Some mid-year reflections

It dawned on me within the past week or so that I have a strong sense of ownership of my program. I no longer feel as though I'm living in Mrs. Predecessor's shadow, although a student or colleague may mention her occasionally. I've grown incredibly protective and proud of my students. I've relaxed quite a bit.

My classes, while still incredibly structured, feel easier and more comfortable ... and I feel like I don't have to work as hard to get the students to participate. The downside is that they feel a little freer too, and many try to get away with more- talking out of turn, calling out questions, and chewing gum (an absolute no-no in a singing class). Still, I'm feeling more comfortable with them and they seem to be feeling better with me too. I haven't heard the "I wish Mrs. Predecessor was still here" complaints for a couple of months. (Some of my little hormonally-challenged darlings are quite charming...)

Speaking of charming ... one of my tiniest students has a huge voice and even larger personality. This beloved child (whom all the upperclassmen want to adopt as their own pet or little brother) was fed up with his section during our rehearsal today. He stood up and turned around to face the other 40 kids in his section.

"Guys," he addressed his peers in a tone conveying his irritation, "if you think that whispering is singing, you've got another think coming! You need to sing!"

This shocked some of the more rebellious teenyboppers into action. They looked surprised (as was I!), and after some mixed applause and laughter, they sang better when we rehearsed the passage again. I've told them the same thing (although not quite in the same way) over and over and over, and I was relieved that it finally clicked for them when the direction was barked at them by a 4'6" underclassman.
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In my first (and oldest) class today, one sweet little girl came up to me shyly holding a pretty bracelet made of pink beads.

"Miss LastName," she said, "I had some extra time this weekend so I made this for you!"

I thanked her profusely for her thoughtfulness and put it on. It IS quite lovely, and I am surprised and touched by her sweetness. I'll write her a special thank-you note to give her when I see her next...
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In my last (and youngest) class today, I don't remember exactly what prompted the following conversation ... but I ended up telling the kids [jokingly but also sincerely] that I "still loved them all" in spite of whatever mischief they had just done.

One little girl piped up, "Don't you think your fiance will be jealous then?"

I laughed and responded, "No!" Grinning, I continued, "I love you in different ways. I want to marry him, but ... no offense, I don't really want to marry you all!" Some responded with mock indignation at my remark, and the class giggled. Did I mention that one of the great things about working with this age group is that I can be giddy and silly at times and get away with it? They always laugh if I warn them that I've had my coffee and I'm feeling hyper. :)

Wintry Weather

The lovely snow graced us briefly ~ long enough for a few photos ~ before it melted away.

View from the front of our home:

View from the back door:

The little plant that could:

Fun with Photoshop:

*These were taken on the one snow day we had last month. The following week, there was a 2-hour snow delay, but unfortunately, I didn't receive notice of the delay. I showed up at school at the normal time ... actually, I was earlier than normal, and I'd even stopped by the Starbucks to reward myself for leaving extra early that morning. When I turned on my school computer to check (because I was curious as to why I was the first car in the lot), I understood why. There was no snow at all where I live, and roads were clear, so I had no reason to suspect that there might be a delay. I was irritated that I hadn't been informed of the delay via the standard phone call, but at least I had the photocopier all to myself and could work in silence!

High-flying adventure

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I woke up early, got ready quickly, and even had some time to take care of some chores before I left for school. On my 45 minute commute, I watched the sky transform as the sun awakened. Lovely.

I had a productive rehearsal with my kids before school because two of my extracurricular choirs are joining forces to serenade kids with "Singing Valentines" during lunch today. (We've already surpassed my goal for our SV sales, and I think we'll have fun today.) :)

My classes went well; my most challenging class (of the 8 I teach) was extremely well-behaved yesterday. I complimented them on their behavior ... and because the weather has been uncharacteristically warm this week, I took them out to continue part of the lesson outside. I had them take their books because I figured it would be easier to dismiss them from one of the entrances of the school than to have them return to my classroom, grab their books, and walk in a different direction.

Little did I know that yesterday would have been a perfect day for kite-flying. We were just beginning to work on one of our songs (which I was teaching them using call-and-response method, to be more stylistically authentic) ... and the wind came in swirling gusts ... the tree nearby was swaying, the leaves still on the school property began to dance in a circle ... and ... two of the girls' notebooks flew open and their papers took to the air.

I yelled to the 30+ kids in my class to rescue the flying papers! What a sight to see-- all these 30 adolescents running around, trying to catch the papers in the air or stomping on them if the papers were gliding across the ground. We managed to rescue math notes, Spanish projects, personal poems and history homework ... but alas, some papers flew away, soaring high above the school!

After we had rescued all the papers we could find, I herded my class back into our building, and we set up camp in a stairwell. I had them bring me the found papers, and I sorted through them with the two students who appeared to have lost the most work.

Oops. :)
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Now I'm off to get ready for school once again. It's my part-time day again so I'm not required to be there for another 2.5+ hours, but I made an announcement yesterday that I'd sell more SVs at the beginning of the school day today ... which means that I should be leaving in half an hour to get there in time. Half an hour to shower, put on makeup, and pack for a weekend away. (I dread the five hour drive from school to Westley because I have to drive through congested metropolitan areas during rush hour because my school gets out so late! At least the end result is worth it!) :) I hope traffic is kind because I will not be ready to leave in 30 minutes. Aack!

Ivory vs. White

So many details. So much information. So much pressure to plan it all NOW!

Who knew that planning a wedding involved so much?!

Even though we are nearly 11 months away from the wedding day, I'm getting pressure from many people to book a reception venue YESTERDAY! Apparently, I'm already behind on this part of the schedule even though it's 11 months away. I'm getting warned that if I keep waiting, the places and vendors I want probably won't be available because they're all booked so far in advance.

I think the people who keep telling me these things are overreacting. Of my close friends who've gotten married in the last couple of years, I have the longest engagement. December-December is significantly longer than October-May or even April-August! There is still plenty of time to plan and prepare, and I simply don't have the time to make this my unpaid part-time job at the moment!

My goal is to book the reception venue within the next month or two and then relax a little bit until June when I will have more free time. (Until then, I'm co-sponsoring the school musical and I have an overnight field trip and my school concert.)

However, I did start considering another detail ... The Dress. My sister (engaged a month longer than I, but not getting married until a year later) and my mom came with me. I'd researched places in my area, and we had a list of three stores we wanted to visit last Saturday. I dutifully visited the one chain's website and recorded the styles I liked.

We arrived at the chain store first, and we were told that they could squeeze me in despite my lack of an appointment. (I needed an appointment?) I was given a special undergarment and a giant slip (with tulle- is that the word?) that I was supposed to wear underneath the dresses. And then the lady helping me brought dress after dress. She started with elements that were in the dress I'd selected off of the website (which they did not have available at the store) as she tried to find me The Dress. I went into the store with this in mind but left with this in mind.

I'm not sure if the latter is The Dress ... I didn't feel anything. I liked it ... but I'm also hesitant because they only had the Champagne/Ivory there, and while the colors looked great with my skin, the dress isn't white! I have earned the right to wear white, and they didn't have the dress available in white/white or ivory/ivory, so I wasn't able to compare the color set I tried on with the other colors available.

At least it's still 332 days away!

Snow Day!

At 5:45am, my alarm went off.

"I know, I know!" I grumbled as I reached over to turn it off. I deliberately left my electric blanket turned on after I climbed out of bed.

"Please let it be a snow day, please let it be a snow day!" I whispered to myself. Glancing out the window, I felt hopeful. A few inches of white had blanketed the driveway and the road outside.

I meandered down to my parents' computer and turned it on. As it loaded, I went into the kitchen and helped myself to the cookies I made yesterday afternoon. (We had an inservice yesterday from which we were dismissed early, due to the inclement weather. We were encouraged to take our work home with us and work beyond our contracted hours. *grumble* Instead of doing my work at home in the afternoon, I celebrated and made some yummy chocolate cookies with crushed candy canes.)

I typed in my district's website and held my breath...

Yes! NO SCHOOL!

A moment later, my cell phone rang, and the recorded message confirmed the great news!

How do I plan to celebrate? I'll finally get caught up with my grading!!!

New year, new president...

Unlike the neighboring school districts, my students and I had a regular school day last Tuesday, January 20. Although I've been falling behind with what I'm trying to accomplish with my classes as the end of the semester approaches, I recognized that having my students watch the Inauguration swearing-in ceremony and President Obama's speech would be a much more important lesson than whatever I could teach.

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Last Fall, my junior high students constantly challenged the music I programmed for their concert. My oldest group performed a Spanish carol- in Spanish- and my youngest group sang a piece which had Latin and English text.

"Why aren't we singing 'Jingle Bells' or other Christmas songs?" Many kids asked as we prepared for our winter concert.

"Not everyone celebrates Christmas," I answered, "and besides, it's a Winter concert, not a Christmas concert."

"But we're singing a Jewish piece for Chanukah!" One child exclaimed.

"Actually, it's not a Chanukah piece. The text IS Hebrew, but the song is about a bird."

"Why do we have to sing songs in different languages? Why can't we just sing everything in English?"

"It's important to learn about other cultures, about other languages, and about the music of these peoples. There's so much more of the world beyond the tiny little bubble that is your life here at this school in [city, state]! We sing in the piece in its original language because it makes your experience of that culture's music more authentic." Then we had a long discussion about why it's important to honor/celebrate other cultures.
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My motivation for watching the Inauguration with my class was to give them the opportunity to see history unfold as it was actually happening, and I'm hoping that watching our nation's first biracial President being sworn in expanded their personal bubbles so that they had some understanding of the significance of the event.

Later on that day and that week, I heard from some of my friends who live abroad- former exchange students who stayed with my family as my siblings and I were growing up, friends I met while backpacking through Europe and studying in Eastern Europe, and friends from abroad who had studied here. They are THRILLED that Obama is now our President. Foreign relations are already improving as our world continues to shrink. What a blessing. :)

351 Days

On Christmas Day, I drove up to Westley's parents' home, arriving shortly after 4pm. Moments after I had laid down my bags and gifts, Westley informed me that his brother's family had accidentally left a gift behind at their house. As we still had some time before dinner was going to be served, he had offered to retrieve the gift right then. Did I want to join him?

"Of course," I gushed, clinging to his arm. "I just arrived, and I don't want to be separated from you!"

We climbed in Westley's car and drove the short distance to his brother's home. Once we had parked the car in the driveway and Westley shut off the ignition, I announced I was going to stay in the car. I didn't expect that it would take him very long to find the gift, and I was quite comfortable sitting in the car.

"But you just drove all this way to see me," Westley protested. "I don't want to be apart from you, even for a minute."

"OK," I said, grinning.

He assisted me up the stairs to the back door as I precariously walked in my heels on the ground, trying to step over the places where snow had melted. (He'd told me in advance that his family "dressed up" for Christmas, so I'd worn a cute green sweater dress with brown heels.)

Once we arrived in the kitchen, Westley took off his coat and encouraged me to do the same. I demurred, saying that it would take longer to take off my coat and scarf and put them both back on again than it should take to find the gift. He offered to help me remove my coat, and I assured him that I was fine as I was.

We meandered into the living room, where his brother's family had set up their Christmas tree. An assortment of goodies lay unwrapped beneath the tree.

"Where's this gift that we're looking for?" I asked Westley.

"Um, I'm not sure," he told me. "Let's look under the tree." I looked around, but I didn't see any gifts which were still wrapped.

"What does it look like?" I inquired. "Is it wrapped? Is it in a gift bag?"

"I don't know." He said. I grinned, thinking to myself, Typical male.

"So they sent you here to get this gift, but you have no clue where it is or what it looks like?" I asked, half-laughing.

"We'll find it," he assured me, continuing, "Let's just enjoy the Christmas tree for a moment."

"OK," I agreed, even though I wanted to hurry up so that we could return to his parents' home for dinner.

As we stood there, he had his right arm around my back, and we fell into an easy half-embrace. The tree was pretty. The soft glow of the Christmas lights and the almost-twilight haze from the windows behind us created a gentle ambience. The baubles on the tree were quite lovely.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Westley murmured.

"Yeah," I replied, enjoying the moment. Slowly, I began to sense that Westley seemed nervous, like he had before the first time he told me he loved me.

"Are you OK?" I asked him. He had been sick for a few days already, and while he seemed to be feeling better, I wanted to make sure.

"Yeah," he said, pausing. "Do you like the ornaments?"

"Yes," I replied. "They're very sweet."

"Which one's your favorite?" He asked.

"They're all nice," I replied.

"But which one's your favorite?" He persisted.

"Um ..." I murmured as I glanced over the tree. A pretty red ball, which read "Noel," caught my eye.

"I think that one's pretty," I said, pointing to it. Westley reached over to take it off the tree. I wondered, perplexed, Why is he taking the ornament off of his brother's tree?

Then I saw it: the glint of starlight attached to a gold band, on the outside of the ribbon which had secured the ornament to the green branch. Everything began happening faster than my mind could process.

Westley slid the ring off of the ribbon, and before I knew it, he was telling me he loved me, getting down on one knee, slipping the ring on my finger (perfect fit!), and asking me to marry him.

"Yes!" I exclaimed as he quickly stood up to embrace me. "Yes, of course!" We continued to murmur "I love you" to each other, sharing a few sweet kisses.

"Oh my gosh," I found myself exclaiming in shock. "We're engaged! Oh my gosh!" I couldn't stop looking into his eyes. We held hands and embraced, reveling in the magic of the moment.

I began to cry a few moments later, as we returned to the kitchen. Westley was amused by the delayed reaction, and he held me in another embrace as he pressed the red ornament into my hand.

"Is this mine to keep?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, I picked it out especially for you." Westley assured me, laughing and smiling. The shock was beginning to wear off, and the reality of what had just happened was beginning to sink in.

"We're getting married," I murmured happily, tears gently gliding down my cheek. "We finally get to be together! This is real!"

"Yes," he murmured back in response as he put on his coat. We left the house, and he opened my car door and helped me in (as he always does) before going around to his side of the car. This was the first chance I had had to look at the ring, and I held out my hand to admire its sparkle before reaching over to unlock Westley's car door.

As he settled into his seat, Westley noticed that I was enjoying the twinkling fire on my finger.

"Do you like it?" He asked me.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "It's perfect!"
~*~*~*~
When we arrived back at his parents' home, Westley's mother asked if I had said, "Yes."

"Of course!" I replied, going around to hug her and Westley's stepfather. We enjoyed the "Congratulations!" shared with us by the various family members present before settling down to a scrumptious Christmas dinner.
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351 days ... until our wedding!