Slice of Life - Last One

It's hard to believe that today is the the final day of the Slice of Life Challenge. In reflection, this year I did a few more "slices" than last year, but didn't come close to my goal in the beginning of writing a slice a day. Thanks to Stacey and Ruth for hosting this challenge once again. It's been a lot of fun both writing mine and reading others.

So, for my final Slice of Life...

I am sitting here at a table that looks out over a lagoon, two pools, amazing landscaping, and the ocean sitting about 100 yards away. The tide keeps rolling in, one wave at a time. It is another brilliantly sunny, though cool, morning without a cloud in the sky.

My goal this morning is to write a few blog posts and stockpile some reviews of children's books for later. The bad news about that goal is that it has been my goal every day since we've been in Hilton Head. My original plan is that I would get up and write for two hours every day. I imagined being a prolific writer away from the hustle and bustle of my daily work life.

But what I've learned about myself in the past four days is, that when I'm looking out at the view described above, I can't focus. I find myself thinking about the bike ride I'll be taking soon, wondering which book I want to read today, wanting to Google when high tide will be because I'll probably go down to the beach after that, thinking about which bathing suit to wear today, thinking about what seafood restaurant we should go to for dinner tonight, looking at the people on the beach and wondering where they're from and how long they've been biking, walking, or jogging. Like I said -- a real focus problem here!!

So, I guess the solution is I need to wrap up my writing, Google high tide, pick a book, and go take that bike ride in the near future. The rest can just unfold in my very unscheduled and unorganized day. Aren't vacations wonderful?!!!

Slice of Life - On the Beach

I think I was meant to live near water. As soon as we got to Hilton Head yesterday, I walked out to the beach, took off my shoes, and immediately relaxed. It was very chilly and overcast, but that was okay. The important thing was the sound of the waves, the feel of the sand beneath my toes, the ocean breeze (a very cold, stiff breeze yesterday) - those are the sensations that matter so much.

Today, I woke up around 6 AM, and just waited for the sun to come up. Our condo faces east, so it was a perfect opportunity to catch the beginning of the day.

The weather this morning and again in the early afternoon was much different than yesterday's weather. The sun was shining brightly, there was a breeze, I had a great book to read, and the ocean view was stunning. A different side to the Hilton Head ocean, but again, I am totally relaxed.

Life is good.

Slice of Life - Spring Break Begins

Spring break actually began after school yesterday afternoon about 3:45 PM, but since I still had errands to do, lesson plans to prepare, laundry to wash, and no packing had even begun, I didn't think of spring break starting until this morning.

This morning, I woke at 6:00 AM excited to shower, put my last personal stuff in a bag, and get on the road to Hilton Head. Before I jumped in the shower, I looked out the window, and much to my surprise, could see a thick layer of ice covered with 2 - 3 inches of snow everywhere. I had my flip-flops out to wear because that's what I do when I'm headed to a warmer climate; I dress the way I plan to be dressed when I get there. Thus, flip-flops were going to be part of my attire. I guess some "rules" are meant to be broken though, because even with the fantastic pedicure I just received and my toenails looking ever so lovely, I just couldn't put on flip-flops.

What a difference 525 miles can make! The entire day, we drove through rain and sleet, with the temperature never rising above 32 degrees. It was that way in Ohio, in West Virginia, and through Virginia as we traveled down Interstate 77. Then, as we drove into North Carolina, our outside thermometer started to move upward. By the time we stopped for the evening in Columbia, South Carolina, it had reached 67 degrees.

Needless to say, I am now currently in my flip-flops as I write this and when we hit the road tomorrow to finish the last few hours to Hilton Head, I will be dressed for the warmer climate again. So excited to be on spring break, warmer weather and all!!

Grand Discussion #3: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

We held our third and final Grand Discussion of the year last Thursday with about 50 or so people attending. If you've been reading Literate Lives, you know our first two discussions involved books with some pretty serious messages, so, in order to lighten things up a little bit, we chose Newbery Honor book The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.

Clearly the book is not a laugh out loud sort of story, but it does have some entertaining and humorous parts to it. I mean, come on, that amazing pig boy part is FUNNY! or so I thought, however, about a third of our group didn't agree and found the book to be very sad. Several were also upset at the name calling and abusive treatment from the boys' uncle in the beginning. All good points, but overall, I think most of us agreed that this book was not quite as heavy as the first two choices, Bystander and Also Known as Harper.

And speaking of Also Known as Harper, an unexpected result came out of the Grand Discussion we held for the book. I think I've said before that my school is very fortunate. We have plenty of resources, supportive parents, capable students and a beautiful facility. I feel very lucky every morning I come to school and get to teach in the incredible library at Bailey Elementary. During our discussion of Also Known as Harper, my sister and the librarian from her school came to see how the whole Grand Discussion thing works with thoughts of possibly doing a similar program at their school.

The school where they teach is about the exact opposite of Bailey. While the students do amazing things both on state tests and day to day work, the surroundings are not the same and their students come from a very different background. My sister shared some things about their school and the kids, and how the book hits pretty close to home for some of her students. It was an emotional moment for all in the room and it had an impact on the parents and students attending.

I had no idea how much of an impact until the next day when I was contacted by one of the moms who told me that they would like to organize the kids into action. They wanted to take on the task of raising money to buy books for the library at my sister's school. The kids wanted to take the lead on promoting the event and they wanted to make sure that the Bailey kids understood that this money needed to come from them, not their parents, them. I was thrilled and met with a group of parents after speaking with Martha and we began planning. It's turned into more than a fund raiser, we are now talking about making this an ongoing thing, sort of making Bailey and Lincoln Elementary schools, sister schools. Each of taking care of the other in the ways that we are able. There has been talk of pen pals, and video conferencing, some sort of an exchange program and inviting kids from our sister school down for special events in the future.

Who knows where this will go from here, but it's an exciting time at Bailey as the fifth graders are wrapping up two weeks of Coins 4 Kids to raise money for the Lincoln Elementary School library. I'm looking forward to making this program grow and hopefully I'll be posting a lot more about the kids from Bailey and our sister school Lincoln Elementary!

Slice of Life - Glad that 48 hours is over!

This past Monday, my husband had a simple outpatient procedure done in his doctor's office. I took the afternoon off to be his transportation and support, and everything seemed to be going well.

Now, I'm not going to generalize about all men, but my husband can sometimes build his illnesses into something more than they really are. So, when he started moaning and complaining about how much pain he was in the next day, I am embarrassed to say it pretty much went in one ear and out the other. Not painting a very pretty picture of myself, am I?

Well, it gets worse. Turns out he was one of the 1% of people who get a specific infection caused by massive bacteria from his procedure. Thursday night, I finally took him to the emergency room (still thinking this was a lot ado about nothing), only to have the emergency room doctor tell me about the bacteria and how serious this really was.

Wow! Talk about feeling bad for all my thoughts and reactions to his moaning and groaning for the past three days. The icing on the cake was that my husband was so ill, he had to be admitted to the hospital for over 24 hours.

There are a few silver linings here:

• his infection has been treated successfully
  
• he has come home from the hospital and is feeling much better, and on the road to full recovery
• when I told him how bad I felt about not taking his illness and complaints more seriously, after his initial disbelief, he could laugh about it a little bit

So, I probably won't earn Wife of the Year Award, but I will definitely be more willing to listen and be compassionate the next time my husband tells me he feels like heck.

Glad that 48 hours is over!!

Slice of Life - Hair Salon Day

I can't speak for all females, but for this particular one, one of my all-time favorite days is the day I go to a hair appointment. It is two hours of pure bliss. From the conversation between my stylist and me as we decide what direction to go with my hair on that particular day, to the color weaving where I actually fall asleep on the last row because of the massage-like feel of the repetitive gentle tugs on my scalp as she applies the color and the foils, to sitting in the quiet area of the salon with a hot chocolate and a book to read as my color processes, to the massage on my scalp during the shampoo and conditioner, and finally to the cut and style -- for two solid hours, it's all about me.

All of those wonderful things occurred for me tonight, starting at 4:15. I LOVE my hair day!!!

Slice of Life - Dining with Students

Tonight I had the pleasure of dining with a student from my school that had won my Teacher Time raffle of dinner at Max and Erma's with me and one of his friends. The student that won was actually one of my students, and the friend he chose was from my class as well. It was a hoot being in a different environment with these two boys. They were totally entertaining; I felt like maybe there was a role reversal. I was having so much fun I thought maybe I had won the prize.

The night that worked the best for both my schedule and the students' schedules turned out to be a Tuesday night. Imagine my surprise (and a little embarrassment) when I realized that Tuesday night at Max and Erma's was "Kids Eat Free" night. The boys, M and J, got quite a kick out of that situation.

Because I felt so bad about not having to pay for their meals, after dinner we wandered over to the neighboring Graeter's ice cream, and I treated them to an ice cream treat of their choice. If they were excited before, they were over the moon with their dessert.

But, my favorite part of the evening was when I dropped off M (the actual winner) at his house, and he thanked me profusely for such a great night. He couldn't believe how quickly 2 hours had flown by (to be honest, neither could I)!!

My take-away from the evening is a no-brainer -- there is always more to our students than we see in the short time we spend with them at school. Tonight, I got an upclose and personal look at two people and I found I was delighted with what I saw. As I drove home, I wondered who the real winner of my teacher time raffle was -- M or me?