our star

My path today has brought my mind back to memories and thoughts of my mom. It has been six years since she has died, but I still find myself speaking to her. Before she passed, she and my step-dad spent their winters in Florida so often it just seems as though that is where she is! Anyway, the imprint of her life was powerful, and she continues to live on in through me in many ways.
As I was working through the move this past month, I came across my mom's silver. You know the kind that our parents and grandparents were given for a wedding gift. The "real" stuff that has to be polished each year (I can remember this chore when I was young). Anyway, after six kids and a whole lot of change in the way life is done, my mom had long abandoned its use, and several years ago amidst one of her moves it was transfered from under her bed to my storage cabinet. Well now it was my turn to decide what to do with it. Of course I didn't want to get rid of it entirely; I mean it is too meaningful even though somewhat useless. This thought came to me to take some of the best pieces and make rings out of them for me, my sister and her three girls -who are like my own. This is a picture of the five of us making our star(a traditional picture we take every year at Christmas time on our Girl's Day Out). So there you have it: one more way my wonderful mom lives on and in us. She was our star:)

a hat change

Today marked the official day from teacher to administrator. For the past 10 years I have been the acting principal over the summer, while our principal summers at his beautiful cottage on Saranac Lake. This job has always worked out great for me because it is about 15 hours a week, the hours are relatively flexible and the pay is good:) I really do enjoy the change from classroom to office too. It's nice to have the break from the students, and it allows me to play a big roll in the creative planning and development process. While each summer's work has it pile of routine tasks, each one also seems to bring something extra. Here is the list of added items for the summer of 2010: construction of a new preschool room, the hiring of 2 new teachers, and the search for a new adminstrator (remember our awesome guy who summers in the adks. is retiring). Perhaps this summer may require a little more than the usual 15, and the flexibility? Either way, it's nice to switch the hat for a while. Makes it feel like summer.

forward and backward

As you know my husband and I recently moved in to my dream house. One I can picture us in for the rest of our lives. It has all the things I have longed for in a home and it couldn’t be situated in a nicer setting right in the middle of town where most of my family lives! Over the past several years we had talked about whether to remodel our house or move knowing that a remodel would never be recouped in a resale. One step forward another back and as it turned out we never really did do any of the major stuff we talked about.
Once in a blue moon I would check out an internet site of local houses for sale just to window shop, and mostly when I did this I would conclude that our house looked so much nicer than anything we could afford. That would send me back to the ideas of how we could open up a wall and create a large living space for entertaining and how to landscape our yard to create some kind of private space. These were the main things that I longed for that we didn’t have.
Well, low and behold one day while checking out the sight, I came across a listing that was in the town that I wanted to stay in because of family and the pictures appeared to have the two things I was looking for plus some. I decided to walk through the house that morning, again the following day, and then we made an offer. The offer we made was contingent on selling our house because I was not interested in holding two mortgages; it was either meant to be or not, I didn’t believe in forcing it. All was well for a couple of days and I started to visualize the move and things I planned to do once we got into the house.

After one week and no bites on our house, my realtor called and said the seller received another offer for the house; one for more money and the kicker: no contingencies. This meant we had 24 hours to take our contingency of selling our house off or lose the deal. Well as depressed as it made me, I said oh, well, we lose, because I’m not going to own two houses at once and risk going completely broke. I hung up from the phone call, and left work for home. I remember praying something like bummer God, I really wanted that house, but help me just to shake off this feeling knowing that your plans are better than mine. A half-hour later my realtor called to tell me that the craziest thing happened. Two women (sisters) from California just put a purchase offer on our house and they wanted to pay cash! I couldn’t believe it; we’re moving forward again! Who pays cash for a house, especially when they’ve never seen the house - aside from a few pictures on the internet? I don’t think I have ever experienced such a profound reverse of emotions in my life. I literally went from trying to fight off a strong sadness to being completely overjoyed! As it turned out there were a few hurdles to jump, but even these were made with amazing ease. In two weeks, the perfect house was going to be ours and ours was going to become theirs.
Now a little story about the “theirs”. Theirs as it turned out were two sisters from Hearldsburg, Ca. Apparently this is a small community south of Santa Rosa. These two women did not have any family or friends in Rochester, NY, they did not have jobs specific to the area or any particular reason for moving here, just a desire to own their own home somewhere in the east and somewhere affordable. After thinking about it for a year the day came when they decided to move and they called a realtor in Rochester to purchase MY home for them. So on just the right day and at just the right time our house was purchased. I was so intrigued by the somewhat bizarre circumstances that allowed us to get our new house and even more interested to meet these two sisters, so I left a note on the counter with my name and number inviting them to call me if they had any questions about their new home and also a comment about my desire to meet.

“Theirs” did arrive just 5 days ago and “theirs” did call. My husband and I stopped over and met them 4 days ago. These two very nice ladies asked us a few questions, told us a little more about themselves and mentioned that they were experiencing some culture shock (apparently their new little town felt like a big city)and homesick! We offered to help out in any way we could while they were waiting for their moving truck (which was scheduled to arrive in a day or two). The lawn was a little long, so my husband said he would be by in the morning to cut it for them. He did cut it and then invited them over to our house for a picnic. We were having my family over and he thought it would be nice for them to meet others and have something to do since they literally had no furniture or anything at the house yet. Maggie and Suzy did come over and they told us that they have decided to go back to California! They called the moving truck and informed them to go back and they contacted the realtor to put the house back on the market. Today they are gone. On the road back to California. I felt so bad for them. I could tell they were tired and confused and certainly feeling awful about the whole thing. They left a note for us:

Dear Tricia and Andre
This certainly has been a strange and trying time, but wonderful in many ways. We cannot thank you enough for your kindnesses to us. How I wish things were different but we go forward/ or backward with hope in God’s goodness and grace. We are so happy to have met you; the afternoon we spent with you will remain a bright spot.

The End of and Era part II

This past Tuesday we had a special luncheon at school to celebrate the retirement of one of our finest teachers. After 27 years, she, like our awesome administrator, has decided to move on to a less demanding line of work. Several years ago I used to hear about this very special teacher named “Mrs. T.”. Little did I know then that I would become this very special teacher’s co-worker and friend!

As a school we have been so blessed to have her here. The impact she she has had with the students is rare; she has a way like no other of getting through to the heart of these young ones. Many of the rest of us found comfort in knowing that some of the more difficult students would have their time with “Mrs. T.”. I am personally thankful for the mark she has made on my own nieces. Like many others, she is and will remain at the top of their list of great influencers.

Personally, I have been blessed by her shining example of both a master teacher and a true servant of God. I have witnessed the mercy and generosity of God through her quiet acts of service through these years.

The End of an Era

The end of this school year also marks the end of a great era for us at NCS. We are losing a dynamic administrator and one of our finest teachers. Both of them have decided, after many years of dedicated service, to close the door on this chapter for something new and, well, less demanding. I realize change is good, but that will definitely be a matter of hindsight.

Let me give you a picture of what I mean by dynamic administrator. Our principal literally took a little, fledging K-6 private school of some 40 odd students to 135 in just 2 years. And while many similar schools in our area have been declining over the past several years, ours has remained fairly constant. His formula for success was pretty obvious: relationship.

Mr. S. cares deeply about the students, and he supports and encourages his own staff daily. One thing he likes to ask is “Are you having fun?” or “Are the students having fun?” This is the thing, though - he really means it! He has a way of always making an event out of the ordinary. For example, what was once looked at as an annual obligation to raise funds through a magazine drive, he turned into an annual Pig Race! Yep, every class that reached their goal of sales received one of those battery operated stuffed pigs to name, dress and enter into the race. Over 300 family members and friends attended this year’s to cheer on their favorite. Of course, prizes are awarded and there is always ice cream for everyone!

This is another one of Mr. S. traditions: ice cream. He surprises the students several times a year with ice cream for one reason or another. In fact the last time he did it was just about a month ago. It was the day after the school’s spring program and there were several dozen helium balloons and party horns left over. In the middle of the next day he made an announcement over the PA for all the students to come out to the parking lot. As we filed out the door there he was handing each student and ice cream sandwich and a party horn. He had us form a circle around the dozens of balloons that he had tied to a weighted tool box, and after we finished our ice cream he suggested we blow the horn while he released all the balloons in to the air. It was so wild and FUN; the students just thought it was the greatest! Today, we found out that next Tuesday, our second to last day of school, he has an outdoor field day and hot dog lunch planned for us all. Seriously, that is just the first thing that came to my mind, the list really is endless.

As a teacher, I am afraid we will never have it as good again. These are the kinds of things he has done for us: randomly bring in Starbucks coffee or specialty drinks for the entire staff, extend our faculty lunch period and order in food, cover our class in order to collaborate on projects with others, start each morning with 15 min. of staff time to discuss the day’s events, needs we may have, or students that we can help. He is always listening and supporting our ideas. Here are two of his own that stand out. Because the teachers at our school are not part of a teacher’s union, Mr. S. underscored the importance of preparing for retirement and due to his leg work and effort a 6% matching program was started about 13 years ago. And, of course, my favorite is called Barbara Day. I will not go into the meaning of its name but just say that this is a personal day he allows each teacher to take, one around Christmas time to do your Christmas shopping and another one in the early spring to prepare your garden! In short they are really “mental health” days to do whatever it is that you never have the time for. I know, I know, it’s the end of an era! (sniff, sniff)

Moving On

Once again it's time for my kindergarten students to move on. Today I assigned the special parts to the graduates for their big ceremony (which is now just 7 days away!!). Every year it is the same: I'm ready for this, but I'm not! I'm very ready for a break, yes! I'm ready to sleep in and and sip coffee on the porch. And I'm ready to come away from the classroom and process the things I've learned as a teacher this year. But, quite literally, I'm not ready. No matter how much planning I do in advance, and no matter how much I try to keep one step ahead of the game, I always find that there is never enough time these last few days to do and be and say all the things you want to, to your students and their families.

The Move

We are finally in our new home after two long weeks of living between houses! After the closing of our existing home, we decided to rent back from the new owners so we could get a few things done in the our new house before moving in. Although it kept us extremely busy, I am glad for the many things we were able to accomplish - including our entire bedroom (it's always nice to have at least one spot completed!). In addition to the bedroom project, we removed the old linoleum from the family room/kitchen floor and painted the sub flooring for an authentic looking country kitchen floor! Of course the cost was the driving force in that decision. The hardwood floors throughout the rest of the house were all refinished and we were also able to remove the chair rail from every room in the house. Seriously, every room including the bathrooms! Several gallons of paint later and we are exhausted. Exhausted, but happy to be in our new home.