...and the award goes to....

We received a letter last week that our senior would be receiving an award at the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, May 19. At. 1:00. In. The. Afternoon. Do any of you remember what a hard time I have taking time off from the State Prison....I mean the school?

What's up with 1:00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday? It's like "Hey Parents, You're Invited! But we had a meeting and decided the most inconvenient time would be 1:00 pm on a Tuesday afternoon. Good luck getting here. We don't really want you here."

So I talked to my senior about it........did he know what the award was? (I knew it wasn't honor roll or perfect attendance...) Did he want me there? ( he didn't care) Was he sure? 'Cause I didn't want to embarrass him but he was my last kid and I sure did want to be there. So I'm going. And today I filled out the paperwork, took 3 walks down to the office, had 2 people approve it and got a sub. Whew. That consumed some time.

Will is getting an award for photography. Something he loves but didn't know he loved until 10th grade when he took Photo I. He has had the same teacher for Photo I, II, and III. She has had a huge impact on him.....more than she will ever know. He admires her so much and I think it is mutual. I am so grateful for her.

Thank you, Mrs. Fox......for being a teacher. For teaching high school. And for instilling a love of photography in Will.

Tomorrow I will watch Will walk across the stage and enjoy 15 seconds of fame. And it will be the last award ceremony for me. I can't say I'm sad to not have to sit through another long award ceremony ever again.....but I am starting to feel a little burning in my throat. The burning that starts when you are trying to fight back the tears.

How do you explain how long days make up years that fly by?

Kid Report:

Today in P.E., we went outside to do some activities in stations. One station was hula hoops. A precious girl was just sitting in the grass with the hula hoop on the ground with her.

Me: Get up G......you have to try.

Her: But I already tried all my try's.

Then I headed over to another station.......jump ropes.....came up on a boy NOT jumping.

Him: What part of the earth are we on?

Me and Another Para looked at each other and came up with: Well, we're in the western hemisphere.

Him: But what about the people on the bottom?

Us: Well, that's Antarctica. Uh, the South Pole. Uh.....

Him: No, I mean do they fall off?

We started talking "gravity" but thank goodness the whistle blew and we had to line up......

And lastly.......we all ended up on the hardtop (the giant, concrete slab......). I was standing there while the kids were getting in their squad lines....and sitting down on the hardtop. I took a step back and out of my peripheral vision saw a child behind me........WHOA! I bumped into her. It was too late. My legs flew up, I tried to turn sideways to prevent falling on the child....legs straight up in the air....and landed on my buns! The Male P.E. Teacher saw the whole thing........He didn't miss a beat. And said, "Well, Squad 5 has a new Squad Leader."

Don't worry.....I'm okay. Just lost a little pride. And thank goodness, the little girl didn't get flattened. Actually she just looked at me like, "Personal bubble.....you're invading my personal bubble."

Sweet girl, your personal bubble almost got popped, big time.