A Shocking Demise

The Victim

Sometime during the night of December 20th, my evening sleepwear, which included warm,fuzzy socks , polar fleece pants, and a long-john top conspired with static electricty to put to death the innocent alarm clock. They carried out their devious plan on the morning of December 21st when I touched the snooze button. The clock is absolutely, certifiably, undeniably...DEAD. Unfortunately, until warmer weather returns, the perpetrators will not be punished. Warmer weather will allow them to be placed in solitary confinement for at least a few months.

A Little Culture for the Left-brained Family Members

My parents met in October their freshman year of college. They were married the next July. They had me the following July. Then my brother came 2 years later and dad graduated from college. Mom wasn't able to finish college. My sister arrived 18 months after my brother while dad was busy in medical school. The next brother came 3 years later, just as my dad was graduating from medical school. The last brother arrived during my dad's residency program. That's 5 kids in 11 years, all while the husband was either finishing college, medical school or residency. That did not leave mom much free time to pursue anything but raising children; using her out-of-this world awesome sewing, cooking, homemaking skills to save money; fulfilling many different church callings; teaching her children about different cultures and art; making sure everyone's homework was done; dealing with a medically-complex child much on her own because dad was busy; and many other things.

So, as soon as most of us were out the door and on our own, it was finally Mom's time to pursue her passions. Some things were not new (her knitting really took off and now she teaches classes at an annual knitting conference and Boise) and others were new. One of those new pursuits was learning to play the harp. She started 15 years ago (I think). She didn't play for groups much at first, but now she plays with an ensemble the performs quite frequently.

It's great that we live close enough that we can go listen to the group play. After last night's performance, Dave said "I'm amazed at the number of songs that they had to know how to play." Now maybe he understands why there are varsity letters available for the arts. We all really enjoyed listening to the music.

C is Caring, Christmas, and [C]arma

Mrs. S knew her 4th grade class had a problem. Someone in the class had a bad case of "finders keepers, losers weepers". This keeping of found items was causing quite a bit of contention in the class. Mrs. S knew that she had to address the problem and, so, she called a class meeting. She started the meeting by asking the class members what should be done when someone finds an item that doesn't belong to them. Most class members agreed that the item should be turned in to the teacher. The culprit, on the other hand, stated that if the item was of any worth certainly the person who lost it would have taken better care of it. Mrs. S. could understand that thinking. For she once was a little girl who had had the same thoughts. So to illustrate that she understood how difficult it can be to make the right choice and return the lost item, she shared a story from her childhood. When she was in 1st grade, she couldn't think of anything that she wanted more than an Avon Gingerbread Perfume pin. She asked for one of those pins every Christmas, birthday, and anytime the Avon Lady came to her mother's door. Her mother always said no. One day, in her 1st grade classroom, a little girl lost her Avon Gingerbread pin. Mrs S (age 7) found that pin. Oh what a happy feeling welled up inside her once she was in possession of that pin. Now, she knew exactly who that pin belonged to, but she figured that the little girl must not want it anymore or she would have taken better care of the precious pin. So Mrs. S decided to keep it. She did keep it for most of the day, until she realized how sad the little girl was about her lost pin. So, she made the right choice and returned the pin even though she knew that that was probably the last time she would own an Avon Gingerbread Perfume Pin. After sharing the story, Mrs. S's fourth-graders talked a little bit more about how it feels to lose something and also how it feels to have that something found and returned. Mrs. S. finished the class meeting and didn't think too much more about it. A couple of weeks later, one of the girls in Mrs. S's class asks for another class meeting about "finders keepers, losers weepers." Mrs. S questions the girl about the necessity of the meeting. The student replies that she has something for Mrs. S. The meeting is called and the little girl presents Mrs. S with an Avon Gingerbread Perfume pin from 1972. The very pin that is pictured at the start of this post. Apparently, after the first class meeting that little girl went home and told her mom Mrs. S's story. The mom immediately got on e-bay to see what she could find. Once the cherished pin was found, the mom ordered it and the little girl was able to present it to Mrs. S just in time for Christmas. This is a true story and happened just this week at one of the schools I work at. This is a true example of caring and the Spirit of Christmas.

"The Brown's" Might Be Our New Name

Me: "Just one lonely piece of mail?"

Carson: "Yep. It's a reminder that our warranty on our washer and dryer is going to run out soon."

Me: "Not even one Christmas card?"

Carson: "Nope. I guess we'll have to change our name to Brown....you know, like Charlie Brown. He checks the mail every day and never gets a card."

C is for Cookie and Caring

Katelyn shows caring by making cookies--usually for her friends.

They are very fortunate friends.

Why Do They Drive Miles and Brave Sore Bottoms? Because They Care.

When I was growing up, we never lived very close to either set of grandparents. I was always kind-of sad about that. We did get to visit them, but it was usually just once a year. Now I realize that it was a job and a half for my mom to get all 5 of us in the car and drive to visit the grandparents. I also understand why we only went once a year.

Dave, on the other hand, lived at least in the same state as his grandparents and would get to visit with them at least a couple of times a year. He has many found memories of visits with both sets of grandparents.

But both of us have memories of grandparents coming to important events as time and distance allowed. Having parents come to an event is one thing (I mean they're expected to show up for important things), but when grandparents arrive...well, that just tells a kid how important they really are.

We are so fortunate to live close to both sets of parents, our children's grandparents. And these grandparents are just plain awesome about coming out and supporting all of the various activities--even if it means giving up Gonzaga tickets or juggling it around various important CEO meetings. Their support means so much to Katelyn and Carson and they know just how much their grandparents care.

Doing Their Duty (Because They Care)

I'm not sure when the change happened, but sometime between when I was in elementary school and my kids were in elementary school, teachers no longer were responsible for playground supervision. Instead, the responsibilites shifted to playground supervisors. Or, in the words of Katelyn when she was in 1st grade, "duties". When asked who the duties were, she said, "You know, the ladies with the dark sunglasses." Oh, and what do they do? "They do their duty." Yes, Katelyn, they do do their duty. They are out supervising in all kinds of weather, from blazing heat, to drizzly rain, to freezing cold. Heck, they are more reliable than the postal service these days. And they do their job because they care and because they enjoy being around kids. Oh sure, you will find a few grizzly, grumpy supervisors (that's what we call them now, not duties). But the majority of these folks are good-natured, patient, and doing the best that they can. Yet, often times, their service goes unnoticed and unthanked. I bet it's especially frustrating at this time of the year when the weather is so rotten to go unnoticed and unthanked. So, if you are making thank-you gifts for your child's teacher, maybe think about making one or two extra and leaving it for the supervisors. They really do care about your kids.

So far CVSD has focused on these character traits Respect, Responsibility, Citizenship, Gratitude and Caring.

Character Trait of the Month: Caring

Some say "Don't sweat the small stuff", but I say "Sometimes, it the little things that count." David did all of the laundry last night. Now, that's caring.

PS I had already sorted all of the laundry and had directions about temperature for each pile. Everything came out just fine.