Day 287

Haven't "blogged" for awhile. I read some profound quote to Rick (who has aquired the nickname "Stiff" amongst many of my friends) and I could tell he was totally captivated even though the sports news was on. The quotes are from an interview with Rick Warren who wrote "The Purpose Driven Life". Here is the profound quote:

"Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, your're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one." " Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for."

I guess this struck me as profound because as I have viewed my life I feel most has been pretty good- where the good outweighs the bad. I can think of 4 major bad times for me and I am presently in one now. This one has lasted a LONG time and I am very tired of it and trying my best not to aquire bad coping habits (drinking and eating). I agree with Mr. Warren but would modify it slightly to say that the rails are not always on equal ground. Sometime the trains on the bad are beating the good ones and vise versa. But it is a good reminder to search for the good things. Erica, as you know there is a quote I loved from a movie "your life can change with every breath you take, so let go of the bad and hang on to the good things in your life". But letting go of the bad is sometimes out of your control when you love a teenager who has free will to make bad decisions. You just have to know that worrying about them will not make it better and you have to keep doing what you think is right.

Okay, enough with all the deep philisophical thinking. The past 2 weeks have been very busy but I am about to wind down considerblly and get ready for the holidays. The most time consuming event I have worked on lately is our Red Ribbon Assembly. I was worried that we were trying to cram too many things in one assembly but we tied it in and it turned out cool. Some of our students created Public Service Announcements to increase awareness of certain topics of concern around the world ( AIDS, landmines, street children). It was part of an United Nations project. The 10 best PSAs were sent to the UN and they called immediately and said they would llike to post these projects on their website. So the beginning of the assembly was the Superintendent presenting certificates to the 30 students who created these projects. Then one PSA was shown.
When the RR portion of the assembly came I talked about our theme "Sing your life song, drug free". Because of some recent criticism of the words "drug free" I talked about in this context it means "no use of illegal drugs or illigals use of legal drugs"- wrap your brain around that. But I think drug free was confusing for kids who see their parents drink socially or even those that have to take lots of medication.

Then we had a letter from Martina McBride and I introduced it by tieing in the PSAs by saying that there are people around the world that have hardships that we can't imagine. However we all experience difficult times in our own lives and sometime people turn to alcohol and drugs to relieve the stress or feel included. Then I gave an introduction to the song Concrete Angel by talking about this song being about a difficult time of a little girl who still went to school everyday and tried to persevere despite a horrible home life. I had a powerpoint with the words to the song up on a screen with visuals. Then Martina's 6th grade nephew read her letter. It was so touching. We ending with a rousting performance by the BVNW band. I thought my principal was going to pee her pants she was so excited about how well it turned out. She has seen a HMS RR assembly before. For the first itme in years the BVNW cheeleaders did not come. So it was very exciting but I really could have used a drink afterwards :)

My cheerleaders performed and did a great job. They are soooooo CUTE. But it amazes me how fragile their self esteem is. They have been working for weeks on this dance and they asked if could be skipped if we were short on time. I said "no way" which is exactly what they expected me to say. They were cute. I will post a picture of them.

What else have I done in the past 2 weeks? We went to the MU game and stayed at Nancy and Gary’s. Alexis, Kevin’s girlfriend, came along. She is really sweet. I liked her because she kept calling him on certain things- it was like having an assistant! I think she has seen a lot of life in her 14 years so she is more mature. Kevin is such the affectionate boyfriend, but not in an embarrassing way like Erica and Andy Lyle. As Cliff and Rick were sitting in the front seat I tried to figure out where he got that affectionate nature and it has to be from his Grandpa Stief, Franklin, or me. Maybe his Uncle Brian.

There was terrible weather for the homecoming MU game. It poured buckets and was cold. Kevin and Alexis wanted to leave at half time. Rick gave him the keys to drive back to Nancy and Gary’s. I went and told Rick to “watch my chair”. I went to the RR and stood in line for a drink. When I went back to my seat Rick was gone. I thought he went to the RR so I looked for him for about 40 minutes. I kept trying to call Cliff, who was sitting somewhere else, but the cell phones weren’t working because of 75,000 people bumping me out of their preferred network. When I finally reached Cliff, Rick was with him and they were on their way home. Rick thought I said “catch a ride with Cliff”- it does sound similar- NOT. But it was hard to hear in the pouring rain. Luckily, I ran into Gary earlier and he said Rick and I could meet him by the van to catch a ride. I walked there all by myself and then sat with the people in the tent next to him and waited another 45 minutes for the game to be over.

Last weekend we went to out to eat for Karla’s birthday and then had a sleepover at her house. It was fun. But I think I am still recovering. I didn’t drink much because I was driving, but I still didn’t sleep much. Then Sunday night Rick and I went to see Josh Kelly and Five for Fighting. Josh was great, but John Ondrasek from 5 for Fighting was amazing! My feet were killing me but I just ignored them. I would go again and I think so would Rick. It was a fun date- we hadn’t done anything that different in a long time. Like Karen said “I am glad Stiff took you”. That is his new nickname- it is really catching on.

Halloween was last night and I was really dreading it for some reason. Again, I am a DVR ho and didn’t want to pull myself away from the TV in the kitchen. I was even willing to do the dishes to get out missing my programs. Last night I watched Criminal Minds, Top Chef, Boston Legal and one of my favorites Friday Night Lights. Each one only takes 40 minutes to watch! I have to get DVR upstairs so that I can get on the treadmill while I watch.

I am still so worried about K. I can’t write much about it but I hope we are on the downslide of issues. I believe he is going to have to find a new group of friends or he is going to get in some major trouble. It is amazing that it hasn’t happened yet. The job is a good thing, I think. Erica, please pray on that side of the world too and perhaps Kevin will see the light.