Late at night,
When you’re sleeping
Poison ivy comes a creeping
A-a-round.
***********************
I never knew the words of this song until Mike (at age 7) sang them to me.
I had never paid attention to those details. I had always just la-de-da’d through this part of the song.
The adage that the devil is in the details is so, so true.
It’s the "measure twice, cut once" times in life that we need to remember this.
*************************
Some days, I feel like I’m slugging through jello....some days, I’m on point. Frankly, I love those days when I’m a hair off-kilter. I love laughing at my foibles. I don’t like giggling about other people, but I think I’m funny.
************************
Part of my problem is my “list”. I’ve always got a list going on in my life. I enjoy checking thinks off my list. Like the day I needed to get to the bank....it was on my list and as Larry the Cable Guy says, “Get ‘er done."
I was on Zebulon Road and zipped into the bank to deposit some money. “Ma’am, this isn’t your bank,” stated the little teller.
“I’m so sorry,” apologizing profusely. "I usually bank on the other side of town."
I drove immediately to the next bank.....nope, they, too, told me that I didn’t bank there. Oops! Dang! At that point I started paying attention.
Heck, the third times the charm, isn’t it? On to the next bank. This time, I looked at my check card, I looked at the bank front....they matched! BINGO!
**********************
Those “poison ivy” times make us who we are. They are the rain on our parades. The soufle that falls. The chipped fingernail polish....but they are also the stories left to tell. The people left to love. The freak flags left to fly. The stars left to wish upon. I love the saying that many a good story starts with the phrase, “Hey, watch this!"
**********************
The young woman had come for an interview. She was delightful. After knocking the interview out of the park, she was telling a story how her baby had been fussy before she had left him with her mother....she was so happy to have been on time. YaDa, YaDa. As she got up to leave, I noticed that most of her back was covered with dried baby throw-up. She wasn’t aware that Junior had garped down her back. Oops! I hired her....but I never told her about how that baby throw up had endeared her to me. “Poison Ivy."
**********************
Late at night,
When you’re sleeping
Poison ivy comes a creeping
A-a-round.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Saturday, July 4, 2015
To Everything There is a Season
I read an interesting article today that stated that people created the idea of time.....
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So how old are you?
In my head, I am about 25. In my right knee, I am about 90.
I have a 14 year old's sense of humor.
I have the appetite of a 40 year old farm hand at harvesting.
I have the metabolism of a sloth.
My feet are great-- maybe 20.
*******************************
So, what is age?
My hair is gray. I have laugh lines and I have earned every wrinkle I own.
I am as soft-hearted as a 4 year old.
I can't get up from the floor gracefully-- I look like a rolling beach ball.
I adore my pets.... Like a 10 year old.
I have the same dreams, hopes, and aspirations as in years gone by but they have more texture. My friends are my friends; they ignore my faults and celebrate each day. We laugh more, talk more, are quiet more, and face our challenges with confidence that no one knows what the heck will happen. You have to hang on, stick together, and be there for each other.
Brothers, Dan and Jim, and I have been perusing our family's past life. It has been a study of time, energy, love, laughter, tears, joy, heart ache, and a pull-yourself up by the bootstrap existence. We have learned that Grandma Malloy did talk (just not to us), relatives that were ill, love eternal between couples, and a deep sense of loyalty. From Great-grandpa, Michael, who lived til he was 95 to the stillborn baby called Sister, our family mirrors what I've read in books. It wasn't easy but there was love. The letters of support from each other kept the mail service busy....our family communicated its love for each other in visible ways on a daily basis.
*****************************
The three of us are 58 years older than in this picture. But time has not diminished the love our family had for each other. We've told stories of our father who passed away in 1970 and stories of our mother who passed away this January. Looking at our smiling faces in this photograph show three children whose parents took the time to love them on a daily basis. AND that we have learned those lessons on how to live and love with our families today.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
*****************************
So how old are you?
In my head, I am about 25. In my right knee, I am about 90.
I have a 14 year old's sense of humor.
I have the appetite of a 40 year old farm hand at harvesting.
I have the metabolism of a sloth.
My feet are great-- maybe 20.
*******************************
So, what is age?
My hair is gray. I have laugh lines and I have earned every wrinkle I own.
I am as soft-hearted as a 4 year old.
I can't get up from the floor gracefully-- I look like a rolling beach ball.
I adore my pets.... Like a 10 year old.
I have the same dreams, hopes, and aspirations as in years gone by but they have more texture. My friends are my friends; they ignore my faults and celebrate each day. We laugh more, talk more, are quiet more, and face our challenges with confidence that no one knows what the heck will happen. You have to hang on, stick together, and be there for each other.
Brothers, Dan and Jim, and I have been perusing our family's past life. It has been a study of time, energy, love, laughter, tears, joy, heart ache, and a pull-yourself up by the bootstrap existence. We have learned that Grandma Malloy did talk (just not to us), relatives that were ill, love eternal between couples, and a deep sense of loyalty. From Great-grandpa, Michael, who lived til he was 95 to the stillborn baby called Sister, our family mirrors what I've read in books. It wasn't easy but there was love. The letters of support from each other kept the mail service busy....our family communicated its love for each other in visible ways on a daily basis.
*****************************
The three of us are 58 years older than in this picture. But time has not diminished the love our family had for each other. We've told stories of our father who passed away in 1970 and stories of our mother who passed away this January. Looking at our smiling faces in this photograph show three children whose parents took the time to love them on a daily basis. AND that we have learned those lessons on how to live and love with our families today.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
She’s Five
My little buddy, Mary Michael Patterson, turned five today. She summed it up nicely. “It uses up a whole hand, Nana!” She flashed the five fingers at me and grinned. I knew exactly what she meant.
Life for Mary Michael is pretty simple. A great book at night, riding her bike, playing in water-- it’s good. She’s a strawberry-eating little girl. Mary Michael’s kind, thoughtful, and she wants to please. She watches others carefully and frankly, that little girl doesn’t miss a beat. I bet she’ll learn to read upside down like her Nana did so she can keep track of what’s going on in the world of adults.
To my sweet girl as you begin your second hand:
Mary Michael, school starts this fall and you’re going to be meeting lots of new folks. You’ll see the world through other’s eyes and I promise you, it’s a big adventure. Honey, go places, do things, and help others. By helping others, you’ll be helping yourself the most. Use those values your parents have instilled in you. Laugh with others! Celebrate the good!
Remember, you want to leave the world a better place than how you have found it. Do your homework. Put your name on the top of your paper. Color outside the lines occasionally. AND don’t believe everything that people tell you.
(Nana will tell you about the Flim Flam Man when you’re a little older.)
You’re the apple of your Nana’s eye.
Love you, miss you, Nana
Life for Mary Michael is pretty simple. A great book at night, riding her bike, playing in water-- it’s good. She’s a strawberry-eating little girl. Mary Michael’s kind, thoughtful, and she wants to please. She watches others carefully and frankly, that little girl doesn’t miss a beat. I bet she’ll learn to read upside down like her Nana did so she can keep track of what’s going on in the world of adults.
To my sweet girl as you begin your second hand:
Mary Michael, school starts this fall and you’re going to be meeting lots of new folks. You’ll see the world through other’s eyes and I promise you, it’s a big adventure. Honey, go places, do things, and help others. By helping others, you’ll be helping yourself the most. Use those values your parents have instilled in you. Laugh with others! Celebrate the good!
Remember, you want to leave the world a better place than how you have found it. Do your homework. Put your name on the top of your paper. Color outside the lines occasionally. AND don’t believe everything that people tell you.
(Nana will tell you about the Flim Flam Man when you’re a little older.)
You’re the apple of your Nana’s eye.
Love you, miss you, Nana
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Everyday is the First Day
Let's all try and put square pegs into round holes.
*************
AND let's keep doing this over and over and over.
*************
I have figured something out about myself.
**************
When God was passing out the table settling gene, He giggled and gave me the "sense to know that I don’t know squat about tablescaping” gene. Tablescaping is what people do when they pretty up a table for a party. My friends say, “Just go out in your yard and cut some greenery...it will be lovely” or the one year my sister-in-law, Janie, handed me cumquats to decorate the Thanksgiving turkey. The cumquats were quickly taken from my hands by those who know my limitations.
**************
I just don’t get it. The height, the colors, the theme....I cook.....I eat.....I don’t get the beautification part. I’m as lost as last year’s Easter egg. I might order a centerpiece. I might put on a tablecloth. I might put out the salt and pepper shakers, but let it be known, Martha Stewart has nothing to worry about.
**************
However, I keep trying. Today might be the day, because everyday is the first day of the rest of my life.
*************
ps...I was going to put a picture of the swan on the back porch table. It was too embarrassing. I had put a mosquito candle in the place where the bouquet of flowers are supposed to occupy. Function over form!
*************
AND let's keep doing this over and over and over.
*************
I have figured something out about myself.
**************
When God was passing out the table settling gene, He giggled and gave me the "sense to know that I don’t know squat about tablescaping” gene. Tablescaping is what people do when they pretty up a table for a party. My friends say, “Just go out in your yard and cut some greenery...it will be lovely” or the one year my sister-in-law, Janie, handed me cumquats to decorate the Thanksgiving turkey. The cumquats were quickly taken from my hands by those who know my limitations.
**************
I just don’t get it. The height, the colors, the theme....I cook.....I eat.....I don’t get the beautification part. I’m as lost as last year’s Easter egg. I might order a centerpiece. I might put on a tablecloth. I might put out the salt and pepper shakers, but let it be known, Martha Stewart has nothing to worry about.
**************
However, I keep trying. Today might be the day, because everyday is the first day of the rest of my life.
*************
ps...I was going to put a picture of the swan on the back porch table. It was too embarrassing. I had put a mosquito candle in the place where the bouquet of flowers are supposed to occupy. Function over form!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
The Hardest Week of the Year
I started my gig in the realm of “education” in 1973. If I knew then, what I know now, I might not have gray hair.
Teachers and principals DON’T want students to fail. But, I respect students enough to give them the grade they earn. I am telling you that teachers usually don’t delight in writing down an F on a report card. If I had a $1.00 for every student who asked me and wanted to turn in late work....I’d own an island off the coast of South Carolina.
************
Late work-- to some teachers, it's according to the BOE policy. Late work-- to some students, it’s according to the decade.
************
I heard tell of a teacher who refused to accept any late work. One of his students had a sibling die. The paper was late. That teacher wouldn’t take it.
That same teacher called and wanted his own child’s work to be accepted late because he had been on a ski trip back in January with his church....it was May. It wasn’t accepted.
Karma is a bitch, isn’t it?
************
Teaching is not like playing work up. Everyone just doesn’t progress at the same rate. I’ve seen first year teachers who have a “with-it-ness” on the first day when they walk in the door. I’ve also seen twenty year “veterans” who aren’t sure of themselves, their subject, their duties beyond the classroom or their aura of “duh.” They reached their expiration date but they just don’t know it.
************
My thoughts about testing would fill a Carnegie Library.
************
I can truthfully say that retirement is sweet. I saw a parent of two former students of mine at the grocery store today. I loved hearing about their successes. To everything there is a season....and this is the season for someone else.
******************
Everybody thinks they could teach school. I’m not so sure. On a good day, it is wonderful. On a bad day, well, let’s say, it gives a person something more to pray about.
******************
One day, this dad was sitting across from me (ripping me and my teachers a new one) about my inept ability to run a school. It seemed that he would let his son off in the front of the school and, surprise, surprise (read that in a Gomer Pyle voice) his dear little boy was sneaking right out the back door and not going to class. I have a lot of patience (or maybe a whole bunch of I don’t care) when I looked at him and asked, “Well, can you control your son?”
“Why no, I can’t,” he stated. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
“I rest my case. I have 1,100 teenagers here. It’s spring. They’re frisky."
******************
I got pepper sprayed during the last week of school.
*************
There are stories behind every story. Some of it is not your business.
*************
There are stories behind every story. Some of it is not your business.
*************
The week before graduation, almost every high school principal hears some variation of how Grandma got a ticket from Michigan, Montana, or Mongolia and couldn’t we just let the little darling grandchild walk across the stage and pretend to graduate? SMH. I don’t think so. I really don’t think so.
************
Teachers and principals DON’T want students to fail. But, I respect students enough to give them the grade they earn. I am telling you that teachers usually don’t delight in writing down an F on a report card. If I had a $1.00 for every student who asked me and wanted to turn in late work....I’d own an island off the coast of South Carolina.
************
Late work-- to some teachers, it's according to the BOE policy. Late work-- to some students, it’s according to the decade.
************
I heard tell of a teacher who refused to accept any late work. One of his students had a sibling die. The paper was late. That teacher wouldn’t take it.
That same teacher called and wanted his own child’s work to be accepted late because he had been on a ski trip back in January with his church....it was May. It wasn’t accepted.
Karma is a bitch, isn’t it?
************
Teaching is not like playing work up. Everyone just doesn’t progress at the same rate. I’ve seen first year teachers who have a “with-it-ness” on the first day when they walk in the door. I’ve also seen twenty year “veterans” who aren’t sure of themselves, their subject, their duties beyond the classroom or their aura of “duh.” They reached their expiration date but they just don’t know it.
************
My thoughts about testing would fill a Carnegie Library.
************
I can truthfully say that retirement is sweet. I saw a parent of two former students of mine at the grocery store today. I loved hearing about their successes. To everything there is a season....and this is the season for someone else.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Say Cheese! PLEASE!
This blog isn’t about me. This is about you. I love looking at your digital representations of reality--whip out that cell phone, fluff your hair, suck in your stomach and take a selfie
AND
I’m not too proud to say-- I love seeing the pictures of your life. Think of me as the grandma that is so, so proud of her kids....nothing better!
*******************
*******************
The month of May is my “Black Friday" for photos. The graduations, birthdays, Mother’s Day, summer vacations, "decorating of the graves", bad weather, good weather, flowers, gardens, ball games, honors’ nights....I’m there. Your cars, your children, your children’s children, my grandchildren, your activities, the pets, the lonely pets, your meals.....get my drift? I like looking.
******************
This past week, I was relishing the pictures of a young man who got me off the sofa after Mike died...”My momma says I can get a ice cream cone if I can get you out of the house.” I was sad, but I wasn’t mean. Yep, I got right up and went with him. That was 11+ years ago.... Jason is going to the Air Force Academy.....but the other day, he was just starting to learn to read. Where does the time go? The pictures prove that time passes.
******************
Be it attending prom (the dresses today are just so pretty), having a new babies, hiking a trail in Norway, creating yummy cookies that are works of art, designing new gardens, loving old dogs, celebrating-(I have my “first” veterinarian!), I’m there right beside you. Marriages, reorganization of life (one friend said that was a fancy way to say divorce), catching fish, dancing, attending things--concerts, Georgia Football, Lacrosse....there’s not enough time to mention everything enjoyable 'cause I like it all.
*****************
AND, please, keep those pictures coming!
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Fight Club or Nah, That Ain't Going to Happen
Why would anyone want to physically fight? You'd muss up your clothes, ruin your hair, and potentially damage a nail.
I guess I have never felt the angst to wail on another person.
***********************
After watching the highlights of last night's fight.....no way would I want someone hitting me. No way would I want someone wailing on me!
***********************
TRUE STORY:
I was the head principal at Central. I had an angry parent who was half my age and twice my size. She wanted me (?) to physically fight her in the front hall.
I turned her down quicker than you can say, "Oh, look, Dr. Weaver got her A^^ beat!"
Two hours later I received a call from the downtown Central Office of the Bibb County School system. That same parent had called one of my many bosses and said that I was uncooperative. Wah Wah Wah
I told my boss that indeed, the parent was partially right. I had been uncooperative. I refused to fight her in the front hall. I then stated that I had no chance of winning and thought professionally it would be black mark on my personal resume.
I received an very nice apology from my supervisor at that time.
***********************
TRUE STORY:
Page 2
One year later, the same parent was arrested, charged, and found guilty of stabbing a person to death with a coat hanger. I clipped the article from the newspaper. I laminated the said article. AND then I sent it to my supervisor with a sweet note. "See, I told you I wouldn't have won."
**********************
It was fun to hear the excitement about last night's fight though.
I guess I have never felt the angst to wail on another person.
***********************
After watching the highlights of last night's fight.....no way would I want someone hitting me. No way would I want someone wailing on me!
***********************
TRUE STORY:
I was the head principal at Central. I had an angry parent who was half my age and twice my size. She wanted me (?) to physically fight her in the front hall.
I turned her down quicker than you can say, "Oh, look, Dr. Weaver got her A^^ beat!"
Two hours later I received a call from the downtown Central Office of the Bibb County School system. That same parent had called one of my many bosses and said that I was uncooperative. Wah Wah Wah
I told my boss that indeed, the parent was partially right. I had been uncooperative. I refused to fight her in the front hall. I then stated that I had no chance of winning and thought professionally it would be black mark on my personal resume.
I received an very nice apology from my supervisor at that time.
***********************
TRUE STORY:
Page 2
One year later, the same parent was arrested, charged, and found guilty of stabbing a person to death with a coat hanger. I clipped the article from the newspaper. I laminated the said article. AND then I sent it to my supervisor with a sweet note. "See, I told you I wouldn't have won."
**********************
It was fun to hear the excitement about last night's fight though.
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