I'm Official!

My Georgia nurse practitioner license was approved on Friday and I just received this fantastic news today! Yay! One step closer to new beginnings!

Pesky ants

This week I am grateful for pest control. Strange, I know, but I was welcomed home by carpenter ants this past Monday. I can deal with most bugs, but not ants. We tried several home remedies, but carpenter ants are pretty resilient, and huge! I think Annabelle will be thankful not to share her bowl with these unwelcome visitors.

Sunsets

This is not tonight's sunset (its cloudy tonight) but I came across it while looking at my pictures. Its from when I first moved to Wilmington. I love sunsets; dusk is my favorite time of day. I'm never willingly up early enough to see the sunrise at the beach but I'm sure it is quite beautiful too. 

Although solitude becomes lonely after long stretches of time, peaceful introspection provides me with a delightful respite from the pressures of every-day life. I generally keep my responsibilities tightly coiled and constant, but these last two weeks have overwhelmed me despite my close personal acquaintance with chaos. Since my last blog I have acquired a new degree and condo and shed a live-in boyfriend and hour-long commute. I miss daily companionship and the rambling craftsman bungalow, but I am perfectly content without the arguments and automobile congestion. Despite the melancholy that always consumes me after periods of change, I am happy to be in close proximity to my Dad and Aunt, thrilled that I can walk to coffee, public transit, and dog parks, and delighted to spend some stress-free time in quiet introspection. I am at a crossroads in life I suppose. Missing my Mom and brother still hurts daily, but I am truly thankful for the career freedom I finally have, my small but loving family, which includes those subscribed to this blog, and the chance to breathe and think in a small condo in the City of Decatur.    

A humbling dose of creativity.

I have experienced an incredibly blessed life so far, and am reminded all too often through my students' personal challenges and experiences to keep things in perspective. In addition to the humbling doses of harsh life experiences that several of my students use as building blocks for moving their futures in more positive directions, I also have ample opportunities to observe and coach my students through their teen angst periods. This afternoon I stayed after school to be a guest in the Creative Writing class end of the year showcase. The students created their personal stories using an approach called Digital Storytelling. The theme was challenges. 

Several of the stories entailed heartbreaking topics including substance abuse, struggles with depression, suicide attempts, and sick parents. These stories were touching, of course. Two of the stories stood out over the rest. Both were fairly simple stories. One story was told by a male student who explained that visiting prisons as part of his church ministry programs was one of his biggest life challenges. His poignant story explained how time pauses for inmates, how he could tell the time period that the inmates who had been incarcerated for longer periods of time had entered into the prison system by their hair styles and experience with current technologies, and how his perception of the "type" of person that he would find in prison shifted. 

The second story was told by my student who invited me to the event. She started by sharing comments that a group of girls berated her with during her middle school years. A few of the comments were "Why is your butt so small; why are your eyes so big and head so small; how could you be black with a body like that" My eyes filled with tears as she shared these hateful words that I am sure she heard more than just once. Her voice did not quiver, nor did she fall into a cycle of despair. Instead, she responded by coming to the conclusion that she could do nothing to control the body type she had inherited, nor could she help that her features did not fit the standard of beauty that these girls expected. Her mature perspective uplifted her, and gave her the strength to stand-up to the thoughtless words that her peers threw at her. I felt touched truly touched by her story. Although she came out of the experience on the positive side, it made me sad that she had to hear so many unfair judgements. 

Strawberries

These are beautiful strawberries from Goldsboro that were picked on Saturday. My uncle purchased a flat of strawberries and split them up between my aunt's family members and myself. I have been enjoying these beauties in my morning juice (spinach, banana, strawberries, almond milk) and throughout the day. I love strawberries because they are absolutely delicious but also because their local arrival signifies the beginning of my favorite time of year--summer!

Appreciation Week

Teacher appreciation week always sneaks up on me at the end of each year, and every year, it seems like a nice way to start to conclude another year in the classroom. Some years teacher appreciation week at the high school gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the end of the year testing, stress, and after-hours activities. This year in particular, I felt that administrators, parents, and even students shared their thanks. The PTA was kind enough to donate small gifts including gift cards, care packages, first edition books, and baked goods so that our principal could do a daily morning drawing. Each teacher will get a gift. I was so excited to get a $20 Kroger gift card on Monday! Today a student brought a fresh rose to each of her teachers. Since I co-teach with two other teachers throughout the day, we have three beautiful roses brightening up our space. The kind comments and simple thanks that I have heard from many of my students have brightened my week, and helped to ease the very stressful last few weeks of the school year.

This has also been an interesting week because I have thought about how thankful I am for the care that Ru's teachers have given him over the last seven months. I cannot imagine caring for so many babies at the same time. They do such a great job, and do so with ease. They also work hard to help Ru build his physical skills, as well as encourage his curiosity and play.