I Have a Job

I have had a job--a career, I like to think--for 32.5 years. I have had the same job for 32.5 years. I have taught at the same school since I graduated from college in December, 1975. I taught high school for one semester, and then was moved to middle school math, where I've stayed for the ensuing thirty-two years. I've taught around one hundred children each year, which works out to about 3250 children over the course of time. I've taught future teachers (two of whom teach with me now), doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, physical therapists, and the list goes on and on. I've also taught two convicted murderers (one of whom is on death row for capital murder)and numerous thieves and drug dealers/users. I've had to face the loss of students through death during the school year, as well as later in their lives. The first child that died was killed in a motorcycle accident (NOT his fault; he was doing everything right); another was accidentally shot by her older brother.

I am on my second generation of children, and that's always interesting and usually rewarding. If I know one or both parents, I at least UNDERSTAND the child's behavior, even if I don't like it! I used to tell DH that if a child ever walked in a said "you taught my grandmother", I would know that it was time to retire. I plan to teach three more years (not counting the current school year) because of an opportunity to participate in a special retirement reward offered by my state.

I am especially thankful for my job at this time of the year. I have read on several message boards about people who have lost their jobs and people who are afraid that they will be the next people in their company to be laid off. I remember times in my childhood when my father was unemployed, and it's a heavy burden for a child to bear. There was also a time in my marriage to DH when he was unemployed, and we were waiting for his diability retirement application to be considered, and that was a difficult time. We were blessed with family members who could and did help us, and God's hand was always on us; whenever the bank account was the lowest, an unexpected check or other gift would appear.

God bless and comfort the people who are in the midst of job uncertainty...especially in the midst of a holiday season. God bless and comfort their children, and help them to remember the happy memories, and not what they didn't get for Christmas. God bless the family of our student who was diagnosed with leukemia four weeks ago; her mother was shot by her step-father several years ago, and is confined to a wheelchair, so grandmother is the caregiver for both of them. God bless the students at our school who have collected close to $400 to help buy gasoline for the trips to the children's hospital and food for everyone who makes the trip. God bless the doctors and nurses who care for sick children, and thank you, Lord, that an outstanding children's care facility is only an hour's drive from our town.

"God bless us all, everyone."

You Never Know...

who you'll run into in the light bulb aisle at Wal-Mart. My heat went out yesterday and since it was Sunday (and to avoid a $100 emergency call charge), I waited until today for the repairman to come. I had a very bad afternoon; I have always had either my father or my husband to help me make decisions and arrangements about home repairs, and this time, I was--almost--on my own. My brother-in-law came over and ascertained that the pilot light was still on (we had VERY bad wind Saturday night/Sunday morning), and he called his father to get the name of the repairman that he'd used on several occasions. Here's the surprise--the man showed up at exactly the time he said he'd be here, and it took less than thirty minutes to find the problem AND fix it...for just over $50, which was probably the cost of a standard service call.

Anyway, back to the WM light bulb aisle. I ended up taking the day off since I didn't know how long the repairs would take (worst case scenario was that I'd need a whole new heating unit), and someone needed to be here other than the wonderful woman who cleans my house. I left her cleaning and I went to Wal-Mart. My college roommate and her husband are coming through town tomorrow, and are spending the night at my house. I wanted to spruce up the guest bedroom a little, and get some new lamps for my bedroom/sitting area and the dining room, and that meant I'd need light bulbs.

As I rounded the corner, I ran into the man with whom I'd had a relationship before I met and married DH. We hugged, and talked for ten or fifteen minutes. When I was seeing him, he was recently widowed, and still very much in love with his late wife. There was also a twelve-year-age difference between us, and his children didn't approve of our relationship. It was a heartbreaking time for me; he was the man that I thought I'd marry. It ended up that my marriage with DH was a much better match; we were closer in age, and shared many more interests. However, I learned a lot from my time with him, and some of those lessons have given me strength during the time since DH's death. The man had known DH, and knew that I had lost my father in early 2005, my mother in December, 2006, and DH in March, 2007. We talked about the lessons we'd learned in our time together, and he told me that he (and probably his wife; he remarried about the same time I married DH) would continue to pray for me. It was a nice conversation; no awkwardness and no strain. I just wish I'd put on my makeup before I left the house!! However, he's seen me without my makeup...

Full of Memories and Almost Empty

Mother and Daddy's house is almost empty...and today is the one-year anniversary of her death. We worked again all day yesterday, and took another load to the storage building. My sister and I are taking another load tomorrow after work, and we've each brought a couple of loads of more personal items to our houses. We found a picture of my sister taken when she was about eighteen years old, and I brought it home, framed it, and hung it on the wall. I found scrapbooks I'd made when I was in junior high and high school, along with a photo album from the same years. I found a picture of one of my favorite friends wearing a grass skirt and doing the hula at a party that was probably at a friend's lake house. That friend died of AIDS almost thirteen years ago, and he still crosses my mind every year on his birthday. He sent me red roses on my birthday one year; he was the first person to ever send me roses. I became engaged to DH three years after my friend's death, and I wrote his mom a note telling her of my engagement, and how much I was going to miss having her son as part of the festivities. I used to write her a note a couple of times a year, and I've let that fall by the wayside with my parents' illnesses and death and my husband's illness and death. I need to send her a card during the holidays, and catch her up on what's happened in my life and tell her that I still think about and love her son.