In honor of my papa!

Some of you may already know, but this past December my grandfather passed away. There are very few words that truly depict the grandeur of my papa! First I want to say how blessed I am to have friends that truly care about me no matter where they are in the world, whether it be close to home, moving, or an ocean apart from me. I want to thank those that were there to share thoughts and frustrations, fear and calmness, moments of insanity and hopelessness. I know why God has sent you to me and I thank him everyday.
Just a little background for those of you that I did not get to share the news, my grandpa had been in the hospital since the week before Thanksgiving due to a fall he had that previous week. We decided to take him to his primary care physician because he had lost all mobility in his legs and the arm that he had fallen on. It had scared my mom and I because before this my grandpa, although slow, was able to move on his own. That was nonexistent now. We chose to take him to the emergency room so that the doctors could x-ray his hip, which his PCP thought was broken. After a day in CDU (clinical diagnostic unit), the doctors and nurses were concerned with his blood. After a week of testing, the doctors found that my grandpa had a blood infection due to a meta port that was in his chest from when he received chemo during his stomach cancer, which he had been in remission for 3 years. The doctors decided that they would have to do surgery to clean out his left shoulder and left knee. His left had been replaced 20 years ago and was quote "bionic" according to the docs. He would have to have it replaced again and in the mean time while they cleaned the plates, he would have to have a rod and cement block in his knee.
The surgery occurred on Monday December 8th. I went to school on the 9th ready to put this to the side for the day, but I received a call at 7:30 in the morning from my mom saying that my grandpa went into cardiac arrest. I arrived to see my grandpa laying heavily sedated in the ICU. Unfortunately my grandpa never came out of the coma and we had to make the decision no one should have to make. The doctor told us that due to the short amount of time that my grandpa was in cardiac arrest there was swelling on the area of the brain that causes responses. My grandpa made it very clear years earlier that if he was to be a vegetable he would want the opposite at whatever cost. So as a family, we made the choice to let my grandpa go home to his mom and dad and family in heaven. It was the hardest thing for my family to say goodbye to a man that has influenced us immensely.
On December 19th at 1:15 my grandpa went home. We pray everyday together and we know that he is looking down and smiling. I only wish that I could see him again and hear his jokes and hear is laugh and see his smile. He had the most infectious smile. I just had to see him smile and I melted. I was blessed to have lived with my grandpa my whole life. I was blessed to learn that you live life the best you can and never regret anything you do. He told me that when I interviewed him for a education class at UD. He never regretted anything nor would he have change it!
I will leave you with the last thing I heard him say. As I was leaving him on the last night before the dark clouds hovered, I said "Bye papa, I love you, see you tomorrow." He turned and smiled at me and said "I love you too, I will be here!" I know that he always will be there!

End of another 6 weeks

Well this is the end of the second six weeks and there is only 7 more school days til Thanksgiving break! woohoo! As this six weeks draws to a close I reflect on the progression of my kids, and by kids I mean my students. I have some awesome students this year! I am proud of each of them, but along with the awesome come challenges. I gained a student at the beginning of the six weeks just as my kids were becoming aware of a routine and my expectations. This particular student gained the attention of my class very quickly. He is a year older and he is quite a bit taller than the others. The first day he walked into my room, one of my other boys, we will call him Doe, said " Wow your big!" And from that day forward he has been a student that has stood out. Unfortunatly not for good reasons. That same kid that was in awe of his gradeur has been following literally every step this student, lets call him Joe, makes. If Joe jumps, Doe jumps. If Joe spits, Doe spits. If Joe jumps off the top of the jungle gym, Doe jumps off the top fo the jungle gym. (True Story) The behavior of both is really effecting the other kiddos. I feel sorry for the ones that have to hear the constant reprimands that I make to these disobedient students. My only hope is that one day they will wake up and realize that I do care for them and only want the best for them.
When we were little we never said "I don't care" to the teacher when she punished us, which I hear frequently these days. I know that dynamics in todays families are very different. I think that a lot of families are missing authority figures and stability or consistancy. I fear for some of these kids that spend their time trying to get into trouble. The sad part is that if they put any ounce of that trouble making energy into being a leader, they would rock! My hope is for any hint of progression out of these kids. We will see!

Career changing day!

Today was a day from you know where! It was one of those days were you sit at your desk during your 45 minute planning period at 1 in the afternoon, which by the way was the first time you sat down that day, to ponder what you would have done if you didnt become a teacher! I sat as I tried to calm myself with my classical reading music that I let my kids listen to, and thought to myself, " What would I do if I was not a teacher?" The answer is...well, I don't know!

I think that I might have been a photographer traveling the world finding exotic destinations and capturing on film what most people will never get to see! Yeah that's it! Or maybe I would be professional shopper! Who knows were I would be if I wasn't teaching. All I know is that there are definitely some hard days and some that make you question your career, but I always come full circle and find something fantastic about my job and use my mantra " I love my job! I love my job! I love my job..." I am super lucky to have found my dream job so early! Who knows...I just might one day become the destination photographer traveling the world capturing exotic locations on film.

Carrie Bradshaw

How about this? I created a blog! I never thought that I would be sitting here typing away my thought for anyone to see. I know its corney, but I feel a little like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City! I should have some thought provoking question at the end. Anyways, I also figured that if they want my first graders to start blogging, then I should be able to blog too! But I really have to give the credit to Kate Danze. I look at her blog of her wonderful family and find comfort in the fact that I can share in both the good and challenging memories that they make together. I only hope that this new blog will bring me some rekindled relationships with friends that I have not talked to in years. I hope that this blog will give you some insight into what my life is like after college. I hope that this blog will give me opportunity to put into print all of the millions of thought that race thru my head. Get ready!