Little Things

It has been an uphill climb on roller skates this week. And not fancy roller blades made for all terrain. I'm talkin' those old fashioned, skate key, roller skates... and a really big hill.

We are only allowed to wear jeans every other week, and tomorrow is not that Friday.

But...

Permission was asked for, since it is the last day before Spring Break and because it has been that kind of week.

And...

Permission was granted as long as we wear our staff shirts as well.

Everyone do your Snoopy Dance. It's the little things, that mean so much. 😀

That my friends...

When you meet with a reading group
reading Bridge to Terebithia
that last week was basing characterization
on the illustrations and not the words
but somehow this week
you manage to engage them enough
that there is actual conversation happening
That my friends in magic

And then
When later you meet with a group
and go over the latest terms
in the Literary Dictionary
Everyone has been working on
for the past 3 weeks
and not only do they listen
75% of the time
but also participate
and answer questions...
That my friends is a miracle.

And when both things happen
ON THE SAME DAY...
That my friends is a good day.

It was a good day.

Faith and a License

"He will probably never drive a car. He may need braille. He may need a seeing eye dog." The doctor listed off the "cover your butt" list of possibilities for her diagnosis of albinism.

As we drove away, the tears slid down my cheeks. I was envisioning the life our 5 month old, first born, son would lead.

My husband, driving, reached for my hand and reminded me the doctor had to give the worst case scenario to avoid the possibility of law suits if they didn't prepare their patients. "Besides," he added, " at least we know he'll get scholarships for college."

At two our guy pointed out a double rainbow to us. At that point, we decided we would never tell him he couldn't do something because of his vision.

The more we learned about albinism from the albinism community we found on line, and watched our child grow, the more we realized the only thing we would need to keep an eye on was making sure he wore sunscreen.

He is a voracious reader but he reads normal print books. He just holds them closer to his face. He sat in the front row in school and had permission to get up if he needed to, to see the board. The district's vision teacher helped him learn to use a telescope to see distance if needed and advocated for him when the Project Lead the Way teacher for his engineering class tried to shrink 4 pages to fit on one two sided paper. Our guy graduated 9th in his class of about 280. He got scholarships based on academics, not because he is visually impaired. He was on the High School archery team and scored high enough that his score helped his team earn their way to state all 4 years.

However, driving was always the elephant in the room. We found out around 16 that his vision was good enough to learn to drive with bi-optics. Because of the time involved, he didn't start with the training until this January. He has been working with an instructor trained in teaching bi-optic driving for the past 3 months.

A couple weeks ago, his instructor came for an evening session to see if night driving would be a possibility. He came back about a half hour after leaving.

"Not going to happen," he said. "The lights are too bright coming at me."

I could hear the disappointment in his voice, but he tried not to be bothered by it. He also informed me he would be taking the driving test for day driving at the DMV soon.

Well, "soon" turned out to be today.

At 1, when I knew his test should be starting, I sent out one more prayer that he pass.

I had told him to let me know because I couldn't wait until I got home. At 2:15 I sent him a  text that read, "???"

While waiting for kids at bus duty I quickly checked my phone and read his text, "I passed!  Just took a while for the paperwork."

Relief, joy, euphoria...not sure how to describe the gift from God this is. He is a 20 year old young man who has been given, not only a license to drive a car, but a license to live a life that is as independent as he wants it to be.

When we found out all those years ago, I prayed not that it not be true, but that God grant me the acceptance of what it is and to help our son live his best life possible.

I've felt every day that God is good. Today his Grace fills my soul.

Thank you God for this most wonderful gift.

Snow day

For the month of February, I am alternating between gripes and grins. Today is an even day, so today is positive.

Growing up in La Porte, if they predicted snow... you got snow. However, that wasn't always a cancellation for everyone. Back then, we went school by school, and those of us in town-- who walked-- usually had to go regardless. Bus kids got more cancellations. I remember listening to WLOI/WCOE as the list of schools was read off, "Critchfield...Kingsbury...LINCOLN!!!!" celebration time.  A snow day was a day of playing outside in our snow suits and sometimes Mom would make us snowcream. That my childhood included the blizzards of '78 and '79 is just  bonus.

When I was a Child Care Director, school cancellations meant making sure I had enough staff for the kids whose parents worked and activities to occupy the kids until the parents could pick them up. Snow days were not a cause of excitement.

When the boys were young and up until about 3 years ago, snow days were much the same as my childhood, except the whole district closed and days were made up at the end of the year. (We didn't make up days when I was young.)

The last three years, our district has taken advantage of 1:1 technology, and when school is cancelled, the kids have e-learning. We avoid tacking on days to the end of the year this way.

Now I realize this is not a positive for all my friends who are teachers and have to provide those lessons for e-learning and also have to have "office hours" and virtual Professional Development.

Nor is it fun and games for those children who actually do their e-learning.

But, even though I lose money every time school is cancelled because I am an hourly employee, I feel like cancellations are a gift. I have around 60 unused sick days over the last 12 years because I don't get sick. I rarely use the 2 personal days I have every year. A cancellation is like God is saying, "Take a break."

The kids at school have been squirrelly lately. A blue blob approached across the radar last night and we had a day at home today.

The Weather Channel app says we are under a weather advisory from 1am until 10am tomorrow. I wonder if I need another break. 😎

Only time will tell.

Today

When a small team of brave individuals come together for the greater good, the powers-that-be will sometimes come to their senses and hope becomes the light at the end of the tunnel.

Spring Break starts now. Hope begins April 10.