~and because sometimes you just have to go home~

Sometimes you have to go home, you know?

Leastwise, that's the way it was for me yesterday.  In the early morning hours, I made the 5 hour journey to the north and drove to south central Kansas.  It was the place I called my home for nearly 57 years of life.  I left it 3 years ago when I got married to Mike and settled down with him for the next two years in the southwestern Colorado community called Montrose. Last we year we moved on to a new life here along the Red River in northern Texas.  It's been a while since that all happened and even as happy as I am here in my new home, one thing still remains.

Sometimes I get lonely for Kansas.
Sometimes I just have to go home.

It is wonderful to be able to hop in the car and basically head north and get back there in 5 hours or less.  While we were living in Colorado, our trips took nearly 11-12 hours and thus, we didn't make them nearly as often as we do now.  Crossing over Monarch Pass was always a challenge but never once did we have trouble.  For that miracle, I have always given thanks. The plains of Texas (at least this part of it) remind me ever so much of the plains of Kansas.  It's kind of/sort of like living there once again, but not really.  

Texas is not Kansas.  It was never meant to be.

For several weeks now, I've been experiencing this little feeling inside of me that always indicates it's time to go back and see how things are going there.  I knew that I couldn't stay long and these two days were basically my only open window.  So I went and I'm glad that I did.

Kansas was the place that raised me up and its people are the ones who cared about the shy, young girl I used to be.  The little Reno County town of Haven had a huge part in my upbringing and I had to get a whole lot older to realize it and to be thankful.  I stopped there first thing yesterday to take a few pictures and to pause and remember.  It was worth driving all those miles to see it once again.

I remember well the 16-year old girl that I used to be.  She was positive that she would never leave Haven, Kansas.  For the longest time, she did not.  

The robin's egg blue Kansas sky was filled with huge bunches of white, marshmallowy clouds in it.  I was drawn immediately to the downtown area where I knew I'd find this skyscraper of sorts.  As I stood there watching the elevator, my mind drifted back to a time long ago when I sat inside of my father's wheat truck and waited in line with him to dump his load of harvested grain.  For just that little moment, I could almost imagine the way my father's hands would look as they gripped the steering wheel while he waited.  My mother told me once that I have my father's hands and I believe that is something to be proud of.  My father knew how to work hard.

I got many things accomplished in the short time I was there.  Not only did I get the chance to visit with dear friends and family in Hutchinson, I also got the opportunity to journey to the east towards the town of Halstead, Kansas.  My sweet aunt who is now nearly 103 years old lives there and how happy I was to sit by her and hold her hand to visit.  I was more than grateful to have my daughter along with me to take care of all the driving!  After being behind the wheel for 5 hours, I was glad to let her take over the job of getting us there and back.  We also went out to the cemetery in order to pay respects to all of my family members that have gone on before us.  I try to get out there as often as I can because as a small child, I was  taught to honor and remember the dead.  The cemetery north of town is where my folks, a brother and sister, a niece, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins are all buried.  I honored them yesterday by paying a visit.  It felt nice to do so.  Sometimes I just need to stand by my parents' graves and tell them thank you and that I love them still.

The time went way too quickly as it always does.  Before the day got away from me yesterday, I made sure to pay a visit to a great little store that is on South Main Street in Hutchinson.  I wanted to go there because they have one massive display of just about any kind of candy under the sun.  I wanted to be sure to pick up enough to take care of my new students for at least a week's worth of time.  They won't be disappointed.  

I came back with aplenty.

This morning I got up rather early to start back for home after getting only about 5 of hours of sleep last night.  I was afraid I would be tired as I drove home but thankfully I made it just fine. I turned up the AC and cranked up the 70's station, navigating myself the over 300 miles back home.  By the time I got back to Burkburnett, it was nearly 1 p.m. and only then did I start to feel tired.  It won't take me long to get to sleep tonight.  If I sat here at the table much longer, it wouldn't take much for me to close my eyes in slumber.

So Kansas, my dear sweet state, I am so glad I came to see you.  I'm happy that I soaked up all that I could of you in the past 36 hours or so.  My heart is even more full this afternoon than it already was yesterday morning before I pulled out of the driveway.  I'll be back another time very soon as I remember a good lesson that I have learned.

Don't ever forget the people who raised you and remember always where you came from.
For me, it was the fine folks of a placed called Haven.
If a person could be in love with a little town, then I most surely am with that one.

~and I really don't know everything~

I've been hitting the books lately in preparation for the start of school here in this part of the world.  It will be my privilege to begin my 39th year as an educator in a small rural school just up the road aways and across the Red River into Oklahoma.  How wonderful it will be to make that short 10 mile drive to and from school each day.  

This year I'll be returning to a self-contained classroom of 3rd graders and as such will teach a variety of subject matter.  Social studies, in particular everything you would wish to know about Oklahoma-the state, is one of them.  

One thing is for certain.  
I have much to learn.

I grew up in Kansas and spent nearly 58 years of my life there.  It was the place that I always called "home".  As a kid growing up, I learned about my state and all of the things that made it what it was.  As a teacher for well over 3 decades there, it was fun to help kids learn about the same things that I did at their age.  I still can sing "Home on the Range" without missing a beat, am able to recall a dozen famous Kansans without even having to stop and think about it, tell you without hesitation that there are 105 counties in all, and will forever be able to tell you that in the year of my birth (1955) the American buffalo was chosen as the state animal.  I may now only go home to visit but I will always hold Kansas near and dear to my heart.

Don't try to get me to change.
It won't work.
It's my forever home.

I've had the privilege of being able to teach in 3 other states now in addition to Kansas and in all of those states, it's been necessary to learn new facts about the geography and the history of each one.  I remember how my partner teachers, Erin and Amanda, back in Olathe, Colorado taught me all about the mountain ranges and mesas as well as important Coloradoans like Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta, Baby Doe Tabor, Kit Carson, and Buffalo Bill Cody.  In Texas, I visited the Alamo and became more acquainted about the last stand of Davy Crockett and the brave bunch of men who adopted the motto, "come and take it".  I learned that the geography of this massively expansive state is as varied as it comes.  From the desert areas to the hill country, to the tree filled eastern section to the gulf shore itself, Texas covers a lot of territory.  

Now for Oklahoma.

I've been coming to Oklahoma for years now with some of my earliest memories being made in the communities of Perry and Guthrie where family members on my mother's side of the house once lived and are now buried.   Oklahoma City was a popular vacation spot for us when my 3 children were little.  It was easy to get to by just hopping on I-35 south of Wichita, setting the cruise control, and before you knew it, you were there.  My sister and brother-in-law have lived for over 30 years now in Altus, a city not all that far from where we live now.  To get there, I used to take the back roads from Hutchinson.  That drive would take me south of Kiowa, Kansas and down through the western part of the state of Oklahoma.  It was a longer drive than going through Oklahoma City, but it afforded me the chance to see so much more of the state's beautiful countryside.  

In early August it will be my turn to teach Oklahoma children and for me it is the chance of a lifetime.  

I am busy pouring over the state social studies standards as well as all of the curriculum that we will use this year.   There is much to learn for me and it will work out just fine because I like to learn.  I smile at the remembrance of a time long ago when I told a class of first graders back in Kansas that I didn't know the answer to a question they asked of me.  I'll never forget the response of a little boy who, with a bewildered look upon his face, said to me,

"Hey you are a teacher!  Teachers are supposed to know everything."
Sadly and with a smile on my own face, I had to let him in on the fact that I didn't really know everything.  He only thought I did.

The good Lord above has been mighty good to me.  He has carried me safely from my home in Kansas to the mountains of Colorado.  After that, He brought me down to the plains of Texas and now, in just a couple of weeks more, across the Red River into the little town of Randlett, Oklahoma. No matter where I have landed, I have never felt alone.  Life has been one big geography/social studies lesson for me.  Now it is my time to teach Oklahoma children and this I know to be a fact.

I could not be happier!

Life has been quite an adventure these past 3 years.  God blessed me.

What a privilege and honor it has been to teach alongside so many exemplary teachers.   These two dear ladies are two of them from back home in Hutchinson, Kansas.

~please celebrate it~

To realize that it's the 17th day of July already is a bit on the overwhelming side of life.  In the proverbial blink of an eye, each day passes by.  I'm ready for the 22,180th day of my existence here on the earth.  What shall it bring for me?  

Only the good Lord above knows.

It's kind of strange to measure your life in days rather than years.  On the 1,827th day of my life back in 1960, I was just a little kid in the first grade at Burrton (KS) Grade School with little more to worry about than who my playmates at recess would be or which cute little boys might chase us on the playground.  There were no big decisions to make, other than whether to color first or play outside when I got home from school.  

Life was pretty simple and good.
I liked it as such.

When I was 6,575 days old back in 1973, I was a high school senior back home in Haven, Kansas.  The war in Vietnam was still raging on and to show my support for those listed as POW/MIA, I wore a special bracelet that cost $1 to order from a company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The name of my POW, Lee Edward Nordahl, was engraved on mine and I wore it until it finally broke into two pieces.  It has been 15,533 days since then.  

Where did it all go?
How many more wars have we seen?

On day #8,766, I was in my very first year of teaching back in the same small elementary that I grew up in as a child.  Never did I dream back then that I would return to the halls and classrooms of Haven Grade School, but I surely did.  It was a blessing to be able to teach alongside some of the very same teachers who had taught me when I was a little girl.  Now, 13,414 days later I am readying myself for my 39th year as an educator and I have to wonder about something in my mind and heart.

How many more days shall I have here on this earth?
Only the good Lord above knows.

My life has taken some strange twists and turns with nothing really working out as I might have predicted early on.  I have been asked many times, as I am sure many of you have as well, the question.
"If you could go back in time and change anything, would you?"
My answer would be, probably not.

Everything that has happened to me over the course of the last 6 decades has happened for a reason and with great purpose in mind.  Definitely things didn't turnout the way I thought they might.  Just when I thought life was in order, something happened.  Sometimes it was bad but most other times it was good and surely for the best.  More often than not, it was unplanned but through it all, one thing remained constant.

God was with me.
He still is today.
You will never convince me otherwise.
Don't even bother to try.

Today is Sunday, the 17th day of July.  The house is quiet in these early morning hours.  Crosby and Sally are not even stirring and from the stillness of our bedroom, Mike's soft breathing in sleep can be heard.  I have learned as I grew older to celebrate each day that comes to me, no matter how quickly it seems to leave as nighttime falls. 

My wish for you dear ones is that you also feel the same way.
Today is a great day to be alive in.
Celebrate it.

On the 21,207th day of my life, God sent this man to me.  No longer would I need to worry about growing old alone.  We began the plan then that we still adhere to this day and it's called "sticking together".  

You gotta love a guy who would agree to get married on the last day of school in front of all the kids his wife had taught.  That gymnasium on East Bigger Street and all of those precious folks who filled the chairs to witness us marry one another, will forever remain special to us.

~and it is not over yet~

From hot and humid Texas, hi everyone!

I promised the kids at my old school in Petrolia this past spring that I would work hard to get to my 1,000th blogpost before the end of the school year.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.  So when school was dismissed in late May, I told them that I'd try my best to get to that magic number by summer's end. Today's post is my 974th one and if I can do the math correctly, that leaves 26 more to go.  I think I might just make it.

It's kind of strange to look back on all of the writing that I have done since this blog's inception back in May of 2011.  I've written about so many things that I honestly have forgotten what some of my stories were about.  It's actually kind of fun to pick a random selection and reread where life had led me to at that point in time.  I still shudder when I happen to read a blogpost that was written in 2012 and find a mistake in my editing of it.  Quickly I find myself taking care of a spelling or grammar error or two and laugh to myself when I remember that I'm only human.  

Writing has been a good exercise and one that has helped me talk through things that might have been bugging me in one way or the other.  I would say that at least a third of what I have written has been done during times of stress or sadness.  As I read through those posts, I realized just how beneficial writing out your thoughts can be for you.  Once early on, I wrote that I suffered from depression from time to time.  I was afraid at first to admit that but really felt better after I had said it.  I remember saying in that blogpost that writing was a form of therapy for me and I used it to help myself get through some tough times.  I didn't know what people would say when they read it but I wrote anyways.  Not long after posting it online, I received several emails from friends who thanked me for talking about it.  They too had suffered from time to time with being depressed and they were glad to just know they were not alone.  I felt better after reading their comments and so I continued on with writing about anything that was on my mind or weighed heavy on my heart.  Hey, I figure that it's cheaper than medicine and way more effective.  You can't beat that!

I've used this blog as a teaching tool with students in Kansas, Colorado, and Texas.  I surely hope to find a way for it to be useful with my new 3rd graders in Oklahoma as well.  A blog can be used to teach the writing process from its beginning in the brainstorming and preplanning stage all the way to its end stage of publishing the finished product.  It can teach children (as well as adults) to use care in the words you choose, especially those that others will read.  Once those words are published, it's hard to take them back again.  

My blogs have helped me to teach some of the most important lessons of them all and those would be the lessons of life.  By sharing my blogposts with students, they see that I am a real person who has gone through some bumps along the road as well as being blessed beyond measure many other times.  I'm glad to share my life with them through the power of the written word and I hope they would be inspired to write as well.  

One of my students from last year messaged me this summer and asked if I was ever going to stop writing.  He wanted to know that if I did make it to that magic 1,000th post, would it be my last?  My answer to him and to any other person who has asked the very same legitimate question has always been this one.

"I will write until there is nothing left to say, until words no longer come to me."

For the gift of words that help us to remember the good and bad times of life, I give thanks.

I've been on quite a journey since this blog began and the wonderful thing is that it's not over yet!  Not even close.

~neither can I~

A word about being married to an educator~
Mike is a good sport about nearly everything, but he's a particularly good one when it comes to being a teacher's husband.  Last night after he got home from work, I told him that I needed to go to the store and buy some things to finish up a couple of bulletin boards in my classroom.  He didn't hesitate when I asked him if he would like to go along and never complained once when we had to make a trip to a different store than originally planned.  By the time we got home at 8:30, he was tired and ready to call it a day.  As a matter of fact, we both were.

While I was buying some material to cover one of my boards, the store clerk and I found ourselves in conversation.  I told her that I was a teacher in Oklahoma and she replied back that once she had tried substituting in the local school district for a few years.  She asked me how long I'd been teaching and when I told her 39 years, she couldn't believe it and the truth is this.

Neither can I.

Yesterday I began the process of preparing a new classroom for the 39th time in my career and that is a sobering thought to me.  When I heard those words "I have been a teacher for 39 years" come out of my mouth as I was speaking with that nice store clerk last evening, it was with profound gratitude to the one above who led me to this vocation in the first place.

As I was moving the student desks,  unpacking boxes, arranging my collection of Kansas memorabilia over the top of the cabinets, putting things on the top of my desk, and a gazillion other little things yesterday, I thought about the kids who would soon be given to me and entrusted into my care.  What would they be like?  How would our first day go together?  Where would our progress be at the end of the first 9 weeks or even by mid-year?  Lots of thoughts were floating around in my mind yet even with all the questions I had, one thing remained a certain fact for me.

I am surely glad to have been chosen to be their teacher.

I cannot wait to meet them and to call them by name.  I have much to teach them but equally more important, I have much to learn from them as well.  The greatest job there ever was is that of being a teacher.  You will never convince this teacher otherwise.

29 sleeps more until the first day of school.
29 days until we are all together once again.
Truly, to God be all of this glory.

I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when I show them what's inside of this container.  It's a real Easter egg, now more than 54 years old that I dyed one Easter Sunday long, long ago.  It goes wherever I go and I'll fill them in on the story behind it the very first day of school this year.  Believe it or not, it's still intact albeit quite faded.  Once a kid asked me if I was ever going to break it open to see the inside of it.  My response was pretty short and sweet.  "No.  I don't think so."

~and they call it the human one~

There are some nights that I don't sleep too well.
Last night was one of those nights.

I blamed it on a bunch of things, like watching way too much news on the television and online about the recent events here in Texas and beyond. Perhaps it was because I am worried about loved ones that aren't feeling so good right now.  Hey, last night I was even fretting about people who didn't know I was concerned about them in the first place.  Whatever it was that kept me from getting any sleep, it generally went right back to things that I couldn't change anyways.

Even if I tried.
Sounds just like me.
I'm good at doing that.

For over 3 hours, I tossed and turned.  I couldn't get comfortable and in my inability to sleep I worked myself up into an anxiety attack like I'd never had before.  Poor Mike.  That's all I have to say about that.  

Poor Mike.

I got up in the middle of it all, not once but many times.  I came to the kitchen table and tried to write a blog post but the words just would not come out.  The more I thought about things, the more I worried.  The more I worried, the more anxious I became.  It was a losing proposition.  

Finally about 12:30 this morning my eyes closed in slumber and when I woke up 6 hours later  I pretty much felt like I had been run over by a truck.  I pray to get better sleep tonight and the good Lord willing, I shall.  

I remembered my mom as I was feeling the distress this past night and all of the anxiety attacks that she would have.  I always felt so bad for her that she had to endure them and try as she might, they came quite regularly.  It was something she had to get through and it was really a relief to know that in the end as she took her final breath on this earth, that those awful instances of dread and fear were gone.  

No more anxiety.  No more pain.

I wasn't going to write this post but I'm glad that I did.  Sometimes it just helps to talk about things and to remember that none of us are perfect and some of us are way more anxious than others.  In spite of it all, it is wise to acknowledge the fact that we are all running in the same race.

They call it the human one.

~my blessing~

~and as we learn to make do~

1955 was a good year for cars, birthing little babies, and building the house that we now live in here in Burkburnett, Texas.  I saw a really sweet looking '55 Chevy the other day at a car show in Wichita Falls.  Its owner obviously loved it and the polished gleam to its turquoise body bore testament to that fact.  My 60-year old body is a little on the worn out and rusty side of life but I'm still going pretty strong myself.  When my 61st birthday rolls around come this October 26th, I will celebrate another year of living with deep gratitude in my heart.  As for our house here upon the plains of Texas, it is sturdy and built like a rock.  For that we are grateful as well.

When we moved here in mid-January, this house was basically "move in ready" and other than a little cleaning here and there, there wasn't a whole lot that we needed to do at first.  The fact that it was constructed in 1955 was very appealing to me.  It's not every day that you can buy a house that shares your birthdate.  This one does.

It reminds me so much of the house where I spent my first 8 years of life back in Kansas.  My early childhood home in the sand hills of Harvey County was built in 1955 as well by my father.  For $10,000 he was able to build a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom home for his family of 7 children in the spring that year and when I was born late in the fall, it would become my home too.  One of the features of our new house here in Texas that put me in mind of that place from long ago were the kitchen cupboards.  Both houses had similar ones, seemingly sturdy enough to live through an F5 tornado, Great Plains style.  That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I'm saying?

One of the things that Mike and I had talked about doing from the beginning, was to somehow or another change up the appearance of the kitchen cupboards.  We didn't want to put in new ones because these are extremely well built, even though they are now 60 years old.  The hardware that was used on them is in good shape as well.  Their stain is a medium shade of brown and it was something that we could learn to live with for a while also.  But we wondered what they would look like if some fresh paint was put upon them to liven up their appearance.

Yesterday we began to find out.

We started at the hardware store here in town that Mike manages.  They have a great supply of anything you need for fixer-upper projects such as these.  We weren't exactly sure what color of paint we wanted but were open to many different ideas.  The paint sample palette was full to overflowing with choices.  Both of us wanted to stay in the greens and blues section where there ended up being a gazillion shades to choose from.  We brought a few color samples home and put them up against the current colors we had in the kitchen and ended up with one choice called "Garden District".  

By Saturday afternoon, the painting began in earnest.  It's a slow process because anytime a ladder is involved, I kind of like to err on the side of being careful.  I found that it would definitely be a two coat process and in some parts, even a three coat one.  I'd have to stop and let everything dry, which in this summertime heat doesn't take very long, and then check to see what spots I ended up missing.  For a couple of hours, I was at it and at the end of the day only the first one was completed.  I was happy with the appearance and couldn't believe just how much it changed the way everything would begin to look.

Mike will be able to help me today as we work our way across the west side of the kitchen wall. It's too much of a job to finish in a couple days time.  I think it's more like about a couple of weeks worth of time myself.  That's ok.  We are not in a race with anyone else to see who finishes first.  We just want to complete it sometime and we will.

I learned some lessons as I was painting yesterday, like how important it is to sand down the rough edges and why it's important to clean up the paintbrushes right away instead of leaving them for later.  I figured out that when the ceiling starts spinning while on a ladder, it's probably best to get off the ladder.  Yet even in all of those things, I believe I learned the most important lesson of all and that is this.

It's a good thing to learn to "make do" with what you have.

Even though it would have been nice to have brand new cupboards with all the available updates that are offered, it would have cost a lot of money.  It's money that we don't even have to spend right now.  For less than $50 in the cost of paint/supplies and several hours of that good old thing called "sweat equity", we can have cupboards that look different and new. It's all in how you look at things.  

It's called "perspective".  

The older I have become, the more I have adopted this idea of "make do".  It's fun and sometimes a challenge but at an age when I'm trying to downsize what I have in the first place, using what I already have makes the most sense.

It seems to work, at least for me.

~for all the bad in the world, there is still good~

You know something?
For all of the bad in this world of ours, there is still a whole lot more good.
I just know it.

My sister Sherry, my mentor in life and the field of education,  is pretty sick right now and recuperating in a hospital bed.  When I saw her yesterday, she wasn't worrying about getting better or when she would get to go home.  Instead, our visit revolved around my new classroom for this coming year and how she could help me get things ready for the kids.  Even though she still felt pretty rough, Sherry talked to me about things I could order to decorate the walls and how she would come over some time to help me with things I needed assistance with.  That's what I love about her.  She is always thinking of others before she ever considers her own needs. 

For all of the bad people in this world, there are good people like Sherry.

One of my students messaged me the other day and told me that he had begun his own blog online and wanted me to know about it.  That young man is a special kid who will enter the 6th grade this fall at my old school of Petrolia.  I was so proud of him and his accomplishments in writing this past year.  He told me that I had inspired him with my own blog and that he wanted to try his hand at it.  I know he will make it in this life.  That boy has ambition and plenty of it.

For all of the bad people that you read about in the news or see on the TV screen, there are young men like Skylar who are going to make one huge difference for the "good" in this world. Just you wait and see.

There is a great guy here in town named Dwight who cuts both my hair and Mike's.  I came across Dwight last summer when I was in dire need for help with my hair.  He knew just what to do and won me over immediately with his calm and gentle nature.  We have gone to him since then.  I've walked into his little shop countless times, totally unannounced and asked him if he would please just trim up my bangs before I took the scissors to them myself.  He always does and has never once taken a cent in payment for doing it.  His integrity as a businessman goes beyond what a person would normally do.  He and I are the same age and I have told him many times that he cannot retire before I die.  He laughs and says he will try his best to remain on the job.  

For all of the bad people in this world, there are folks like Dwight who are not out to make a killing while taking care of people's hair.  You don't find that very often and when you DO find them, you never want to let them go.

This world of ours is filled with way more people who are doing the "good" than there will ever be with people who are out to harm us in one way or the other.  You know them too.  Perhaps it's the stranger who insists that you cut in line in front of them at the market because you have two things and they have a full cart.  How about the sweet little old lady who sits on her front porch and keeps an eye on the neighborhood kids while they play outdoors in their own front yards?  It might be your own child's teacher who goes way beyond what is normally required of them in order that your children have a chance to succeed in their lives.  Hey these are only a few ideas.  Your hearts and minds are filled with many others.  They have to be.  They are out there if you only look for them.

For all of the bad people in this world, for this day and for all the days that follow, I choose to do one thing.

I make the choice to remember the good.
So should you.

It's the way that little baby girl was brought up.  

~and time flies when you are living life~

The days of summer are flying by us.  Once it was June the first and now already the calendar reminds us that the first 5 days of July will have passed by at record speed.  Where does the time go?  I had to get older, much older in fact, before I realized just how valuable and precious each passing day is to us all.  As the seasons of our own lives come and go, we are reminded of the brevity of this thing called "life" and how we should cherish all the days that we have been given.  

It seems strange that 6 years have already come and gone since I officially became a retired teacher (whatever that is) from the state of Kansas.  Recently I was looking through an album of pictures that documented my final year (or at least I thought it would be) as an ESL teacher back in south central Kansas.  Those pictures are very special  because they chronicle a great experience for me, one that I knew was coming from the very first day that school began that year.  I had planned all along to retire once I reached my 54th birthday on October 26, 2009.  Because I knew that after 32 years there would be no more returning to school, I wanted to document something from each and every day of my final year.  I made plans to make that year the very best one I ever had, not only for myself but most assuredly for my students as well.

It was my goal to keep track of everything I did during that final school year.  My plan for retirement was actually a year before this blog began and so rather than journal online, I kept a handwritten record of what I did each and every day.  I wrote about my thoughts, activities that I did with each of the kids, new people that I met, how I was feeling about retirement, and a gazillion other things that popped into my mind.  Sometimes I found myself daydreaming as I wrote, drawing out diagrams and schemes to redo my backyard or the front porch area of my home there in Hutchinson, Kansas.  I figured that with retirement would come the extra time to plant all kinds of flowers and vegetables.  I wanted to be ready for whatever came my way.  Recently I located that old journal with some other things at home here in Burkburnett and it was fun to go back and look at the things I wrote as well as all the plans I had for the future.

As I read through those pages, I began to remember all of those things which I had deemed important that school year and in some cases, most imperative to accomplish.  Those precious memories brought a smile to my face and a joyful feeling to my "teacher heart".  I'm so glad now that I kept a record and took pictures to recall each day.  Some of them are shown below.

I went on a field trip that September with these great kids and their teachers down to the credit union for a lesson on banking.  It was a lot of fun to go behind the scenes in the banking business.  Because it was so close to our school, we just walked the couple of blocks down there.

This was me in the early morning hours of my birthday that year in October.  I'd taken the day off to celebrate it but before I did, I went to the district office to turn in all of the paper work that I had for retirement.

In January, I thought it would be fun to make grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for all the staff at school.  So on a cold wintry day in Kansas, I did just that.  It was actually fun, believe it or not.  I haven't made that many grilled cheeses since then, but on that day I made about 30 of them.

In March, these 5 ladies helped me to organize a garage sale at school to benefit one our students who had been diagnosed with cancer.  They are delightful women who still remain my friends this day.  The miles and many years have separated us but we are all as close at hand as the click of  computer keys.  Each of them is exemplary and I learned so much by working with them.

 In April, I had great fun while working with this group of kids who were making a quilt.  I loved mixing and matching the cloth remnants right alongside them.  We laughed and visited with one another for nearly an hour.  I found out just how much I could learn by listening to children rather than always talking at them.  They have a great deal to teach us if we only give them the chance.

That old journal was filled with all kinds of memories and as I read through them, I realized just what a great experience year #32 as a teacher was.  I taught with all of my heart and soul that year because I realized there would be no more.  Little did I know what would happen to me in the future.  

Now fast forward 7 years into the future.  After having been retired for all of 4 months, I returned back to the classroom in the very school district in Kansas that I retired from.  After staying an additional 3 years, I went on to teach 2 years for the Montrose/Olathe School District in Colorado as well as one year here in Texas for Petrolia CISD.  Next year I have been blessed for yet another year, this time in a small district in Oklahoma near our home here in Burkburnett.  I never thought I would be able to teach for this many years but I remain most happy and grateful to do so.

I don't know what the long term future holds for me.  Many friends have asked me why I don't just stay retired.  I've been questioned many times as to how many more years I'd like to be in the classroom.  My personal goal is to serve 40 years in education but I would consider staying a few more years past that as long as I enjoyed what I was doing, remained an effective teacher, and could be of service to a school district.  Time will tell but for now, I am just so grateful for one more year.

Seldom do I ever give advice to other teachers, but this is one time that I think I'd like to. Teacher friends and cohorts, please remember to never take for granted the job that you are entrusted to do.  There is no guarantee from year to year where you might be.  Teach every day of every single year as if it were your very last one. Do all of the things that the state standards implore you to but don't forget about doing some fun things along the way, things that aren't on the standards but they surely ought to be. Get out of your comfort zone and pay a home visit to your families.  Get to know who they are so that they will know you really care about their children and them as well.  Take some pictures and write in a journal any moment that you can.  You won't regret saving the memories.  Just ask any other teacher out there.

Ask me.

                               May of 2010~What a beautiful day that was!

~wherever you should call "home"~

From along the Grand Mesa of Colorado~Good morning friends and family.

The time has come to say farewell to a beautiful state, one that was my home for two years. Mike and I  have been here for the past 3 days visiting our very dear friends in the communities of Montrose, Olathe, and Grand Junction.  Oh how we have missed seeing them all!  It's been wonderful to catch up with as many as we could and we wish to have had more time.  Some day we will come back to visit them all once again but until that day comes, we have memories of these moments together stored in our hearts.  

It has been strange to be here.  Mike and I both looked at one another during the course of the last 72 hours with smiles on our faces as we navigated ourselves through territory quite familiar to us.  Mike spent many years here and even though I only was here for two of them, I grew to love this place as well.  I fought being here like crazy for my first 3 months, homesick as can be for the life that I once knew back in Kansas but a sweet gift called "Olathe Elementary" took away every tinge of loneliness that I was carrying with me.  Things got better once I became a teacher in a small little place just up the road a ways from Montrose.  

I have said it before and I will say it again and again.  The people of that place saved me and I do believe that God sent them to me in my time of trial and heartache.  Thanks always to those good folks.  Last night we stayed at the home of one of those fine families and to the Corns, we are beholden.  I will never forget anyone here nor will I let my memories of the fun times we had together fade away. 

God blessed us, over and over again.

We will be on the road once more to Texas in about an hour or two.  Our new home is there and the wonderful thing is that wherever God has led us, we have found the most remarkable people who, just like the folks in this area of the world, have become our close friends and family.  There are many people that we do not yet know out there who some day will be "strangers no more" to us.  I like that possibility. 

I came to a realization last night, one that I know to be true.  God is certainly not finished with me yet.  He has plans in the works for something magnificent to happen to me in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.  Somewhere out there I feel there are children who need me to be where I am in life and without a doubt there may be one or two more that particularly need me at whatever time they are in their own lives.  I rest assured in that fact and it actually gives me peace of mind to go forth from where I am at today.

So for now, see you again sometime Colorado! It's been nice to be with you but now it is time to go home.  Wherever you call "home" dear ones, may you be happy and at peace.

It was so nice to play in our old backyard yesterday as we visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  If you have never been here, you should really try to come out sometime.  You won't be disappointed!