interesting
Since you came along;
There's never any telling
What next you'll do wrong.
But sweet little smiles
And wet "gooshey" kisses,
Make me glad I'm a Mommy,
Make me glad I'm a Mrs.
Joann Ward
The reference to records in the first stanza are not a reference to papers saved. It's a reference to those round things you put on your stereo and when the arm came down and settled in the grooves of plastic, you got to hear music.
I did find out that my Grandmother was born on October 28th, 1898 and that her name was Elizabeth Marion Clarke McPherson. That "e" on the end of her name was a big deal. I thought she didn't have the "e" but I was wrong. The "e" must be essential. There are about 5 parishes for the Church of Ireland in Newry. I'm hoping when I go there, I can figure out from the parish registers where my mother's sister is buried. She died in 1931 from dyptheria. I'd also like to see if I can go to city hall without it being a HUGE deal, and see if I can get a birth certificate for my mom (and maybe even her sister, Frieda). I honestly don't know where my grandmother was born. That might take more research than I have time for while there.
I thought Jenn would enjoy the poem though. I used to write a fair amount of poems, though I'm sure they're nothing special except they were words from my heart.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
New Opportunities
I'm taking classes to become a foster parent. It's a little exciting. It's a little scary. It's a little bit anxiety-provoking. But, ultimately if I didn't think it was "right" I wouldn't do it. I can't say much here. I can't post a picture. Everything is all at the very beginning stages, and anything might or might not happen.
I'm inviting a new person into my life. There is a LONG list of things I have to do from getting doctor's statements, the cats checked by the vet, and having my home inspected. And the list goes on and on and on. If it works out, it will be close to or at the end of the school year. It's possible that after I get back from Ireland that I'll be allowed to have this person visit some.
The sun is now shining, Spring is definitely in the air (including lots of pollen). I'm going to get a book, go hold down my chase lounge and take pleasure in getting some vitamin D. I also have some day lillies I need to plant. I got some pink and orange ones the other day at Home Depot. I like Tiger Lillies. It's 68 and sunny. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to get ugly. I'll enjoy what I have of today.
I'm inviting a new person into my life. There is a LONG list of things I have to do from getting doctor's statements, the cats checked by the vet, and having my home inspected. And the list goes on and on and on. If it works out, it will be close to or at the end of the school year. It's possible that after I get back from Ireland that I'll be allowed to have this person visit some.
The sun is now shining, Spring is definitely in the air (including lots of pollen). I'm going to get a book, go hold down my chase lounge and take pleasure in getting some vitamin D. I also have some day lillies I need to plant. I got some pink and orange ones the other day at Home Depot. I like Tiger Lillies. It's 68 and sunny. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to get ugly. I'll enjoy what I have of today.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Sitter Downer is Tired
We did an assignment on the flags of Europe today, which is to say, it was a less intense day while students learned that red and blue are very popular colors for most flags.
After school I had a meeting to attend, and my sitter downer is done! I have to be back for a follow-up meeting in the morning.
I got an electricity converter yesterday so I'd be able to charge my camera in Ireland. I'm mentally starting to pack my suitcase. And I found out that 13C is about 53. So, it's a little cooler there than here. It's going to be a busy weekend.
After school I had a meeting to attend, and my sitter downer is done! I have to be back for a follow-up meeting in the morning.
I got an electricity converter yesterday so I'd be able to charge my camera in Ireland. I'm mentally starting to pack my suitcase. And I found out that 13C is about 53. So, it's a little cooler there than here. It's going to be a busy weekend.
Monday, March 30, 2009
"Graduation"
You might have noticed a few changes to the blog and its format. I decided that it's time for it to be "Welcome to the Latest News" and not the "Welcome to the Latest News of the Boobs" anymore. With any luck, I will never need it to revert back.
I'm living in faith that I'm recovering and that with the aggressiveness of my treatment, that the cancer will not return. I'll always have to be vigilant, but I have to live, not live like I'm dying. I've seen the gastroenterologist (last week) and my mysterious pain is probably due to losing and gaining back some weight between last summer and now. Not to mention that my liver was under incredible stress with steroids and poison going through it last year. So it's not sure if I've got scaring on my liver or if I have an issue with too much fat in my liver, but I really don't want to have a liver biopsy to find out! So I'm willing to live with the ambiguity and work on trying to lose weight slowly so I don't over stress my liver. As different as I eat now, compared to before treatment, I really don't understand why I'm not losing weight. It just doesn't make sense to me, but clearly I'm maintaining my weight quite well.
I have my Breast Cancer Support Group tomorrow night, and a couple other meetings this weekend, so I'm going to be a busy girl for the next few weeks. Be patient with me. I'm running as fast as I can.
I'm living in faith that I'm recovering and that with the aggressiveness of my treatment, that the cancer will not return. I'll always have to be vigilant, but I have to live, not live like I'm dying. I've seen the gastroenterologist (last week) and my mysterious pain is probably due to losing and gaining back some weight between last summer and now. Not to mention that my liver was under incredible stress with steroids and poison going through it last year. So it's not sure if I've got scaring on my liver or if I have an issue with too much fat in my liver, but I really don't want to have a liver biopsy to find out! So I'm willing to live with the ambiguity and work on trying to lose weight slowly so I don't over stress my liver. As different as I eat now, compared to before treatment, I really don't understand why I'm not losing weight. It just doesn't make sense to me, but clearly I'm maintaining my weight quite well.
I have my Breast Cancer Support Group tomorrow night, and a couple other meetings this weekend, so I'm going to be a busy girl for the next few weeks. Be patient with me. I'm running as fast as I can.
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