Catching Up

I've not posted in a long time, and I've got a brother nagging me...so, here ya go. Just sort of an update on what's been going on.

I am enjoying a few days off for the "winter recess". Actually I started it 3 days earlier than my colleagues because I fractured a rib on Friday evening, Dec 17. Long story, but it began with a fall in a parking lot the Saturday before, and ended a week later with my dog playfully headbutting me on the floor and me experiencing great pain and agony on my right side, so bad I cried most of Saturday morning while waiting for someone to come and rescue me and take me to the MEC. You would think with the number of people in my family who carry their own personal communication devices known as "cell phones" with them, that I would have been able to find somebody in 2 hours to answer their phone. But that's a whole other post to write when I'm feeling curmudgeonly. My husband finally happened to come home for his lunch hour to find me and bundled me off to the doctor's office.

SO, I'm now almost 2 weeks recouperated, and every day gets a little better, but having constant pain in my side is my new "normal", so that's an adjustment. I'm off the highpowered drugs except at night, so yesterday, I resumed driving which was also good for me. I enjoyed shopping and lunch with my daughter today, and did quite a few errands, so I'm ready for some narcotic relief.

I'm kinda glad Christmas is over. I was disappointed in not being able to attend family and church functions that I wanted to - however, we had a grand time Christmas Day at Kevin's. I'm a person that kind of thrives on routine and when it's interrupted a LOT, I get out of my element. Does that sound like an old person or what! But the routine of work and daily activities really helps keep me sane I think. I love my summers off but I have to DO something in order to not just while away the hours in mindless pursuits for 60 days straight.

Even while I'm on this break I've thought of the things that await me. I check my work email every couple of days or so and consider what I'm going to do the first week of January. I wonder how my kids are - the ones that I go to bed thinking of. My prayer is that they are safe, warm, fed, and nurtured, somehow, someway. I know they can't wait for school to start again - you talk about safety in routine. For many of them, school is their safe place, their nurturing place, the place where they are fed and warmed.

School budget cuts loom in the future - Wichita has to cut 20 million dollars for next year, which was the last figure I heard. I'd like it to not be all about the money, but it is. If I were a senior living on a fixed income, I'd probably complain about my taxes too.

Not too long ago, Igave a tour of one of my schools to a cranky old man who wondered where all his tax dollars were going. I was heartened to see him step inside a public school and see what all we do - he now has a better idea of what's going on. I would encourage anyone who hasn't set foot in a public elementary school in a long time to do so. You will be amazed, and glad you did. Don't judge public education by what you see in the media. Go by and see for yourself.