Another World...

I have just returned home from Florida, and have this weird feeling that I was in a strange and amazing dream-world, or even parallel universe, for the past couple of days.

In this parallel universe, that had almost zero relation to most of my life, except for some of the principle characters, I was in blazing sunshine, on green grass, next to the blue, blue ocean. I was surrounded by a host of friends almost non-stop (you can't get much more blissful than that in my book!). With these friends I was playing volleyball on the beach and watching the sun set over the ocean and going out to eat and bowling and playing games and talking and laughing a lot. And burying treasure in the sand, of course.

Oh ya, and two of the said friends were married! (Small detail there...) They were married in a beautiful, meaningful ceremony that celebrated the sanctity of what they were embarking on. And the music was killer (hee hee hee). I rejoice in the goodness of God, in bringing Jeff and Fritha together, and I trust for His continued blessing on them!

Most of you have probably already seen DJ's post w/ its link to an abundance of pictures (good job, Steph!). If you haven't, check it out!

Teaching Poetry

I'm teaching a wonderful poetry unit to the 7th and 8th grade now. I am discovering that junior high is not exactly the time when one's literary analysis skills are at their peak. This is good news for college professors, but it makes for some interesting moments for me. I love teaching middle school - I'm just discovering that I have to teach on a very basic level. There are some moments where light dawns. Those are wonderful and exciting moments in my teaching world. They usually happen with the 7th grade girls. The 8th grade boys are much more literal. Note the juxtaposition of these two classes last Friday.

7th Grade Girls

Me: So, girls, what do you think of this Raven in Poe's poem? What do you think it could represent?
Girl #1: Maybe death?
Me: Okay, good! We know that someone has died, and the narrator is thinking about that a lot. What else? Why do you think he asks the Raven questions that have such sad answers, when he knows the raven will answer that way?
Girl #2: OH! Maybe he WANTS to keep on feeling sad! He doesn't want to be happy!
Me: Exactly! He is so sad about the person who has died that he thinks the grief will last forever! Good! So now what do you think the Raven stands for?
Girl #1: sadness!
Me: Very good!

8th Grade Boys

Me: So, guys, what do you think of this raven in Poe's poem?
Boy #1: I don't get why he's stuck with it forever.
Boy #2: Ya, why doesn't he just shoo it out the window?
Boy #3: Or hit it with a broom or something?
Boy #1: He could move to a different house!
Boy #3 (with an evil glint in his eye and a sly grin which I instantly and accurately interpreted as the look associated with guns) OR, he could SHOOT it!
Me: Umm, well that's true... But maybe Poe didn't really want to write about a literal talking bird. Maybe he was using the bird as a symbol... (My voice fades as I look nervously at the clock).

I love teaching!!!

Qualifications on Nature Loving

(Editor's note: I may be mixing two nature stories together here. But hey, it makes for a better story.)

As the weather turns warmer, more and more of America is pouring out of doors to enjoy the sunshine. I happily joined them, recently, taking my blanket in one hand, my books and notebooks in the other, and traipsing out to the lawn to do lesson plans in the presence of Nature. I sat down and began to work.

Hm. I kept having to switch positions. The ground was really quite hard. No sofa cushions in the grass here. And no back of the easy chair to lean against either. I had to hold myself up, and try to keep my legs from falling asleep. Wheeee. Nature.

And I seemed to have plunked myself down right in one of those ant paths. I had to keep flicking the things off of me. And sometimes they would crawl in between my toes and suddenly feel intimidated and randomly bite me. Grrrr.

And THEN I looked down and saw that my book was covered in tiny little reddish brown bugs that hopped when you touched them. I quickly realized that if they were covering my book, they could be covering everything else in sight, too. That would include me. Ahhhhhh! I sprang to my feet and forsook nature. Enough was enough!

Nature is full of bugs and hardness and crawly things (oh, I forgot to mention the spider that was on me!) and sun in the eyes and probably many more gross and annoying things that I didn't even detect. Blah on nature.

However, the call of the sunshine is a strong one. So I got a rocking chair from the porch and carried it out in the grass to a place I could put my feet up on a convenient rock. I will enjoy nature on my own terms (a. comfort, b. no wildlife near my person), thank you very much.

Sigh. Thoreau would never have approved of me.

Just a Small Grammatical Note

(or a large one, as the case may be...)

A LOT IS TWO SEPARATE WORDS!!!

...A................LOT

ALWAYS

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Okay, my tyrannical inner grammarian is appeased...for now.

Ahhhhh.....

I hope nobody checked this blog in the past 5 minutes, because I accidentally posted only the title. Oh well -- it pretty much says it all anyway.

Right now I am sitting on the couch in our den with four sleeping puppies in my lap, watching the Red Sox winning over the... well, you know who... and I'm NOT WORRYING ABOUT SCHOOL!!! How much better can life get? I have NOTHING due! I keep thinking, "I should be painti... no....I should be resear... no... studyi.... no..." NOTHING! After my math exam today I joined Lisa in that Universal Grin of Release. I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh, or cry, or scream, or jump, or what... but oh man, what a spring in my step! (especially after returning my 10 or so spoot library books that I'm so sick of looking at)

Hopefully I will post more soon after being cut off from all civilization for a while, but I do actually have to go to bed earlyish tonight... I have an intense faculty vs. student art department volleyball match tomorrow, and I have to be in prime shape.

Life is good.

Community Living

RI is, as you all know, the smallest state in the union. And yet, it's not as if a short stroll will take you from one side to the other. I drive an hour to get to work! But little by little I am becoming more familiar with the state, its highways and byways, its quirks, its people (who might fall under the category of quirks in some cases).

But last week I experienced a moment that brought the state into focus as a cheery neighborhood full of dear friends. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but hey, it sounded good. In any case, I did have one of those bonding-with-strangers moments that makes me so happy.

I was in the McDonald's drive-through (getting a fruit and yogurt parfait - yum!), stopped and waiting for my food, while listening to sports radio (now THERE is a subject for another whole blog - I love sports radio!). All of a sudden it was as if my radio had gone into surround sound or something. Huh? And then I realized that the Fed-Ex truck that had pulled up nearby was also blaring sports radio! Yay! We were so of one mind!

It reminds me of the time Lindsay started singing a song in the car, and the lady next to us at the stoplight sang the next line! Or when I walked out of the main house singing a song about summer, and a voice wafted down from up near the women's dorm with the next line. Or Claire's recent sneezing story on her blog. So many nice things that bring people together.

Oh! I thought of another one! I was sitting at a stoplight waiting to go, and there was an advanced green for the people coming our way. There was an elderly driver next to me who assumed his light must be green if theirs was, and he went! The car behind him drew up beside me, looked over at me, and shrugged in a mystified and amused way.

Of course, then there are the times in which the whole world seems to be a community, but you are on the outside. Okay, I really only have one example of this. Yesterday I was driving home from work, and suddenly realized that I hadn't gotten hung up in traffic yet, even though I was at the place where traffic usually slows. And then it began to be uncanny. There was no one going under the speed limit in the fast lane! What was going on?! People kept moving into the slow lane when I gained on them. What?! I began to wonder if there was some weird conspiracy going on. Where were all those people who go 60 in a 65? Was there some state-wide event everyone but me knew about? The mystery was never cleared up. I guess it was just a light day for traffic. Strange. But I'll take it!

MA Tax Dollars Put to Excellent Use

Last night saw the first Sox/Yankees game of the season. Big news. Also, it saw the Johnny Damon, now in pinstripes, playing against his old team. Even bigger news. But all of that was overshadowed by one of the most exciting/unusual outside-the-game moments I've seen in baseball.

Tim Wakefield is a knuckleball pitcher, and knuckleballs are really hard to catch. The new catcher was having fits trying to hold onto the pitches. It was starting to be a real problem. So yesterday, the Red Sox re-acquired Wake's catcher from last year: Doug Mirabelli.

Problem: Mirabelli was in San Diego when the deal went through. And Wakefield was pitching that night. Thus the mad dash.

Doug jumped on a plane and flew across the country (and three time zones), landing at Logan Airport at 6:48. The game was scheduled for a 7:05 start. A police cruiser was waiting (here's where the tax dollars come in), traffic was stopped, and Doug flew through the streets at maximum speeds (the radio guys said 100 mph, but I don't know if they were being literal or not). Doug's uniform was in the vehicle, and he arrived at Fenway all suited up, and ready to catch Wakefield, a little after 7:00. How dramatic!

The Red Sox beat the Yankees 7-3, and Doug didn't allow any passed balls.

[Bonus info: Veritek was going to catch if Doug didn't make it in time, and the back-up pitcher (in case anything happened to Veritek) was going to be Alex Cora. Cora is a utility infielder. He said he hadn't played catcher since he was 14 years old. But he wasn't worried. Instead he gamely pointed out that that was what 'utility' meant! I thought that was so cool!]

This morning the radio guys were arguing about whether Mirabelli should have had the police escort. Feel free to leave opinions on the matter if you so desire (I'm sure you can't guess where I stand).

Regaining Sanity One Laugh at a Time

I have a fellow teacher, named Bev, who is an absolute treasure. She's southern, with a fantastic sense of humor, an easy-going personality, and a non-intimidating conversational style. We totally clicked, very early in the year. I love her! She's the science/math teacher, so, as you will know if you read my last entry, she is the one who was out last Monday.

The catch is, she asked her husband to call the school to let the headmaster know, and her husband forgot to do so. Consequently, no one knew where she was. Calling her cell phone wasn't working, and we didn't know her home phone number. Despite my generally optimistic outlook, I couldn't help wondering if something awful had happened and she was dead or something. I was relieved to see her the next morning.

Today was parent/teacher conference day (yes, these two things will tie together eventually). I only had ONE conference scheduled, so the day was practically a day off for me (I lead a charmed life). I popped in to talk to Bev after my conference, and we ended up having the best chat ever!

And in the midst of said chat, I had a very "Tuesdays with Maurie" moment, because I remembered that during that past Monday, when I thought she was dead or something, I was really horrified at the thought that I'd never let her know how much she meant to me. So I told her the story of how I thought she was dead (with a lot of laughter on both sides), and then I told her how much she has helped me this year.

Being a first year teacher, I'm still getting used to my co-workers as well as the way things work at the school. In recent months my patience has been short when it comes to some personality quirks and people's blunt ways of approaching things. I grit my teeth in the teacher's lounge much more often than I do in the classroom. But what has helped me immensely is Bev's approach. Over and over my blood pressure would be rising, and I would hear her laugh. I would suddenly realize that I don't have to be irritated by this! I could laugh it off! The personality clashes were becoming a big deal in my mind, and she saved my life repeatedly. She is like oil on troubled waters: a peacemaker without even knowing it.

As I told this to Bev, she seemed quite surprised, as well as happy to hear it. She told me that her first year at the school she'd also had a hard time dealing with the other teachers. But it got better once she adjusted. And then she blessed me so much by telling me that she had noticed I was bothered a couple of times when things were said to me (this kind of scared me, actually, because I thought I hid it pretty well. She and I are pretty similar in some ways, though, so maybe that has something to do with it.), and she had prayed for me those days! Can you believe it?! It was my turn to be surprised and happy. I had no idea she'd prayed for me! I had a secret ally!

I came out of the room loving her even more than when I'd walked in. I passed on a compliment to her, and got back a whole new understanding of God's goodness in providing us with people like that.

Just wanted to share my happy tale:)

Speaking of Choosing a New Identity...

WHO AM I?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD ME!?

What brought on this identity crisis, you may ask. Well. I will tell you. Monday I got back from Spring Break to the news that the math teacher was out, and I was the lucky one who was subbing for her. I walked into class expecting to monitor a study hall, and found lesson plans instead. And then... (gasp) I TAUGHT MATH. And what's more, I really enjoyed it.

Really!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

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Here I was, I who had disparaged math for so many years, enjoying the fact that parallel lines intersected by a transversal always create equal angles at points 2, 4, 6, and 8. Always! I think what got me was the absolute-ness of it all. There's no saying, "Welllll, you could have phrased that better" on a math problem. It's either right or wrong. But even better was the whole mystery solving part of it all. You get this weird picture of lines all crisscrossing each other, with only a few angles filled in, and by breaking it down into smaller parts you can fill in the missing angles bit by oh-so-sure bit. Wow! What a treat!

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My school is looking for a new math teacher next year (since our present one's husband is being restationed. Waaaaah!). Maybe I should apply! Of course, I can't promise any ability past about the seventh grade level, but still...

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Hurrah for the discovery of new delights!

Craig's Recital!!!

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(words won't do it justice)
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But it might be close to say: PRAISE THE LORD!
And: Yay Craig!

FRIEND!

I found this picture on another blog, and it might be totally weird to post a stranger's personal picture on my blog (if any of you blog etiquette people are screeching in horror, let me know and I can take it off). But the reason I snagged it is this: this is a picture of a game of Catch Phrase, and LOOK at the GIRL! BOTH hands over her mouth. She had ANDREA SYNDROME (n. the irresistable urge to help out the other team if you figure out the answer before they do). Obviously the guy is guessing, and the girl is trying with all her might to refrain from Andrea Syndrome. Hee hee hee. I AM NOT ALONE!!!

Choose your own Identity

????



I was just going to comment on Penny's blog when I spotted something that made me forsake it to come over and post on my own (sorry Penny! I did love those Easter eggs a lot!). What I spotted, or rather what finally registered on my brain, was the little phrase "choose an identity." (Side note: speaking of registering on brains, during our shopping day I said to Katie, seemingly out of the blue, "Yes! You should go to a Red Sox game!" This was because the night before she had said how she needed to get to one some day. And it took about 18 hours to finally sink in! Oy vay.) Anyway, finally the phrase "choose an identity" caught my attention, and amused me. Cool! I can comment as anyone I want to!

I could choose someone else's identity if I wanted to. I might decide to comment as Shakespeare and be wicked eloquent. Or maybe Gerard Manly Hopkins and sound really, really complex yet beautiful. Or I could comment as Ann Coulter and sound incredibly biting but smart. Perhaps I should choose a generic athlete and say the same exact trite phrases again and again no matter what the post is about.

Or, I could choose an identity with a totally different personality. No longer would I be easy going and people pleasing. I could come out with rude and blunt statements. Or I could be totally shallow, and treat everything as a huge joke, no matter how meaningful the post was. Perhaps I should be an ultra-blond and miss every point.

Speaking of ultra-blonds, perhaps I could choose an identity that is based on stereotypes! I could comment as a southerner, a liberal, a hick, a "person of ethnicity."

And speaking of "persons of ethnicity," I could post as someone who embraces every aspect of political correctness! Now that would be a fascinating experiment. I could take offense at so many things that weren't in the least offensive.

The possibilities are endless! Blogs are so much fun!

The Shopping Extravaganza!

I am taking a little break from my preparation for teaching Greek Philosophy next week (and the week after) to proclaim to the world that I (the one who gets incredibly frustrated after 1 hour of shopping) spent MOST of the day yesterday in the most productive pursuit of clothes I've had in ages! Maybe ever!

Katie and I, weeks ago, decided to do a shopping day together, in hopes of finding something suitable to wear to Fritha's wedding (a.k.a Jeff's wedding, in case you were confused). Both of us also needed warm weather clothes.

I was driving Mrs. L home from church Sunday, and told her that we were hoping to find lots of beautiful, cheap, modest clothes. She laughed.

And indeed, as I awoke on the morning of the BIG DAY I barely dared to hope that we would come away with anything. Many's the time I spent hunting, hunting, hunting to come away with 1 item or less. But we piled into the car in good spirits nonetheless. Katie, I should add, is not a big shopper either. Somehow both of us missed out on that part of the feminine stereotype.

We arrived in Wrentham, MA, where there are a bazillion outlet stores, an hour later. We began the dance: into the store, circle around, shrug your shoulders or raise your eyebrows, out of the store. BUT the bookstore proved the first great hit. I found copies of the Aeneid, 3 for $10! I snatched 6, because we'll be doing that book at the end of the year.

Shortly after that, the FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN OPENED! Well, actually, we each found a few things at another place, and THEN the floodgates of Heaven opened! And in this instance, the floodgates were pouring out J. JILL items! For those of you who haven't heard me rant and rave about J. Jill, both how beautiful and how expensive the clothing there is, I will just mention briefly that it is a clothing company that specializes in beautiful, feminine, linen-type, classic clothes. I love it! But I've never really been able to justify spending that much money there. But lo, here was an outlet store with reduced prices!

Katie and I giggled and squealed our way around the store, as if we had hit the jackpot. We both came away with many beautiful purchases! I couldn't believe it. After the giggling and squealing, came the looks of disbelief as we realized what we had just done. We'd shopped at J. Jill, and found beautiful, semi-cheap, and modest clothing! Unbelievable!

And that wasn't the last of the purchases, either. What an incredible day. And wonder of wonders, neither of us got grumpy, tired, or discouraged, despite the fact that we were in and out of stores for hours on end! That is pretty miraculous right there.

Bring on the Wedding! Bring on the Summer! Kate and I are ready.

On Break!!!

Ahhhhh, life is good. For one thing, the weather is incredible. For another, this is the first day of my Spring Break! (Well, technically I have it off for Good Friday and next week is spring break.) And just in case that isn't enough to convince you that life is indeed good, I just finished filing my tax returns! Amy P tipped me off to turbotax, and I must say that was incredibly easy. So now I'm breathing easier. I'm not usually one of those push-it-to-April-15 kinds of people, but this year, well, I was.

Spring break should be fun: I have to read the Aeneid, Greek philosophy, My Antonia (not the whole thing), and a lot of poetry. Then I should be able to cruise for the rest of the year! I only have 5 or 6 weeks left. Incredible.

My last day before break was great: I read "Epic" out loud to my high school, and showed the movie of "A Tale of Two Cities" to my junior high. Not too shabby. I also got all of my grades recorded on report cards, which was a huge relief (especially since I kept waiting and waiting for one kid to get his act together and turn in the two papers he owed...).

And the last event of the day was one of the fathers at school getting home from Iraq. That made me feel kind of weepy and sentimental all the way to Fairwood.

Which is where I am now! I love Fairwood. I think I breath more deeply here than anywhere on earth, if you know what I mean. And, as I said at the beginning, the weather is incredible.

And again I say, life is good.

Happy Opening Day!

Ya, ya, I know - opening day was yesterday. But I didn't post last night because of extenuating circumstances (like, ummm, sleep), so I'm doing it one day late.

Happy Opening Day!!!

It was a fabulous day for me - kind of like Christmas only different. I was so excited all day: decorating the chalk board, making sure the teachers knew (the one drawback of the school: no huge Red Sox fans amongst the staff), and (for the crowning moment) turning on the radio during literature so that we could all hear the first pitch. It was a ball. To Crisp.

Then I got to listen to the game all the way home, and watch it once I actually arrived home. I got to enjoy a fabulous victory (the first on opening day in 5 or 6 years I might add), and then enjoy an hour or so of interviews afterwards. I am definitely in the Crisp camp, after hearing him say he'd done alright, but made a couple of "blunders." Hee hee hee. Not among those blunders was the FABULOUS centerfield catch he made. Damon couldn't have done that (cough cough).

Then the game was being re-broadcast, so I watched the pre-game show! I might have started watching the game all over again, but it was getting later and later...

This morning, as I was getting off Rt 24, I practically burst into tears of joy when I remembered, "HEY! They're going to be playing AGAIN! TONIGHT!" Ahhhhh, baseball season. It's like the missing piece has been found or something. Part of me that was dormant and languishing is vital once more. Hurrah for baseball season!!!

The One and Only Uncle Paul

Now that the comment record on my blog has been blown out of the proverbial water, I would like to let you all know that the last post was Uncle Paul's idea. He woke up mighty early in the morning to ask me if I would post it before I went to school, thus securing the highest possible number of readers in the day. Isn't he a good Dad?!

And I would like to add, at this juncture, that he is a might good uncle, too, and a mighty good every other role he plays. I feel so blooming lucky to be his niece, living in his house, under his pastorship. He is an amazing man - funny, kind, sensitive to the needs of those around him, generous to the extreme, fun, and tenderhearted to the things of God. I've sat in his meetings and practically felt like crying for the poor rest of the world because they missed out on the sermon. He has ministered to me in so many ways - from the spiritual to the car-ful:) He has come out in the morning, just as I was about to drive away, to pray for me. He has instigated many a fun outing. He has jumped my battery many a time. He has sat Melissa and me down for long and interesting discussions. He has made me feel secure. He has made me laugh innumerable times. He has cooked me dinner. He has checked up on me, to make sure I'm doing okay in hard times. He has demonstrated what it is to lay down his life for others. He has been the most incredible uncle anyone could ask for.

So let's have three cheers for Uncle Paul!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT (of great importance)

LOOKING FOR 23 VOLUNTEERS

TO WISH MELISSA A HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY

ON THE 23RD OF MARCH!

The Latest Post (hee hee hee)

I SHOULD have a picture of my beautiful new nephew Jamie,

but for now here's a picture to symbolize new life:) Welcome, dear Jamie!

This time I have a good excuse for not posting for so long...

I was officially sick enough to stay home from school! For TWO days! Real alive sick days. Another first in my teaching history. I must say, though, despite the nice break and all, I felt rather discombobulated being away from school, knowing someone else was teaching my angels. It all worked out quite well, however. I was able to e-mail my lesson plans in, and give them work they could do on their own. Then I was able to get right back in the groove when I returned. It was worth the sickness to hear the happy welcome-backs. Ahhhh, I love my students. They didn't even mind that I taught sitting down for the whole first day back.

It turns out that I don't have to do lesson plans at all anymore. One of my 7th grade girls has it all figured out. I walked in to Lit today, and she said, "Miss Murray, today we need to practice our Psalm memorization, work on our stories, practice our song for chapel, and then... whatever you have planned." Oh! Okay then! I had other plans, but if you think that's best then we'll go right ahead with your ideas. Hee hee hee. I was amused. Instead we did the Psalm and then... what I had planned. Kids these days.

Another of my students, the son of the principal, told me he had been going through the messages on the answering machine at home, and had heard my message saying I was sick. He repeated the beginning to me, "I'm afraid I'm sick, alas." And then he added, "'Alas!' Who says that?!" I laughed a lot:) I guess it's not exactly what you would call 21st century lingo.

My kids are really getting into Oedipus Rex, and I'm so happy about it. The last play was a bit slog-ish, and we were reading a difficult and dense translation. But this translator did an excellent job making the language accessible, and my kids are getting it. They even gasp at the appropriate places! Yay!

In other news, Ryan Gomes, my very own PC classmate (I saw him more than once!) is doing so well on the Celtics! Two starters are injured or something, so he's been starting, and he's all the rage! He scored 27 points two nights ago and 29 points last night. Sports radio loves him. I'm so proud! (Because, yes, I had a lot to do with it all.) Go Gomes!

Speaking of him, there was a popular t-shirt at our school while he was dominating the college scene which, sacrilegiously, said "In Gomes We Trust." Wouldn't it be weird to be Gomes and pass people wearing a shirt like that? Strange but true.

Okay! That's the latest from the teaching/PC alum front!

Snow Driving

1 hour and 50 minutes after leaving school, I pulled relievedly into my spot at home. And you know what I noticed today? New England drivers may have bad reputations, but they sure get polite in the snow. Nobody is tailgating, everyone uses blinkers, and everyone is going 15 or 20 under the speed limit. My, my. The southerners would fit right in!

Of course, the southerners might not care for the whole slippery roads, barely making it up that hill after the full stop at the bottom, ice on the windshield wipers thing. Even I, northerner that I am, don't like too much of that. But I have a fairly relaxed approach. I stop at Dunkin Donuts, get a hot chocolate, turn on some music or sports radio (I'm becoming such a fan!), and settle in for a long, slow ride. Any aggressive tendencies I may be accused of in fair weather flee, and I become a right lane driver. Until the right lane gets too slow, of course. But I'm perfectly content to take twice as long getting home.

Part of this relaxed attitude has to do with the close encounter between my car and the guard rails on both sides of the road a couple of winters ago. I don't take snow lightly - and ice I take even less lightly. At the same time, I'm not scared about driving in snow. I have to be an authentic New Englander, after all. It's just all about taking it slow and leaving room for the car ahead.

So there is your tutorial, and more, on snow driving. And now, let's hear it for the remote possibility of a snow day!