Congraduations!

Friday night was the night I have been waiting for all semester. The culmination of an entire semester of working one-on-one with seniors to help them graduate. We got through it and reaped our rewards Friday night at the Quest Graduation ceremony. Like a mother duck, I was proud of my "babies" and captured their magic moments for posterity's sake.
Preston

Taylor

Mareya

Whitney

Tony

Congratulations to all MY graduates!!

Livin' the good life...

Last week was an incredible week for me at work. It started off slow, but then things picked up on Tuesday when Whitney "graduated." I picked up a new student...a junior with dyslexia and all sorts of other issues who needs help with English III. The problem is that the school is changing computer programs next year. They will no longer use Apex. So...any student that doesn't complete their course work this school year loses that work and that credit. So, I am working like crazy to get Dylan through Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Willa Cather, etc. We should finish the first semester tomorrow and start on the second semester. In the meantime, I had two more of my kids "graduate" on Friday. I wrote about Taylor earlier. His mom is a bitch and kept telling him that he couldn't do it. Now she's all giddy and wanting to take credit for "pushing him through." She is clueless and doesn't merit my time so I'm moving on. Taylor knows that it was the staff at Quest that believed in him and helped him and that's all that counts. On to Meredith. What can I say about Meredith? I first met Meredith last fall when I subbed in Choice for Mr. Freeman. She was 21 years old at the time and coming back to school for her diploma. First meeting and we hit it off. She told me how stupid and out of place she felt. Said she should just get her GED but she really wanted a diploma. I told her she wasn't stupid at all and I admired her determination. I said I realized how hard it had to be for her to attend school with 16 and 17 year olds. She is so much more mature than them.

Flash forward to three weeks ago. I found out that Meredith was not going to be able to graduate. It's now or never for her. She is too old to return next year. I went to the counselor and asked what all Meredith needed. She needed to finish English IV, US History second semester, Art, Spanish II and PE. No one believed that she could do it. I asked if I could work with her. Then I went to Meredith and talked with her. I told her that if she wanted to graduate I would help her get it done. All she needed to do was be at school every day and come in early when she could. She agreed. Nobody believed she would come in early but the next day she was there two full hours before she was supposed to be. We got started...and the rest is history (no pun intended).

Last Friday Meredith and I stayed late (till about 4:20) trying to finish her art module. We did. We also talked. Meredith told me that she was excited because now she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. She confessed that she had stopped believing in herself because she didn't see anyone else believing in her. She said, "I am graduating because of you." Of course, I cried. Then I said, "No, Meredith. You are graduating because of YOU...you did the hard work. All I did was keep encouraging you."

I found more than a student in Meredith. I found a reminder...a reminder of why I got into education...a reminder that people do know and care what you think...a reminder that everything you do affects someone else's life. I also found a friend.
So thank you, Meredith, for the lessons that you taught me and for helping me reconnect with my passion about teaching!

Happy May Day...

Today is May 1st. Okay, it was really yesterday, but I was gone.

Wow. Time is flying by at an amazing rate.

Ron and I will celebrate 31 years of marriage on Tuesday, May 4th. Thirty one years? Is that possible? Where has the time gone. We were married, then we had babies, and now we are both "retired." That last is in quotes because if you follow my blog you know about my "retirement."

Anyway...This weekend we decided to celebrate by going to Winstar in Oklahoma and spending the night at the casino hotel after a day of gambling and a Neil Sedaka concert. I will leave out the intimate details of our getaway since my daughter reads this blog and right now she is saying, "Eeewwww." Back to the concert: Sedaka may be 71 but he is still incredible. Still has the voice and OMG, the songs! I didn't realize all the artists that he has written for or who have recorded his songs (Elvis, Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Bobby Darin, David Cassidy, Captain and Tenille, Connie Francis to name a few of the DOZENS). Songs like...Calendar Girl, Breakin' Up is Hard To Do, Where the Boys Are, Solitaire and the fabulous song he recorded with his daughter..."When you walk into a room, you know you steal my breath away...When I look into your eyes I find it hard to find the words to say..." Old songs, new songs. Fabulous!

But, I digress.

It was our anniversary getaway. Gambling fun. Concert fun. Staying at the casino hotel because it was "convenient."

Okay, we paid a lot of money for this room, but it was gorgeous. Brand new. Lush. Bedding to die for. Quiet...no noise in halls or walls. I slept like a baby.

While I will probably NEVER pay $200 for a hotel room again...it was a nice experience...as these photos will show. Okay, they don't do it justice. You would have had to be there...but then, that would have been weird.

Okaaayy...





So...happy 31st anniversary to my wonderful husband, Ron, and may we have at least 31 more together. I love you.