~the view from a different window~

After spending the better part of a week slowly sifting through the sea of tubs and boxes that I have moved here to Montrose from my old home in Kansas, I have decided to put the lids on the remaining ones and stack them in the corner of a spare room here.  When it became apparent that I could not get through them in any timely fashion before school begins in August, it just seemed better to save the task at hand for the cold and snowy days that will surely arrive here in the Rocky Mountains this winter.  It's not like that which is contained  inside will go bad or expire or anything and hey, I want to take my time to decide whether or not things should be saved or pitched.  Once gone, they will never be found again.  Well at least that's the plan for now.

Soon, very soon it will be time to start shifting gears and begin to prepare for the school year that is fast upcoming.  Even though it seems like yesterday that "the 18" and I were standing inside our 4th grade classroom at Olathe and saying our "good byes" to one another, the calendar is now at the mid-way mark for the month of July.  For all intents and purposes we are down to the very last month and when it gets to this point in time, the days will only fly by that much quicker.  It's time to start thinking of going back to school.  For year number 37 as an educator, I give thanks. 

Some of the very last of the boxes that I went through just prior to closing them up for a few months contained photos from school days of long ago.  I had to laugh as I looked at some of them and to realize just how much I had grown and changed.  From my first year of teaching in 1979 until my most current assignment here in south western Colorado, I have kept them all.  Every chance that I have had to take photos of my students and of myself with them, I have done so.  Those photos are so very precious and a remembrance of a wonderful life that has been afforded to me.  I have loved and cherished being called "teacher" by so many students.  Long ago I lost track of how many different ones that I have known.  As the years have gone by and my mind has grown slightly dimmer with age :), I have forgotten some of their names but I always recognize their little faces.  Even years after they have grown up. 

This year I am switching to the first grade classroom at Olathe Elementary and I am looking forward to returning to the very little people once again.  Just like my 4th grade experience last year at Olathe, I'm blessed to be a part of a very strong team of first grade teachers.  Each of us come from different experiences and backgrounds with plenty to offer to the others.  I like that about being a teacher, this opportunity to share knowledge and gain some as well.  There was a time, several years back,  when I foolishly thought that I didn't require the help of others, that I could do whatever I needed to during the course of a school day without asking anyone for assistance.  I now am a whole lot older and equally wiser and with that wisdom, I eagerly ask for advice or counsel from others as to what they think a good course of action would be.  It sure makes life a lot easier when you accept the fact that you are going to learn something new until the day you die.  I guess you would call me a veteran teacher but some days I feel just the same as a beginning one.  Humbling, to say the least.

The wind is blowing here this morning in these, the very early hours along the Western Slopes.  The monsoon rains seemed to have gone all the way around us down in the valley where Montrose lies.  Yesterday was a warm one and even though I hate winter time and the cold it brings to us, I'm kind of at the point in life where I am not too crazy about hot weather either.  The garden is growing, flowers and lawn hanging in there too.  The alfalfa field will be ready for another cutting come early August or so and fields of corn that are standing green and growing tall, will be ready for their harvest later on in the fall too.  Life is ok here and I am finding my niche in several different places now.  I'm so glad that I survived last summer and was able to tough it out when things seemed pretty bleak.  Had I given up and gone back to Kansas, I would have missed out on a lot of wonderful things that were waiting for me to find them.  Homesickness and loneliness laid me upon God's anvil.  The refining process was a bit on the painful side but in the end it shaped me to become the person I was destined to be this day.  I don't think the refinement is quite finished yet and perhaps there is much more to see.  But until that time comes, I patiently wait (ok, ok maybe not REAL patiently) to see what will happen to me.  For me.  Through me. 

I am thinking of you dear friends and family, hoping always that you are well and at peace with this life.  In a summer that has been both busy and challenging, I give thanks to God above for the gifts that have been mine to enjoy.  For the greatest and surely for the least of them, I shall always remain thankful. 

Have a great day everyone out there~

Alive and well along the Rocky Mountains of the Western Slope of Colorado~

The view from a different window~