Life . . . Gibson Style

Hmmm.  What’s been happening?  It seems like such a simple question to answer, and I’m sure there is a long-winded answer.  But, when I start to write it, it sounds so incredibly boring.  It seems that life is consumed by the mundane.  Work. Commuting. Getting ready for this or that. Cooking. Cleaning. Laundry. Yawning. Waiting for various test results. Kids that are busy being grown-ups, and grown-ups that wish they were still kids. Seriously. Who ever said growing up was a good idea is a liar. Being a kid is where it’s at. Take mine for example.

This boy. My Brian. 18. 6’5”. Smart. Funny. Handsome as all get-out. 

Yes, he’s busy doing the mundane, too. His mundane is school, full-time at Salt Lake Community College as he begins his pursuit of a film-production degree, and work, part-time at the local rec center as a lifeguard for two years running.  But he’s also going on hikes, going for drives, chasing girls, eating out (a lot), doing his own shopping, getting his own haircuts, seeing movies, becoming a master at the PS4, and becoming more like his dad every day. He has a sweet streak, a sassy streak, and a streak that is wise beyond his years, all coming together into the masterpiece that is Brian.  No girlfriend yet, not for lack of trying but for lack of anyone worthy. He realizes that girls are a lot of drama, so he’s saving his energy for someone who’s worth it. He’s planning a trip to Austin, Texas, this summer to see some bands he really loves, and is considering a one-way ticket to Europe to spend a few weeks gallivanting around on his own. Of course, there will eventually be a return ticket, just not a pre-purchased one. I might freak out a little.  Okay, let's be honest.  I will freak out.  A lot.  Brian has some great friends who have gone on missions for the LDS church, whom he misses terribly. He has some other good friends that are getting ready to leave for college, church assignments, or just getting’ outta dodge.  And, he has a few friends who are hanging around keeping him company. He doesn’t need his mom much anymore, but still welcomes me with a warm hug, a kiss on the cheek, and a big smile. I think he still likes me. 

 And then there’s Sarah. 22. Much smaller than Brian. Smart. Funny. Beautiful as all get-out. 

Yes, she’s also busy doing the mundane. Her mundane is full-time nursing school at Salt Lake Community College, and full-time work in a local hospital’s maternity department for going on five-ish years.  She has a new love named Canello, a super-ginormous warmblood (that's a horse), who is as sweet as pie and intimidating from his sheer magnitude.  But she’s also busy dating a charming young man named Zack, hanging out with long-time friends for shopping, taking pictures, Friend Dinners, movies, and road trips. As we speak (‘er, write/read, whatever), in fact, she has only just returned from Portland, Oregon, with Zack and some other friends. Just for fun. How would it be? 

We don’t see her much anymore. But, when we do, she also has a big hug waiting, and she always, without fail, texts or calls me several times each day to keep me up to date on her plans and whereabouts.  I’m so grateful for that. When my mom-radar is on full charge, those calls and texts put my heart and mind at ease, if only for a few minutes.

(Brian should start taking more photos of himself (or have them taken) so that I can have cute pictures of him to post on my blog. Hint hint. Or date a photographer. You know, whatever.)

Dave keeps himself busy with his other woman, Dart-O. She’s a beauty, one year older than me, and a little louder than my aided ears appreciate. It can be hard to carry on a conversation in her presence, especially if there are others nearby that might want to race. 

But, she makes him happy so how can I fault her? Otherwise, his time is spent cleaning, adjusting, building, or dismantling this or that or some other thing that may or (more likely) may not be on his Honey Do list. I keep threatening to add things to the Honey Didn’t list, which I’m close to hiring someone to complete. His mind is full of wonderful projects, but bringing together the motivation, energy, finances, and time, at the same  time is a rare bird, flying away at the slightest distraction. Squirrel? He still enjoys his job and wouldn’t jump back into the retail arena for anything. Dealing with employees is the bane of his existence but, overall, it’s a good place for him to be.  He is appreciated by his bosses, respected by (most of) his employees, and able to keep consistent and realistic Monday through Friday hours.  Someday he dreams of . . . I’m not sure, actually. If I were to guess, I'd say more time to garden, golf, sit on the porch with a cocktail, or clean, adjust, build and dismantle.

I have been busy with, what else . . . school and work. There’s finally a light at the end of my school tunnel, and I’m becoming more and more fairly certain it might not be a train. In this, my last 6-month term, I’ve completed 7 classes, and spent nearly 60 hours in elementary classrooms observations at three different local elementary schools, in four- to eight-hours at a time.  My last is coming up in a few weeks. During each one, I take extensive notes and complete a log sheet indicating logistical details and my thoughts & reflections about the experience, relating it to how I might, one day, accomplish similar tasks (or not) in my own classroom. In many, I'm able to work with individual students re-teaching elapsed time, or with small groups reading and discussing that day's excerpt from their language arts textbook, or with the whole class teaching the skill of inference while reading a story about groundhogs. It’s been revealing, enlightening, and invigorating. Each time, I return to my ‘real job’ with a little more energy than I left with, knowing that this too shall pass and I’ll finally be in a position to grow vertically instead of horizontally in my career, until I’m ready to live on a teacher’s salary.  At least, that’s my plan. 

We’re on a sort-of 5-year plan that, when it started, lasted until I turn 50. Now it’s about a 3-½ year plan. A plan that will take us somewhere warm, somewhere small (in scale, in price, and in stress), somewhere with a pool for my someday grandkids to splash in, and somewhere that the town revolves around church and school. Dave might rake sand traps at a local golf course, or work at the hardware store, or garden, or golf, or clean, or adjust, or build or dismantle. Or maybe he’ll just sit on the porch with a cocktail. I’ll teach. Finally. I hope to be close to my own kids. If they’ve flown off to their own marsh, I’ll be within a reasonable (time- and price-wise) flight from them. I plan to be close to my parents. They’ll come with me. (Shhh . . . don’t tell them. They don’t know, yet.) I hope to live in a house like this . . .

or this . . .

or maybe this . . .                                              

. . . with creaky floors and original shiplap and ghosts . . . where Dave can do his thing to make it amazing – he has a knack for that – and I can come home from my school day, look out over a cute little street, or a pasture with tiny goats, or a lovely lake, and sit on the porch with a cocktail. After I grade all the papers. And get the next day’s lessons ready. And call the parents of the naughty ones. Then a cocktail.

But . . . I digress.

School. So, I’m almost done. Last fall I took the Praxis 1 exam.  It's a state-required test to ensure I understand methods of teaching, and which behavioral theorist came up with which theory about language acquisition skills, and how to differentiate lesson plans for English-language learners or students on the Autism spectrum, and methods for teaching kids how to compare and contrast, and how to develop a cross-curricular activity in science that will cover art standards and appeal to kinesthetic learners. It was scheduled for 3 hours and I was very intimidated. But, it was based on the material I'd been studying in my classes over the past year and a half, so I had an inkling that I might be okay.  I passed.  I actually did pretty well.  Out of 200 possible points in each section, I managed to rack up 198, 192, and 174.  Guess which one was related to math? One BIG hurdle crossed.

And, of course, all the while, observations and more observations.

Then, in mid-March, I took the super-scary Praxis 2. It's a state-required content exam to make sure I'm smarter than a 5th grader, which has four sections dedicated to Language Arts & Reading, Science, Social Studies and . . . gulp . . . Math.  This one is 5, count 'em, 5 hours.  But, rather than being based on the things I've been learning in my classes, it was geared more toward what I learned in, oh, say, elementary school.  Or, more likely, what's being taught to today's elementary students.  Since getting my teaching license depended on it, there was more than a little stress. In fact, Test Day was preceeded by a good two months of (un)reasonable panic, frequent self-doubt, creating 10,000 flash cards (give or take), and studying things that I wasn't sure would actually be on the exam since there's no guide to tell you what to study, But I PASSED!  All five sections! I actually did pretty well.  Out of 200 possible points in each section, I earned 181, 188, 178, and 179.  Guess which one was related to math?  Nope.  It was The Highest Grade!  Ha!  Take that, math.  Last BIG hurdle crossed.

After my final classroom observation, I’ll consolidate and turn in all of my notes and my log sheet and, pending final grading, take a 3 month break from May 1 – August 1, and then student teach from the beginning of the school year through about Halloween. That will be another post. I.CAN.NOT.WAIT. I won’t work at my real job during that time. They’re granting me a leave of absence, so my job will be here when I get done. Then I’ll come back and do the vertical growth thing, sock away some money at my new manager’s salary (J), and set us up for semi-retirement in 2020-ish.  And I'll have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education to hang up in my new office!  At least, that's my plan.

Hmmm.  What else has been happening?  

I'm recently obsessed with Game of Thrones.  It's an HBO series set in midieval times about intertwining families and dynasties and war and love and magic and evil. It's all that and more. Since I could easily (in fact, it's scary how easily) sit and watch, oh, nine or so episodes in one sitting, I've sanctioned myself to only watching it while I'm walking on the treadmill. That's good for two reasons. It makes me walk for one hour, and it only lets me watch for one hour. Win win. 

My other obsession is books on tape (Does that age me? Books on CD, I guess).  The latest was 'The Weight of Silence', by Heather Gudenkauf.  What? You've never heard of it? It's about a little girl with elective mutism caused by a childhood trauma who . . . oh, never mind. Go now. Buy it, borrow it, download it. So, so good.

My other obsession is coffee, but we don't need to talk about it. It's fine.  

I’m scheduled for my sleep study on April 22.  If you’re not sure what that is or why I’m having it done, you can read all about it in another post. Although, I am definitely NOT looking forward to an evening of this . . .

 . . . I am most certainly looking forward to knowing why I wake up exhausted every day, suffer from mind-numbing headaches, and have the memory of an otter. Or is it an elephant? Goldfish? I don’t remember. Anyways, I’ll let you know how that goes in another post. I’m sure I’ll come home from it the next morning and sleep the whole rest of the day, because I don’t anticipate I’ll be sleeping much in that state.

That’s about it for us.

What’s up wichu?