P.S.

Hello, international readers in South America and Asia! Glad to have you! Tell your friends!

And everyone, I finally bought a camera so I'll be able to post some pictures and make the blog more interesting soon. Hooray!

Still here!

OK, I know, I know, I’ve been negligent. A private school teacher who also coaches and has less than a month before her wedding has little time to blog, but I admit I could be better. Wait until a month from now—I’ll have much more time!

I will quickly say that I just had a milestone birthday (thank you all who sent love and good wishes!) and had a blast. I think I can be thirty and flirty. Just not with the students. Anyway, I will say that this past weekend family friends threw DF and I an engagement party/30^th for me that involved dear friends from the area, great food and conversation…and videos of my third and fourth grade plays, along with a video of the one good friend’s 10^th birthday party. God, we were such awkward little things. I knew it would happen; her stepdad’s threatened for years. I would have been disappointed had he not done it, really. Funny enough, my hair now has that same shade of blonde as at ten…with $50 worth of help from my hairdresser.

Vacation starts this weekend. This means I have two free weeks to do the last-minute planning for the wedding, which gets closer every day! I think my mom’s more nervous than I am; should I be more so? I refuse; the wedding will go just fine, the guests will have food, drink, dancing, and a place to sit, and I will be married to the man I love most of all, so I think that’s all good. She does better at the details anyway; at least that’s how I look at it. Practical or ostrich-like? Still not sure.

Oh, and we got our marriage license! We’re legit to wed! Although I will say I’ve found out this whole change-maiden-name-to-middle-name has waaay more complexity to it than I ever dreamed. How sexist and red-tapey. But I want to do it because I get a kick out of that fact that I’ll be KFC. I plan on taking a picture of myself in my dress in front of said eatery. How many brides get to do that?

Difficult Day

I was going to write this spirited blog about letter writing and how it’s fallen by the wayside and we should try to rejuvenate the whole practice, but it got erased. I’ll get to it later, because I really do want to comment about it…ironically through a blog.

But today was a hard day, so if you’ve had a hard or sad day, give this entry a pass for now. This morning I went to a funeral for the eleven year-old brother of one of my students. It was a tragic accident that I don’t really know the details of, but I know it happened quickly and ended in the hospital three days later. I never knew him but the girl is a real sweetie and she always livens up the class. A friend and mother told me it’s a parent’s worst nightmare to outlive their kids. I can see why, of course.

The service had such a mixture of tragedy, beauty, and laughter, for I realize that a funeral not only allows those who lost to grieve but it also serves as a celebration of a life, however short. The priests all knew him well from his involvement as an altar boy at his church, and they sent such a message of love, that we would all become better people for having known this boy and hearing about his ready smile, quick wit, and excitement for life. And I actually do feel a little better for knowing someone like that touched so many lives and managed to touch mine as well, just by hearing all of these stories about him. On the one hand, I found it heart-wrenching to see his fellow classmates walk in—they all had looks of disbelief on their faces, replaced with a raw realization of death as they walked out. On the other hand, they all have such great memories of him that they can allow those to influence their own lives. I felt such conflicting feelings: It kept going through my head how terrible it was that we all had to pack a church to support the family and friends of a little boy, but the fact that they didn’t have enough seats for all the mourners serves as a testament to him and his entire family.

I think tonight when I go to my future cousin-in-law’s art opening and watch the hockey game, my interactions with everybody will seem sharper, brighter, and more significant. I won’t go through the night passively; I’ll focus on the colors, the sounds of laughter, the taste of cold water in a glass, the feel of DF’s hand in mine. Maybe I’m just trying to say that these little moments that we don’t even think about make up a life, long or short, and we need to make the most of them and be aware of them.

Five Senses Friday:

Sound: A DVD of this little boy sweetly singing “It’s All Right to Cry” in a school play

Sight: The world through the lens of my new camera! Thanks for the tip, Mogs!

Smell: The spicy tomato soup I made the other night

Taste: Ditto the soup

Touch: The mink-like feel of our new blanket from the latest wedding shower—so soft!

Eye-Opening Video

Hi peeps--it's been the usual, grading papers and wedding planning. Sorry I've been so reticent in posting.

However, I did want to mention this. We're eventually going to have all the students have laptops at my school and today in Tech class we watched a fairly amazing video, which I've linked to here called "Shift Happens". Check it out--it's mindboggling what kind of world we are actively living in. It boggles my mind that when I'm 80 I'll be able to look back on this sort of technological explosion. P.S. Watch it with the sound on--great music from Last of the Mohicans.