I'm Graduated!

After 4 and a half years in my doctoral program for special education, I finally graduated on Saturday. It was a great weekend filled with friends and family. My parents came from Maine and Bill's family came from Pennsylvania. The only one missing was my brother Jason, but being the he lives in Japan, I think its ok he wasn't there :). It was a beautiful day (it was supposed to rain and ended up being 80 degrees and sunny) and the ceremony was very meaningful. Instead of reading our names and herding us through a line like cattle like most graduation ceremonies, they took the time to read a statement that our advisors wrote about us as we were being hooded. It was really nice. I am still in shock that I am finally done. After 4 and a half years or a doctoral program and 10 1/2 years of college education (undergrad-doctorate, thankfully not consecutively), I don't quite know what to do with myself not being in school. I'm sure I will figure it out soon though. One thing I do know. The doctoral program was one of the toughest challenges I have encountered so if I can do that, I can take on pretty much anything a future job could throw at me. Now if only I could find a job! I want to thank my family and Bill for encouraging me and believing in me. I couldn't have done it without you. I haven't downloaded the pictures on my computer yet so check out the hubby's blog to see them. 

Remembering Catherine

I got the news today that one of my former students, Catherine, passed away yesterday. Catherine was in my class for all four years that I taught and she quickly became my favorite (teachers are not supposed to have favorites but we all do). Catherine was really quiet and reserved when I first met her. A lot of people didn't even realize she could talk but it didn't take long to discover that she could talk up a storm. Every time something crazy happened in our classroom (which was often) Catherine would say "Oh My God". Writing that in a blog doesn't really do it justice because the tone of voice she used when she said it was really funny. Catherine loved cats and every so often, out of nowhere she would just say "meow". I had kept in touch with Catherine's family since I left teaching and just last week Catherine's mother said that they were going to her sister's to watch their cat and she could hear Catherine meowing. I just can't believe she's gone. In my line of work, it is an occupational hazard to have students die before their time. I've had three students from my last class die in the last four years (that is almost half the class from that year- we had 8 students in that class). Each of the deaths were very sad and difficult to take. Catherine was just so alive though. She wasn't sick. She had a disability but she was healthy. Its really a shock. When Tom (the principal of the school I worked at) told me about Catherine he said that when people hear about our job they think we are doing so much for kids but the students we work with give us back so much more. It is true. Catherine gave me so much more than I gave her. When I first started teaching, it was really difficult for me. It was my first "real" job and I had to create all my lessons and materials from scratch. I was so stressed out. When Catherine started coming out of her shell and talking, it made me think that maybe I was a good teacher and maybe I could do this job after all. She gave me the confidence to keep on going. Who knew a little girl with a big voice could shape the direction of my life. I never got to thank her properly for that. So Catherine, thank you so much for making such a difference in my life. I will miss you so much. Every time I hear a "Kitty Cat" meow I will think of you. Above are pictures of Catherine when she graduated last June.

Goodbye PA

In four days I will be moving from Pennsylvania back to Northern Virginia. I have some mixed feelings about this. While I'm happy to be moving near friends again and excited about Bill's first full time job in baseball, I remember how much Bill and I hated that area and how much we wanted to move. Below is my list of things I will miss and wont miss from our great adventure in Pennsylvania:

Things I will miss about PA:

*Our first apartment as husband and wife with the huge living room and kitchen

*Quakertown

*Quakertown Farmer's Market (even though it smells funny, you can't get better quality produce)

*Lee's Hoagie House

*My friends at work

*The comparative (compared to NOVA) lack of traffic

*Hobo's

*Good pizza

Things I absolutely WILL NOT miss about PA:

*Rednecks

*The people who live below us who constantly slam the door and make our whole house shake

*My job

*The extra pounds I've gained from eating all the good food around here. Now that we are moving back to the crappy restaurants in VA, I expect to lose those pounds.

So goodbye PA. Bill and I started our marriage here. I've enjoyed the time we have spent here and maybe will Bill and I will be back again. I'm sure it wont take long before we realize that the reason we moved to PA in the first place is because we hated VA and want to move again. 

Disappointment

That is the only word I can use to describe the whole A Rod steroid scandal. Although I have to say that I'm only somewhat surprised. I am a huge Yankees fan, but I've never really cared for A Rod. I appreciated his talent but did not care for his personality. He is too egotistical and whiney for my taste. I am more of a Derek Jeter girl. Anyway, it doesn't really surprise me that someone with his personality would turn to steroids if his performance was not meeting expectations. I don't give any credit to A Rod for admitting his steroid use either. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the pariah that Roger Clemens has become by denying the obvious and compare that with the forgiveness that Andy Pettite got by admitting steroid use and realize that coming clean is the better option. The worst part about all of this is that A Rod has a good chance of breaking Barry Bonds fake record. I was looking forward to Big Head's record falling but now its going to fall to another cheater. Its really sad that a record that was hard earned by Hank Aaron has to fall to two cheaters.