My Daddy is the best daddy

 
 
 
 

My Daddy is the best Daddy

I have the best Daddy in the whole world. I know that everybody thinks that, but I really do. I've always thought that my Dad did a great thing, in that if you ask any of the three of us (my sisters and I) who is our Dad's favorite, we would all say "I am!" I really do think I'm his favorite though, because I'm his baby! I've been a bit of a disappointment to him lately, because of my job situation. My dad has an amazing faith, and he truly, truly believes that God works everything out in His own time and in His own way. I believe it too, but my faith has been a little shaky lately. This whole job thing has been rough on me and my head and my heart are often on two different wavelengths. I believe in my head that God will work everything out in His way and His own time, but every time I get one of those incredibly impersonal, computer generated emails from Human Resources that says "You were not selected for an interview" it hurts. I'm trying really hard to NOT take this personally, but it's hard, since it is ME that they can't even be bothered to interview. I know that none of these principals knows anything about me (and can't even apparently be bothered to take 20 seconds to respond to an email, but we'll save that for another post! J) but still. . . I haven't handled this rejection really well, and have been a little bitter.

So today, I go back to work, beginning my 17^th year teaching Geography. (No, I'm not using the Master's degree that I worked my rear end off for 2 ½ years. No, I'm not using the media specialist certification that's been added to my teaching certificate for over a year. – Thanks for asking! L) It was not a bad day, at all. We actually ended up with nearly an entire day to work in our rooms, which doesn't always happen. Josh came and moved furniture for me, I already have a bulletin board up, my desks arranged and stuff put away. But STILL, I'm not doing what I really want to do. I know I should just be grateful I have a job, I know, I know, I know. But today when I get home from school, I checked the mail, which I usually don't do. In my mailbox is an envelope from my daddy. It doesn't have his name on it, but I know his return address and I recognize his chicken scratch handwriting. The envelope got a little wet because it was raining but not too bad. I open it up and inside is a book, a new book. You need to understand that my dad NEVER buys new books. He is the junk/book store KING. He never pays full price for a book. He'll pay a dollar, maybe two for a hardback book, but that's it. I've spent many more hours in the "Rereader" the Goodwill's bookstore than I have Barnes and Nobles or Books a Million. So when I get a new book from my daddy, that's quite a thing.

The book is called "1,003 Great Things About Teachers." It's is just full of funny, funny things. I was reading while I was drinking and almost spit water across the room. There is a section called "Words that Teachers AREN'T embarrassed to say." My favorites are tentacle and Virginia. It is really funny. There was no card, no letter, nothing, jus the book in the envelope. But I know what he means. He could have sent a card, he's gotten very mushy about cards lately, but he knew that sending me a BOOK would be the best way. I really am lucky. Could anybody have a better dad??

Contentment . . . or lack thereof

I just used my online Bible search tool and found the word "content" 10 times in less than five seconds. Uh-oh. (BTW, I mean content as in satisfied, not what is inside something!) Most people who have ever been in church on any sort of regular basis have probably heard this verse from Philippians: "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:" That verse is causing me much stress lately, because I am NOT content. Dictionary.com defines content as "satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else." That's a toughie!! To not want any more or anything else. I dream about winning the lottery – does that mean I'm not content? I think sometimes my discontent doesn't come from wanting MORE, as it does from wanting something else. Then my faith and my feelings clash. I believe firmly and 100% that God loves us and wants the best for us. I believe that God knows and sees the whole picture, while I am only looking at a part. I believe that in His time, He works out things for the good for me. I KNOW all that. I just don't feel it always. So, because I'm stubborn and hardheaded, I try to help Him out. I give Him advice about what's best for me. And I become more and more discontent with my life. There will always be people with "MORE" than I have. I understand that. I get it. When you choose the educational system for a career, that's one of the "givens" the comes with the job. I can live with that. I do still dream of winning the lottery – Oh, the things I can think about what I could do with that money!!! I just want to be content with where I am right now. It's easy to start making a list of all the things I don't like and wish I could change. Top of the list – a new job! I did all I could to change that all summer – and every door just keeps closing. Next on the list – a different house – but I don't even know where to begin to change that!

A few months ago, someone told me I should learn the "Serenity Prayer." Yes, the same prayer that people in AA use. You've probably heard it, it goes like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I'm working on recognizing that I can't change other people (much to my dismay!) and that I can't change the decisions other people make. And, again, much to my dismay, there are MANY things I cannot change. I guess the only thing I can do is prayer for the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to wait.

 

    

If wishes were horses. . . .

So, I want a new house. I guess I should say, another house – it doesn't have to be "NEW." I want a "new to me" house. I have been thinking a lot about what I want in this new house. Realize, gentle reader, that the chances of me getting a new house are pretty slim at this point, because I would have to sell my house first and I can't imagine anybody wants to buy my house. When we bought our house, there were some things that I didn't think about or didn't know to look for, so I hope I've learned some things since then. Someone told me that now, while I'm not really looking for a house, I should make a list of the things I want in my next house while I'm not emotionally involved in looking for a new one. Here are some things I want in a "new to me" house.

1. NO STAIRS!! I have lived upstairs since 1996. While living upstairs has given me terrific calf muscles, I'm tired of taking everything that goes in to my house up and down the stairs. I wouldn't mind a house that had a bedroom upstairs, but I DO NOT want to have to take everything up and down the stairs.

2. Kitchen counter space. Our house is old and used to be a single dwelling that now has been split up into two, so I think that my kitchen probably used to be a bedroom. There is NO counter space in my kitchen, except a space big enough for my dish drainer. I WANT counter space.

3. Laundry space!! My washer is down stairs, in our detached garage. That means every time I do laundry, I have to go downstairs, to the creepy garage. That means no just "throwing in a load." It's always a production. I'm sick of it. I want to be able to put in laundry load while I'm still wearing my pajamas, and in the rain without getting drenched and worrying about falling down (or up!) the stairs.

There you have it. My most important list of what I WANT whenever I get a new house. When I look at the list, it really doesn't seem to wish for, does it??? Meantime, I just keep wishing. . .

Sweet Memories

So tonight after church, I took myself to Publix. I needed eggs, milk, toothpaste and of course, I was looking for Publix BOGO offers. There was supposed to be an ice cream treat in that BOGO list, but they were all out. So while I'm looking for the ice cream, I see the freezer section that is reserved for Carvel ice cream cakes. Imagine my surprise when I saw these great little things called "A Taste of Carvel." I was so excited. It's a cute little tub of Carvel vanilla and chocolate ice cream with those yummy little chocolate crunchies on top. I love those little chocolate crunchy things. This is what made me go "AHHHHHH" and get one. (BTW, only $1.49!!!! and just enough for a yummy snack.) For several years, my friend Kevin worked at a Carvel store in Lakeland. It was great. He actually became quite the cake decorator, enough that he decorated cakes for everybody for a while. I loved it when he worked there, because if he made our ice cream, he would always give me (if I asked) extra of the chocolate crunchy things. Just delicious – and a fun memory. He got so good at cake decorating that when we had a cake crisis, Kevin came to the rescue. When my nephew was little, for like his 5^th or 6^th birthday, he wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cake. Robyn (his mom) was a recently divorced single mom with two boys, and since Ken's birthday is in December, money was always tight. It was hard finding him a TMNT cake. To make matters worse, right before his birthday he got sick. He couldn't have the party that he was supposed to have, because he was sick. We couldn't find a TMNT cake anywhere. So Kevin made him one. I think Robyn actually baked a regular cake mix and Kevin made it a Ninja Turtle cake. Kevin also helped us make a black cake for Robyn on her 30^th birthday. Patti and I gave her a hard time, and I'll never forget she reminded us that we would be 30 someday too. I told her since she is seven years older than I am, by the time I was 30, she'd be pushing 40 pretty hard. It's funny now!

My friend Kevin is a great guy. He gets embarrassed if people know this, but as a young man (in his early 20's) he took on the responsibility of raising other people's children. . . He's great! Isn't it funny how something so silly – a little tub of ice cream – can bring up such good memories???

Memorial Day

Memorial Day means a lot of things to a lot of people. According to Wikipedia, the holiday was originally called Decoration Day. In 1971, Congress officially made the last Monday in May as the official date and changed the name to Memorial Day. It is supposed to be day of remembering those soldiers whose lives were lost in battle. For many people, it is the official beginning of summer and for several years, the School Board of Polk County actually made the school calendar so that school was OVER by Memorial Day. I love the fact that my little town puts up a huge flag on City Hall, and puts flags around Lake Stella. I have family and friends who have served and are serving in the military and Memorial Day is a good day to remember and thank those people.

For my family, Memorial Day means something a little different. In 2001, we held our mom's funeral on Memorial Day. That may seem kind of weird to some people, but it worked for us. That year, we were done with school by then, students had actually finished two Fridays before (on the 18^th) and teachers had either two or three workdays the next week. My mom had her heart attack on Monday and we told the doctor to turn off the stupid machines on Wednesday. Because she died in another county, there was something weird with that and we had to wait for a while. We decided to do the viewing and funeral back to back and now, other people have done the same thing – we started a trend! Memorial Day for me will always be a day of remembering my mom.

 

My mom was born second of five children. She was not a healthy child – she spent most of her life until age 10 off and on in the hospital. She had an underdeveloped lung and she got sick a lot. When she was 10, the doctors removed the underdeveloped part of her lung and she was much better after that. She was a tiny little thing – her goal in high school was to weigh 90 pounds. She wasn't even 5 feet tall and a size two shoe was too big most often. She graduated from high school in June of 1961 and married my dad in August of 1961. My sister Robyn was born in June of 1962. When she married my dad, he worked for US Sugar, and could have worked there forever. Little did she know he would be called into the ministry and end up a pastor. They had been married for a week the first time he invited someone home for dinner with no warning to her. He never stopped doing that.

My mom was a feisty little thing. I think sometimes people underestimated her and tried to take advantage of her. She was not one to cross and it made her furious if someone wronged someone she cared for. She was happiest when she had a houseful of people to fuss over and cook for. She was a great cook, a hard worker and a great mom. I think she really worried about always doing the right thing – my grandmother told me that before my sister Robyn was born, my mom read every book she could find on how to raise a child and be a good mom. She was smart – she could have done anything she wanted. She had a scholarship to go to college and gave it up to marry my dad and have us. When I started kindergarten, she went to work. She worked in a bra factory for a while and then started business college. She graduated from business college with a 3 point something grade point average, with three children, a house, a job and a husband. That's why when I started at FSU, my goal was to have at least the same GPA she did, since all I had was a cat!

I don't remember ever seeing my mother sleep when I was little. She made all of our clothes, stretched the tiny bit of money we had to feed us all, and managed to keep us all safe and in one piece. We went to elementary school at Dixieland Elementary in Lakeland, and we had a carnival every year. She worked the cotton candy machine one year and because she was so short, she ended up COVERED in cotton candy. It took multiple showers for her to get all the sugar off her.

My mom and dad were married for nearly 40 years. Their first date was to the beach after the prom. Their last day together was at the beach. They were a great team. Somehow, they fit each other perfectly. My sister and I were lucky enough to have parents that loved each other and loved us – and we knew it.

I thank God every day that I was lucky enough to be born in the US. I know that I am lucky to live in the United States, with the largest volunteer armed force in the world. And I know that Memorial Day is the day we remember them. But for me, Memorial Day is also one of the days I remember my mom – and how blessed I am to have had her.

Wise words from . . . my candy???

So, I'm always looking out for words of wisdom. I have a bulletin board in my classroom with "Words of Wisdom" on it – great quotes from all different places and people. I have a quote from my principal, from Mother Teresa, to Winston Churchill to Master Yoda and Thumper. I add to it, make my kids read them when those words apply. I'm always looking. This is one reason I like to eat Dove Chocolates. (Yeah, right.) The Dove promises have neat little quotes inside. I've been indulging lately (Publix had Dove candies BOGO so of course I had to buy some) and here are some of the great quotes I've found in the chocolate. BTW, I've been saving the wrappers – I have NOT eaten all these myself at one time. I was passing them out during field day and I saved the wrappers. Some of these are very profound! Enjoy!

• Look for love in unexpected places.
  
• Remind yourself that it's okay not to be perfect.
  
• Indulge in the moments that matter most.
  
• Success is getting what you want, and happiness is wanting what you get. (That's almost Biblical – . . . for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content)
  
• Smile when you want to, cry when you need to, laugh whenever possible.
  
• It's OK not to do it all.
  
• Keep moving forward, don't look back.
  
• Give a smile, you'll almost always get one back.
  
• Love like there is no tomorrow.
  
• Most things you worry about never happen.
  
• If you fail, learn and move on. You're growing.
  
• Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted at all. (I think that's my favorite.)
  

Pretty good stuff, isn't it? I wonder what the rest of them say. I've heard people say they just read Playboy for the articles – I'm just eating chocolate for the quotes. J