OK. Maybe you wouldn’t have done it, but I did. I really don’t need to be judged by you for it. Yes, I have been to see Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka, and David Cassidy in concert. And, no, not all at the same time. I’ve seen America, the Beach Boys, Dan Fogelberg, and James Taylor. I’ve seen the Judd’s, Juice Newton, and even Air … Continue reading Don’t Judge Me
It’s jumper weather! And yes, I know I just wrote all about autumn last week but I’ve been called out in the great Sweater Weather Tag Challenge by my favourite British blogger who happens to be living in Germany. She teaches me about jaffa cakes and haribos and keeps me laughing, and thus I cannot let her down. I must rise to the challenge. Of course … Continue reading My Favourite Reindeer Jumper
I loved school. I went to school for 21 years. I loved every year except one. I hated first grade!
Now back in the day, the day being the mid-60’s, we didn’t have pre-K. And some kids went to Kindergarten and some didn’t. Most of us had ‘stay at home moms’ so we just showed up for school when we were six and ready for first grade.
I hated first grade almost immediately. I didn’t like my teacher. Her name was Miss McDonald. She wasn’t a warm person. She was tall and thin. She was young. She wore pencil skirts, tailored shirts, and flat shoes.
School gave me stomach aches. For-real stomach aches. I remember my stomach aches used to frustrate my mother. One day I said I had another stomach ache. She pulled my shoes off, revealing my stirrup pants circling my feet. I remember that so vividly; I stared down at my feet. She gently tossed me back in the bed. It was kind of like, ‘what am I gonna do with this kid?’ I was a little bit ashamed, but more relieved. I pulled the pink & white chenille Cinderella bedspread over my head. I was just glad I wasn’t going to school.
Fortunately for me I loved school starting in second grade and never looked back. I just kept on going to school and college forever. 50 years after I started first grade I still lay my little school clothes out every night and get up and go to college every day. I don’t know why I got off the rails so quickly, but I’m glad that I got back on track just as quickly.
Every day I see students who got off the rails somewhere whether it was early on in elementary, or in middle school, or high school. Or maybe it wasn’t until they went away to college and flunked out. Maybe when they were little they hated their teacher. Maybe they had for-real stomach aches. Perhaps they couldn’t see well or hear well or read well, but no one knew it. It might be they didn’t have any books at home, or maybe they were hungry. Maybe they were caring for their younger brothers and sisters while their parents worked and it kept them from getting their homework done.
Perhaps they were being sexually abused by their cousin or step-dad or neighbor. Maybe in high school they got on drugs or got pregnant or got bullied because they were obese. There are so many ways to get off the rails and to not do well in school. There are so many things that prompt students to drop out.
I’m not trying to make excuses for everyone in the world who ever did badly in school. I’m just sayin’ that sometimes people get off the rails and there’s no one there to help them.
My parents weren’t highly educated folks. My mom has a high school diploma and my dad had a bachelor’s degree that he got when he was 38. When I was in first grade he was in “night school.” My brother and sister were a bit older and had already made it through the early years of school. Maybe my parents were shocked that along came this kid that hated first grade. But they quickly took action to make sure I got engaged. Remember John’s party? Maybe that’s why my mother insisted that I go.
My mom got on a school bus with me and a bunch of kids from my school, I don’t remember which grade, and went to the symphony to hear Peter & the Wolf. My dad got involved in the PTA. He came to eat lunch with me every now and then. They never missed an open house in my classroom. We went to Fall Festivals and participated in Cake Walks. We went to the downtown library often to check out books. I never gave it a second thought then, but now I wonder if all those things were to assure their little one got engaged in school.
I’ve spent my entire career trying to re-engage adult students in school or to teach others how to re-engage adult students in school. And really the very best way for students not to get off the track in the first place is to have parents who care and who try and who are engaged in their children’s education. Some kids are not so fortunate. And that’s why there are politicians who say, “it takes a village.” I can’t believe I just wrote that, but I did. I guess I’m just saying that where you can, and in what ways you are able, get involved in a child’s life or a teenager’s life or a young adult’s life or a not-so-young person’s life and encourage them to engage in education. The pay-off for society is phenomenal.
Nine tenths of education is encouragement.– Anatole France
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Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple. –J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I love, love, love the change of season from summer to fall. It sneaks up on me every year. It’s so hot in Atlanta, but in September it starts to cool down oh so subtly. Then one … Continue reading Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox
At noon we often gather in the conference room of our office suite for lunch. Some bring their food from home, and others like me who are less prepared run down to the college cafe and bring in our lunches on trays. Sometimes we talk about work, but try not to. One day recently a woman said, “I woke up last night with something on … Continue reading Blogging My Heart Out
My head was stung by 30 bees. I asked, “Do other people think it hurts this bad?” My neurologist, who has little affect and less personality, said in his dry drawl, “Some of them think it doesn’t hurt at all; and some of them think it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to them and they have to be almost sedated.” “Well, I’m somewhere in the … Continue reading 30 Bee Stings
I grew up in a house with a white picket fence. It was a literal white picket fence but was as much of a figurative white picket fence as there could be too. I grew up in the 60’s with a working dad, a stay-at-home mom, and four kids in an all American neighborhood where the families supported each other and the kids played together in each … Continue reading White Picket Fence
When I arrived at the doctor’s office I had a headache and was feeling ‘under the weather’ literally. I was having what I call a weather headache. My neurologist calls it a migraine so I was there for treatment. My doc is great, and worth the wait, but I knew it would be at least an hour.
After I handled the checking in and co-pay, I sat down in the already filling waiting room. My Myers-Briggs personality type indicates a preference for introversion over extraversion. In most situations I find that to be true. I really, really did not feel like engaging with anyone. I did all those things to keep people at bay. I looked at my phone. I closed my eyes. I knew once I engaged I’d be stuck for an hour. But all these really old women around me were not reading my signals.
“What time do you have? I really like your purse. Have you see this doctor before? How long do you usually wait? I like the other guy [the P.A.] but they make me see the doctor.” But, there is another type indicator preference on the Myers-Briggs that shows I prefer feeling over thinking. As a matter of fact, I am off the chart for the feeling preference. Often feelers, because we care about people so much, present ourselves as extraverts.
And so that is how it went today. Me and a group of 80+ year old women got engaged in an hour long conversation in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. But most of the talking was between me and one particular woman named Rose.
Rose is a Jewish woman who grew up in New York and worked in the garment district for many years. She loved to tell jokes. I’m lousy at telling jokes; I can’t remember them. I couldn’t believe she had so many in her repertoire. And repertoire it was for her. She was quite the performer. At times she even stood and performed for the entire group. She was a real comedian. The part about her being Jewish is important because many of her jokes were aimed at Jewish people. “We Jewish people like to laugh at ourselves.”
She was dressed to the nines, in blues and whites. She was a little over the top like many 80 something women can get occasionally. She had an aqua shade of blue eye liner above and below her eyes, the same color of huge watch, and matching knee-high hose rolled down above her shoes. I’m not even sure where one could buy that particular color of knee-highs. But for sure she put a lot of thought and effort into her outfit so one had to appreciate it.
When the nurse came out to call me in, Rose was in the middle of a joke. I stayed to listen to the punch line. She stood up to hug me. We hugged tight. She said to me, “God bless you.” At that moment, I felt that He had.
I remembered the scripture from Hebrews, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” I wondered how many times I might have missed God’s blessings or failed to entertain angels because I had talked myself out of it. Today was not one of those days.
Tower of Twins 