Daughter

    I would like to tell you about our younger daughter and all the reasons that she is one of the best people in the whole world. She hugs her all her teachers every day she sees them and always has. I love that she uses a handkerchief when she has a cold.  She always wants to snuggle when it's bedtime. She has a stuffed monkey that her godfather gave her for her second birthday and she calls him Twoy. She buys dollar store moustaches and parades around like a model with them on. She is our older daughter's answer to prayer. Every teacher she's had talks about how good-hearted she is on her report cards. She reads every night before she goes to sleep. She tries to talk to the grumpy, bitter old lady next door every chance she gets and she always wants to give money to homeless people. When you want to buy something extravagant for a friend she offers her entire bank balance to you. She looks amazing in all her clothes but wears jeans & a t-shirt everyday. She is the only person brave enough to ask her grandad why he is so grumpy and she is infinitely, unbelievably patient with her learning disabled sister who is sometimes amazingly hard to live with. She knows all there is to know about the planet Jupiter. She can do the goat monologue and song from the movie "Hoodwinked" better than the goat can do it. If you are sad, she understands and knows that being quiet and not saying anything is the best thing that you can do. She really laughs. She likes to hold hands. Chocolate and sushi are her favourite foods and she has no idea how beautiful she is. I never imagined that I would ever know anyone as amazing and intelligent and exciting and hilarious as she is. I love her with all my heart.

Consequences

    Some folks believe in heaven and hell, some folks believe in karma...It sounds like a bad country music song, doesn't it? Regardless of what you believe however, there are consequences to behaviour whether it is good or bad. Newton's Third Law of Motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I believe that this applies in our own lives as well. "You reap what you sow, what goes around, comes around"--- you get the idea.
    It also follows that when someone does not do their job well, then they are liable to face consequences. As consumers, we buy products that will hopefully meet our needs. If they are not met, we hope that there is a way to remedy the situation. When I managed a branch of a large Canadian jewellery chain, I didn't mind hearing complaints or giving refunds to unsatisfied customers. This was my opportunity to right a wrong and make this client happy and ensure that they would return to our store. All it usually took was some listening, some attention, some sense for them that they were important. Regardless of the product or services we are buying, we want to know that there are policies in place for ensuring consumer satisfaction.
    Folks in the workplace often make mistakes. Professionals make errors too. Fortunately, there is always recourse for addressing these issues: meetings, letter writing, petitions, voting with our feet. We can always go elsewhere to shop, worship, get car repairs, get dental care or even an education for our children. When a favourite minister left my church, I walked away without really even giving the new guy a chance. After years of back and forth, not attending, trying other churches, I am back. What did my children learn from that? Not much that is useful, I'm afraid.
    We are having a bunch of administrative and staff changes at our little school. I wrote a letter to the assistant superintendent and complained. Now, I am excited. Don't ask me why. Everything is going to be alright.

"Shipoopi"

    My older daughter's class went to a local high school production of  "The Music Man" and it was fabulous! The amazing amount of talent, the gorgeousness of the costumes and the musical ability was fantastic. We were so blown away by what these high school kids could do that we are going again....and taking some family and friends.
    There is something about going to live theatre...you see the sweat, you hear the heels on the stage floor, you are looking over the bass player's shoulder and you are aware of the fact that there are living, breathing and in this case, young human beings, who have been working for months to pull this thing off. I am impressed. The passion that these young people and their supervisors have for their craft is huge and impressive.
    There is the other thing...I am still looking around; looking outside of myself and seeing a big, wide world with more in it than learning disorders and PAC agendas and laundry to be done.  Sure,"(Ya Got) Trouble"--- so who doesn't? Who doesn't indeed...

Today

    This post won't be about parenting, children with learning differences, PAC, school and school issues except it will. No matter how much of your life is occupied with those issues, sometimes you need to get out and look around.
    At this time of year I love to putter around outside, planting, weeding, tidying up after winter and even sitting down once in a while to enjoy the sun, the green, the birds and the sounds of my girls' voices outside. When I do, I notice how my daughters are energized by the warmth of the day; they are crazily chasing each other on their bicycles, laughing all the while.
     Last night my husband and I went out to see a favourite band with best friends. He had fallen through the floor at his job site, cutting his legs up mightily and exacerbating an old elbow injury. It might have been easy to forgo the dressing up, the baby sitter and the tickets for a night out to stay home with an ice pack or two. Fortunately we didn't and we had a wonderful, well-needed night out.
    The point is that it's important for me that my life is not all about one thing, all the time. It's easy to go there but we all need a break--- I know I do.  As much as I am involved at my daughters' school and focused on their academic and social success, I am also a person who loves to listen to music and be with friends. It turns out that not only is it okay to be that person, it's recommended. Today I feel great; a little tired but great....

Found

    I wrote about an iPhone lost at school and believed, by me anyway, to have been taken by a fellow student. Well, it has been found--- in a book bag, not stolen, just merely misplaced. How great is that! My faith in human nature has been restored...at least for the humans at our little elementary school!

Spring

    Sometimes it is really important to get outside.  When I did I was happy to see that there are sweet pea seedlings coming up at our place. It might seem like a small thing but sometimes small things make a big difference.
    It has been a difficult school year with the teacher's job action. In my opinion, the sense of community at our school was impacted negatively because of it and other issues: missing items, photographs with no place to hang and the withdrawal from our school of a couple of good friends. And it still is not over. What bothers me is all these adults pretending that the children are not negatively affected by these changes. Of course they are--- we are all cogs in the system and when some don't work or don't work well or at the time they are supposed to, the rest are slowed down or stopped. That's just common sense.
    I don't like to take sides. The teachers profess to be on the side of the children, the government, I suppose, on the side of the taxpayer. My husband and I are two taxpayers with two children.  If anyone is keeping score, I guess we cancel each other out. And so on it goes.
    Anyway, the bulbs are up: fragrant hyacinth, cheery daffodils, tiny crocuses and more. Cherry trees are blooming, the ducks are nesting and I have sweet pea seedlings coming up. At this time of year, nature makes sense to me. Everything is working fiercely, finely & patiently towards its ultimate goal: the realization of its purpose on earth. Thank God for Spring!

Trust

    One of the girls at school has lost her iPhone. It went missing at school. This means that it has been picked up by someone but instead of turning it in, he or she has kept it. This student was told by her parents not to bring the iPhone to school but she did and now it is gone. Her mother is temporarily working back east while the father is keeping things together here, working as well as looking after three school age children. The iPhone was a way for this young girl to keep in touch with her mother; little notes back and forth to stay close and connected.
    This feels awful to me. In a school of less-than-100, an incident of this type is huge. It would seem to me that all the kids would be looking at each other differently--- I know that I am looking at everyone there in a new way. It seems inconceivable that anyone could feel okay about keeping someone's phone--- especially someone you know. At our school everyone pretty well knows everyone.
    I wish that we could do something that would provide everyone with a happy ending: the girl gets her phone back, the thief stays anonymous but learns a valuable, life-changing lesson that stays with him or her forever and our little school goes back to being the safe, caring place that it has always striven to be. I am a dreamer, I know....unfortunately, I am a dreamer.