Getting one in at the last second...

Well, it is almost the end of the year and I thought I would try to get in one last post. When pondering what this last post would be about many ideas came to mind.

There is always that New Years Resolution list (in no particular order):
1. lose weight
2. go back to school and keep teaching certificate
3. appreciate my loved ones more
4. be a better teacher
5. deepen my relationship with Christ

There is always the Year in Review list:
1. Lucas's 1st birthday.
2. A rekindled friendship-Not to forget the World's Best Road Trip-Soundtrack available soon.
3. Convincing myself to go back to school.
4. An amazing trip to Chicago with my 6/7th grade class.
5. Lisa and Jesse deciding to move to Georgia.
6. Spring Break in Florida.
7. Grandma and Grandpa buying a Condo near us.
8. A new church.
9. 7th Anniversary.
Many more, too many more to think of right now...

Then there is the Ramble about Life's Brevity, how each year goes by so fast and it makes us realize how short life is, which leads right back into the New Years Resolution list and how next year you will attempt to accomplish all the things on the list so that when the year ends you won't feel the same way again.

But, it is inevitable. You will feel that way again because it is reality. Life is short and that fact becomes clearer with each year. So, embrace it, ponder it, then get over it and live life, whether that means making changes (moving, going back to school, leaving something behind), or bettering yourself (relationship with Christ or others, health-physical and/or mental), or just continuing to work on the things that can't be "Resolved" in a year or a lifetime (appreciating others, forgiveness, compassion...).

I can totally relate!

(Names have been left out to protect the innocent.)

I went to the movies last night to see P.S. I Love You. My "friend" - see disclaimer above- and I loved it. Laugh, cry, oogle, etc.... All the things you long for in a movie including great acting. There is a particular line in the movie where Harry Connick Jr. says something like "I don't want to be the shoulder some girl cries on...." He goes on to finish this rant, but we missed it because a guy in the row behind us delivers and "I know what you mean" chuckle which said friend and I double over with laughter at hearing. I was seriously wondering if the poor chap was sitting with the "I need a shoulder" girl at that very minute. It was sort of a "hu-huh" kind of laugh. Yeah, you know, the one you use when your friend tells a story about her husband or mother or coworker which you can totally relate to.

What a delicious moment! Indeed!

Hellemarketers, I mean telemarketers

Ok, so I'm sitting here with a headache, having just spent an unstructured morning with 7th and 8th graders, trying to figure out what is going on with the override for my Literature class I have finally made myself sign up for, and guess who calls just as I venture into blogland before laying down for a quick nap...yep, you probably guessed it, a telemarketer.

I am sure they have been discussed many a times here in the blogging community, but I just have to say my piece.

1. If I'm such a valued customer then why are you bugging me?

2. I know that you are not taking a breath as you speak so that I cannot get in my polite "no, thank you." Is that a requirement to be hired, or do they train you?

3. When you finally stop to ask me some important questions so you can give me the best possible rate, did you ever think to ask if I even wanted the darn thing.

4. Did you know I stopped listening around the part when you said, Hello Mrs. Nolen, I'm calling from Fifth-Third bank," and immediately began thinking of ways I could end this conversation or my life, whichever was easiest.

5. Did I just say conversation because that would imply two people talking back and forth.

I could go on and on and on, but there is a nice cozy couch waiting for me and I feel better now.

Ok already, I'll post something!

This post is for all those who have just been dying for another one. I thought I'd share a quote from a TV show. I'm not usually blown away by the dialogue on television shows. I mean, usually I can predict the next words out of a character's mouth. Anyhow, this one comes from a military show call "The Unit." My husband kind of got me into it. You can probably catch the entire episode if you go to the CBS page and watch it there.

The quote is delivered by a chaplain to a soldier who is searching for some kind of answer as to whether the taking of life is ever justified. They have been discussing the dilemma for several minutes. Much more goes into the dilemma, but if you really want to get into it, like I said, watch the episode. So, with no further ado...

"When there is no more information, it's time to make a decision."

The chaplain feels that this soldier has all the information he is going to be able to get on this topic and it's time to decide, stay or get out.

Have you ever kept rehashing something, thinking something over to the point of exhaustion, searching for more information when there is none. It's time to make a decision. It is time to use that information and take a stand, form an opinion, move forward, pick an option, make a choice.

It may take courage or strength you don't think you have. It may scare you. You might make the wrong decision. But, at least you are no longer stagnant. You aren't stuck in a pool of information and indecision. And even if it turns out to be the wrong decision or just a bad one, you can rest easy in the fact that you aren't back in that pool.

I made a decision. I searched out the information, kicked myself in the pants for stalling and decided to go back to school and get my master's in Children's Literature. Maybe you've got all the information, and it is time for you to make a decision...

Here's a Good One

"You must realize that it is the ordinary way of God's dealings with us that our ideas do not work out speedily and efficiently as we would like them to. The reason for this is not only the loving wisdom of God, but also the fact that our acts have to fit into a great complex pattern that we cannot possibly understand. I have learned over the years that Providence is always a whole lot wiser than any of us, and that there are always not only good reasons, but the very best reasons for the delays and blocks that often seem to us so frustrating and absurd." - Thomas Merton, "The Hidden Ground of Love: The Letters of Thomas Merton on Religious Experience and Social Concerns"

"Loving wisdom"...Well put Mr. Merton (whoever you are?).

"Quotes"

I love words and language. I love their power to evoke any emotion, to entertain, to explain, to teach, to save, to win a battle, to raise a person to power or bring them down, to change a life.

This love has brought to me a new hobby... quote collecting. I can't stop. I steal them from people I know and find them in books, newspapers, and magazines. I hear them at conferences, in songs and on TV or movies. I even make up my own which my students collect, use and remind me of.

One of the most recent quotes I have been pondering is by E.B. White and I heard it at a teaching conference last week:

"Humor plays close to the white, hot fire of truth."

Chew on that for a while, and in the meantime, send me your quotes.

Whoa lady!

First, I must brag. My son scored the one and only goal for his team tonight. Not only did he score this all important goal he did it from midfield. He is known for his power kick and apparently this is what his coaches were hoping for. I was ecstatic and so was he. So much so that his mood stayed pretty much the same as his team slowly lost, goal after goal, probably by 6 or 7 goals. I stopped counting.

This brings me to the actually topic of tonight's blog - the woman next to me at the soccer game. The inevitable parent you want to knock out as she constantly coaches (screams at) her child from the sideline. He was so overwhelmed. As I watched him look from the ball to his mom I realized he was more afraid of what she was going to do/say than what was going to happen with the ball. And then the coach made him goalie. The terror in his face was enough to make you want to jump out in front of the goal for him. He just knew he was going to mess up...and he did. Three goals went past him (not that the defense did much to help him). I believe he was doomed from the beginning with his mom screaming from the sidelines. She actually told him to tell the coach he didn't want to play goalie, a coveted post among 6/7 year olds. She eventually went into a cold, coma like state when she realized he wasn't going to be the star she expected him to be. I bet he couldn't wait for the car ride home.

I am just disgusted. It's like receiving a precious gift and throwing it at the bottom of the toy box or leaving it out in the rain. I wonder what this poor boy will grow up to be like? Maybe, being a teacher, I already know the answer to that because I have met him before as a middle schooler.

So sad. So, so sad.

A spoonful of sarcasm

So, the students are getting a little rowdy. I say, "Come on guys, let's get going," referring to the assignment they are suppose to be working on. One young man looks at me with a grin and says, "OK, where are we going."

Now, I can appreciate a little sarcasm now and then, which is probably why I didn't say any of the responses going through my head including:
-"You don't want to know where you're going."
-"I don't know where you're going, but I'm pretty sure I'm am slowly spiraling toward Hell."
-"We're going to take a little walk to the Principal's office."
-"We're all going to that quiet place where we think about an assignment and then complete it, but I forgot, you don't visit there often. Let me draw you a map."

I guess I will give specific instructions next time..."Get to work!"

Tiny Tots Soccer

How do you entertain 3 and 4-year-olds for an hour? Apparently, NOT with soccer practice. It always starts out well. They stretch and run a lap or two. By this point we have only lost the ones who fell or needed their shoes tied. Oh, yeah, and the one that had to go to the bathroom. The next few games go well, losing only a few due to the already mentioned problems. Only 50 minutes left to go.

Unless you are holding a very large piece of candy in your hand, the attention span of a preschooler is about 30 seconds. The problem: that is not enough time to give a set of directions that they can understand. This is also assuming you were able to get them all to sit down at the same time, otherwise one child's 30 second attention span is ending just as you get another child to join the circle.

Let's talk about the command, "go get your ball and come to the middle of the field." Translation of a preschooler - Spin in a circle until I figure out at which end of the field I left my ball, fall over because I'm dizzy, run down to my ball, start to pick it up but remember I'm not allowed to touch it with my hands so jump backwards away from the ball, kick it into the nearest goal, cheer for myself and make sure my mom saw it and gives me the thumbs up sign, do a somersault, wait-a-minute wasn't I suppose to be doing something? Whys is that big coach guy yelling my name? Hey, look, dandelions!

Oh, to find so many things exciting and fascinating. As I think about the ticker that is the child's mind, I crave the intensity and interest that is experienced each and every moment. Always trying to figure things out, wanting to check things out, such curiosity. As a teacher, I would love to bottle that curiosity and spoon feed it to my students each morning.

Maybe I should try holding up a piece of candy!

What to write...

Everyday, I encourage my students to write. I give them a journal entry and they must respond. I'm not too picky about the length or whether it's in cursive or print. I try to give different types of entries like write a description, make a top 10 list, respond to a quote, tell me what you thought about ______, answer the riddle, etc.... Each week they are also required to enter something into their journals on their own and of their own creation.

Well, today I feel like a hypocrite. I have been trying to add another blog entry for almost a month and I am experiencing the Great Wall of China of writing blocks. Here I ask them to spill it every day (for part of their grade), and I can't even come up with anything clever.

I guess I learned my lesson when it comes to writing. I don't think I actually believed it was hard for some people. I'm not talking about those lazy students who just don't want to put the work into picking up the pencil. I'm talking about those poor students who actually are seeing a blank white board in their heads when I tell them to start writing.

To those students I say, "I believe you now, and I'm sorry. I promise to do my best to inspire you from now on so you never have to see the big, white scary monster in your mind. And, I can't wait to see what you come up with once you have truly had an inspired idea!"

To the two known readers of my blog...thank you for your patience!

Climb Inside the Mouth of Every Moment

Every month a very special thing happens for me...my Parenting issue arrives. I sit down with it and read it cover to cover, for the most part anyway. I like the little ideas and funny stories and whatnot. In the September issue I was reading the section called "dad's-eye view." Basically it was about this new dad and how during the first few days of his baby's life he thought he killed her several times with his mistakes. He did not of course. The point of all this is the quote I am going to share with you. It is the perfect way to describe an inevitable moment in every parent's experience.

"She puts everything she is, every ounce of her, into each shriek. Her breath is so sweet I want to climb inside her mouth. I kiss her cheek and she cries harder."

Like the author says, sometimes babies cry. It is amazing how he can appreciate the work this baby is putting into crying. It is so easy to get frustrated or panicked. Why not savor or "climb inside the mouth" of the moment instead? Who says that every moment we appreciate has to be happy? I think I will try to savor more moments, especially the challenging, bitter, angry, tiring or sad.

My Blog

Like many others I have been inspired to share my thoughts and what-not with the entire web-surfing world. I haven't yet decided if this will be a good idea on my part or not. I know I enjoy reading many other blogs, but will anybody enjoy (or even read) mine?

I feel the need to explain my Blog title, for those who don't know or it hasn't reached you yet. I picked it up from a movie called "Stomp the Yard." Two of the characters are fighting and their friends grab them and hold them back. The one says something like, "this isn't over," and the other says, with his back turned and pointing his finger like a gun in the air, "Indeed." It has become a popular phrase between my friend Natalie and I. I have noticed she is spreading the word. So if you hear it on the street someday soon, you will know where it originated from.