Yip-Yang

The Zen of puppy playtime:

From Adam

This afternoon we were in line at a grocery store about 30 miles from home. "Adam!" a customer service employee called to a manager walking away from the register he had been manning, "your lane light is still on." I glanced up to see a man of about 35 with a neatly trimmed beard, but my brain automatically erased both the beard and the last 20 years. I knew him immediately as the aggravating 12-year-old boy he was in sixth grade, and I remembered how the two of us spent that year at odds: he, defiant, and I, frustrated.

It was not one of my prouder teaching experiences, and I was humbled and then hopeful that I might be more successful if he were my student now.

I studied him as he stood chatting. He looked so much more relaxed and confident, and especially happier, than he had the last time I saw him. Oh, I could have gone over and explained who I was, but this time I decided not to.

Everyone deserves the chance to outgrow themselves.

Under the Influence

We were warned.

When Heidi decided to take the sedation for the extensive dental work she needed, both her parents told her tales of their wacky behavior while under the influence of those drugs. Her dad leaned out the window of the car making the sign of the cross in the air and mumbling blessings at all the other drivers until her mom rolled up the window and sharply reminded him that he was not a priest.

Her mother could not stop worrying about the piano. Was it safe? Would the movers be careful with it? Did it need tuning. "We don't have a piano," Heidi's dad said, but when that did not calm her mom's worrying he switched his story. "The piano's fine!" he told her. "All taken care of!"

Heidi was directed to take one pill an hour before her appointment and another 30 minutes later. "How do you feel?" I asked her as we headed out to the car.

"A little wobbly," she admitted. Five minutes later we were stopped at a light, and she was slumped in her seat, head lolling a bit. "That baby on the dog," she said, "it isn't a good idea"

"What baby?" I asked her.

"Back there," she told me. "They wanted the baby to ride the dog. I'm pretty sure I saw rope, too," she added seriously, "for extra security."

"I didn't see that," I told her.

The light changed and we continued on to the dentist. A few blocks later she said, "Whoa! We just ran over a ghost in the middle of the road."

"What!?" I cried.

"He was sitting in a school chair in the middle of the road. He looked right at me, and then pffft! We ran over him."

"Was he like Casper the ghost or like a person ghost?" I asked her.

"Person," she confirmed.

"How old was he?"

"Thirties?" she shrugged. "With red hair and a red sweater. He didn't look worried, but I was like, Do you really have to be in this lane? and then pshtttt, you ran through him."

I was laughing as we pulled up to the dentist office, and and still giggling as I helped her out of the car. Everyone in the waiting room looked up as 2 middle-aged ladies staggered in giggling. "I'm ready!" Heidi announced, and off she toddled to have her teeth fixed up.

The Good Old Days

We note the passing of Barbara Bush today. One may not have agreed with her on all things, but it was definitely impossible to fault her for her grace and civility. Even when, during the 1984 election, she famously snapped that Geraldine Ferraro was something that rhymed with "rich", she later regretted the harshness of her words and apologized. She showed us how to disagree courteously and with integrity.

My! How far we've come.

In the Van Guard

I needed a new pair of sneakers for the spring, so I ran up to the big box shoe place on Sunday to look around. Years ago when I lived at the beach, my signature summer kicks were white slip-on Vans, and I actually bought a pair of gray canvas Vans last spring. This time my eye was drawn to a black suede pair with white trim, and when I tried them on, they were so comfortable I wanted to wear them out of the store. I resisted, mostly because of the rain, and it rained again yesterday, too, so my new shoes had their official debut today.

Oh my goodness! You might have thought I found a cure for homework! There were so many compliments from so many kids, even some I didn't know. With my jeans and black crew neck sweater, it seems like I was rocking the look. In fact, when I looked around my third period class I saw two girls who were wearing a variation of my own outfit down to the Vans.

Fashion has never been my thing-- I like what I like and I like to wear it regularly-- but after a day like today? At least I understand the fuss!

To the Highest Power

We use some of our team meeting time to touch base and see what everyone is working on in their subject area classes. Today I started. “In English, we’re doing poetry and the daily poetry challenge,” I reported. “How about science?”

“Science fair,” one of the science teachers said.

“We’re doing civics and the appellate courts,” the social studies teachers told us.

“And math?” I asked.

The math teacher gave us a deadpan look. “State tests are coming,” she answered, “we’re praying!”

Second Wind

I think the pups are all worn out. Haha. Cooper is laying on the couch arm rest, Theo is in my lap, and Lucy is laying on the lobster bed, the text read.

It was hardly surprising-- Lucy and her buddies had been playing for at least 90 minutes, so Heidi headed over to pick our puppy up from her playdate. But the minute she appeared, just after Cooper's person, the dogs were in full swing again-- running and tumbling and wrestling throughout the small condo.

As she told me the tale, I laughed. "Don't you remember that from when you were a kid? You could be bored out of your mind with your cousins or your friends, but the minute your mom showed up to say it was time to go home? There were soooo many things left to do!"