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.

Our New Baby

This morning Bill and I brought home our baby. This baby is 42" long. We have named him Samsung Kenney. Of course I am talking about our new 42" plasma flat screen HD TV. We got up extra early this morning to wait in line at Kmart for a chance to get the TV for the unheard of price of $700 and we got one! After years of watching TV on a 20" screen, I don't know what to do with myself. I know we will have many years of TV watching with our new baby. :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We have 14 people coming to our house! This year, I am thankful that I have a husband that cooks so I can sit around and do nothing...oops, I mean "entertain our guests" this Thanksgiving. Have a great holiday!

YES WE CAN!!!!

I am so proud of this country right now! Electing Barack Obama is the first step towards getting our country out of the mess it has been for the past 8 years. When it was announced that Barack Obama was the president elect, I got teary-eyed because I felt hope for this country. Barack Obama wont be a perfect president. He will make mistakes as all presidents do, but I feel that he is the first president in a long time that is on my side and is working for me and not corporations and lobbiests. I know Obama will do all he can to be not just be a president, but be a great president. I can't wait to see what changes are in store for us over the next four years. GOBAMA!

My Grandfather

I got news that my grandfather passed away this weekend. Most of you who are close to me might not even know that I had a grandfather who is living. I talk a lot about my grandmother but not about my grandfather (they got divorced before I was born). The truth is, I didn't really know grampy that well. I usually just saw him once a year at Christmas time. I never really understood this since he only live two or three miles from my parents. That's just the way it has always been and I've never really questioned it- not out loud, anyway. The last time I saw him was at Christmas time. He talked more on that day than I had ever heard him talk in 32 years. Maybe he knew his time on earth was coming to an end and was making one last attempt to reach out to all of us. This is what I found out that day- Grampy was a World War II Veteran. He got a Purple Heart because he was shot in the leg during the war. He told us about all the places he had been during the war. He and my grandmother got divorced when my mom was in high school. He went on to marry Isabelle. Isabelle was a nice woman who died last November. Mom and her brothers and sisters were with grampy when he died. In the end, he only wanted to be with Isabelle. As he was dying, he reached his hands up in the air, like he was reaching for her. I hope they are together now. Writing this blog is hard because I have always resented my grandfather for not being a part of me and J's life. I never understood why he didn't want to be. I'm sure he had his reasons. I'm sure there is a lot I don't know. I am grateful to him because without him, there would be no me. I just hope he is at peace now.