commencements

I love the word "commencements" to describe graduations. The word connotes the end of a chapter of one's academic life, a "moving on from." But the word literally means "beginnings" and thus points rather to a "moving on to." I appreciate this thought as Miles and I (rather tearfully) end the school year. I'm moving on from Belmont entirely, while Miles is merely taking a few weeks' hiatus, but we're both about equally emotional. This six weeks at Belmont have been golden and bright with children's smiles and hugs and laughter and play, all in the context of the most positive and supportive school environment I've ever experienced. The kids are my neighborhood kids; I see them all the time and they greet Koopa by name. I got to play kickball with the staff in the 5th Grade/Staff match. Someone gave me a Belmont El tee shirt so I would feel like I fit in for field day. The renowned and beloved principal (who basically got me into the sub system singlehandedly and got me this long-term gig when it opened up) did things like loan me her personal laptop and projector for three weeks to make teaching easier for me,  rearrange my schedule so I could see Miles' 2nd grade ceremony, and call to extend my job by a day (to cover the teacher work day) basically so I could get paid for one more day. The staff was warm and welcoming, and I got to know nearly every one of them (including the wise and compassionate woman I ended up requesting to be Adele's teacher for next year). It has been a huge joy that's made me think twice about my characteristic dislike of teaching primary grades. I'm quite sorry to see the year end.

On the one hand, I finish the year more attached to this school than ever and more excited to have both kids attend next year. On the other, I know probably any other school at which I end up employed can't possibly measure up.

Never mind, never mind. Forward!

I snapped several pictures a couple weeks ago when the graduating seniors from nearby East High School walked the halls of Belmont Elementary to be greeted and congratulated by the children. I had a kindergarten class at the time. They were unbearably precious in their admiration and excitement.

Graduation concluded last weekend.

Memorial Day has come and gone and now both the pools and the City Park Rides are open for the season. 

The cacti are in bloom.

 Field Day has come and gone...

Miles' partner struggles to steer him for "Battleship," the game I helped lead. 

And I have turned 35.

Not too much worse for wear, despite that I've been dreading this particular number.

In what I took to be a birthday gift directly from God, the public library was having a party on my birthday which included balloon animals, a magic show, a bounce house, bubbles, and ice cream!

We technically should have arrived too late for the ice cream, but when I mentioned a bubble/balloon party was a perfect thing to attend on my birthday, the librarian beckoned us to the librarians-only back room and presented us with three remaining ice creams and all the toppings! I always get loved good by my local public library. 

That afternoon, I took the kids roller skating. They've made a lot of progress; if I rent Adele a walker thingie, she and Miles are completely independent on the rink and I can skate as I choose. WIN.

That night, I went out with some of the few friends I've been able to make here in Pueblo and had 2.5 whole  beers. Which, if you consider I've probably had that many beers (& no other alcohol) over the course of the last two months, should give you an indication of how dramatic a move that was for me. We played Cards Against Humanity and impulse-ordered pizza and generally carried on like we were younger than we were. Though, some of those girls were probably young enough to still carry on like that on the regular, but we don't need to dwell on that.

There are no pictures of girls' night, at least, no pictures that I retain.

Tuesday was Miles' last day of school and his 2nd grade award ceremony. He won an award for excellent attendance and for being in the top 10 readers in the grade. His personal classroom award was for "thinking outside the box." I will miss his precious teacher so very much.

Check out the self-portrait!

We had to attend the end-of-the-year Belmont skate party at Skate City.

Adele photobombs. Next year, she's gonna be in the pack!

Like it or not, we have walked out of the school door and into summer. I have applied for three middle school jobs. I'm still waiting for more postings, or to hear anything about those three, but I'm not worried. I got enough of a sense of how much can hold these things up from being at Belmont all those weeks that I think it'll be July before I'm hired. And I'm (mostly) fine with that.

We leave for the big cross-country trip on Tuesday. And it really is time for a vacation, even for nerds and work-a-holics. Here we go!

Small things with great love

I am having a truly joyful time teaching elementary music for this past two weeks. I have K-5, and I get every class in the school on rotation. I am lesson planning and grading again! The one small bump has been the virus I got at the end of my first week which robbed me of my voice in the second week. Teaching elementary music with only a rasping voice has been challenging. Especially in kindergarten classes, as these creatures seem only to respond to song. We have been doing a lot of clap rhythms, listening activities, and composing. But the kindy (and 1st grade for that matter) remains a challenge. That's where I wear out the last of my voice every day, trying to sing do a deer and Raffi songs with them. Well, that and lunch duty. But it is still a joy and a delight and a real stroke of good fortune for us! Miles is thrilled that I'm coming to school with him. It enables me to see him off on his field trip, for example, and to attend "Muffins With Mom" (see selfie above) at his school, which otherwise would not be possible. Next week I get to go on a field trip with the fourth grade! Speaking of the fourth grade, one 4th class decorated my desk with thank you notes! Really made my day. Especially since I'm working them harder than they want to be worked; they had hoped end of the year + sub meant games and movies for three weeks. Not on my watch, though. We're learning, baby. 

For Mother's Day, I wanted to take Koopa and the family to Angelo's, the riverwalk Italian restaurant. The patio is dog friendly, so we could all eat together in the 80 degrees 🙂. 

It was warm and we got to pet tons of dogs and I had fettuccine alfredo. 

I'm so grateful to have these guys, even as I'm wishing to celebrate with my own mother. I bought her a card this year. It felt good. It also feels good to love these guys the way my mother loved me, as best as I possibly can. I feel protected by having been loved that fiercely. Maybe they'll feel that way too. 

We thought this winter that these Irises had died. They went totally brown. We didn't really know about perennials. Or about gardening really anything. We've, or rather Jon has, put a bunch of things in the ground, though! We'll see what happens.

Anyway, like a miracle, the thing revived, sprouted new leaves and then stalks and then on the 4th of May, burst into bloom. We're growing flowers in our yard, guys!

 Adele is getting leggy and articulate. 

My firstborn gave me a rare non-ridiculous expression for this picture. Love this person. 

Almost been a full year, home. I still scratch my head sometimes and wonder how we got here. Life is strange. And beautiful.

Over my head / I hear music in the air

It's been a lively and busy spring in Pueblo! We had Adele's preschool fundraiser/recital at the end of April. That's right, in order to hear the kids perform their end of the year songs you had to pony up $15 a mediocre plate for a fundraiser dinner. We weren't going to go, because we resent this sort of thing, but they were talking it up so much to Adele that she kept coming home talking about how great the fundraiser was going to be and how many songs she was going to sing and how there were going to be real airplanes (they held it in an aviation museum) so that we finally felt we had to attend or break her heart. I really miss Blacksburg United Methodist Preschool.... anyway, it really was a fun time. The kids did a parade, class performances, and then there was a little talent/kid karaoke time which was pretty hilarious. 

Of course, Adele didn't choose to perform a solo number. She may not seem it, but she's actually pretty shy, as I'm learning. I somehow have trouble accepting this about her, as she's so bold, brash and precocious about other things (and because her brother is so decidedly NOT shy), but she doesn't do performing for people or talking to unfamiliar adults or big event competitions/races/games. She's so wonderfully complex.

Miles (clad in his newest dress, with bicycle print!) enjoyed the evening too. He got to interact with some airplanes..

 And both were thrilled by the magic show. It was pretty cute!

We also made a recent trip to Lake Pueblo; I've been eager to get outdoors when the sun shines, lately. I sense that I probably won't live in Colorado forever, and I seem to have the impression that I can soak up sun to put in storage somewhere in my body for later years when I live somewhere cloudier. I knew when we were contemplating moving out here where we knew no one that the sun would make a huge difference to my mental health. I still underestimated how much I'd love the skies.

Koopa is so very loved. He has appointed himself guardian of our moods, and comes to lick us if one of us is feeling sad. I swear he hugs me. He and I still run together and I really just don't know how we did without him.
This morning Miles said, while being licked determinedly by Koopa, "Every day Koopa wants to give us 105 kisses. And every day, he fails. That's why he licks me so hard."

Adele says, "See? I'm a deer!"

We surprised the kids with a trip to see Godspell performed in a local dinner theater! It's their favorite play, don't you know. It was... mediocre! But the kids enjoyed themselves and quietly sang along.

Miles posed with "Jesus" after the show. It creeped me out a bit that the whole cast, besides Jesus, was like 13-16 years old (all local middle and high school students) but Jesus was played by a like 40 year old pastor. Isn't that a bit weird?

He seemed like a nice enough guy, though. Miles was a fan.

Someday we will see a production of Godspell with black Jesus. That will be a great day.

Last weekend we hit up the El Pueblo museum for their free day! Despite 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. 😱

And that evening, I sang in the little ensemble that performed at the church luau. We had a luau, on the last Saturday of April, with inches of snow on the ground. It was absurd. But we kept our senses of humor.

This weekend we've done almost nothing because I am good and sick, for the first time since January, and because Jon is in San Francisco. We're on survival mode over here. I probably succumbed because it's been a stressful week. I had a very unpleasant job interview (which I later decided to reject... it's a long story. The job sounded like it would drain me too dry, in sum) and I was given a long-term substitute position! At last! And get this, it's not in secondary English, but in elementary Music, at Miles' school! The music teacher there has badly broken her ankle, and everyone but her accepts that she will probably not be back this year. It's very bad news for her, but good news for me. Still, I did have to cancel a lot of scheduled sub jobs to clear my schedule for it. I hate cancelling things and feeling like I'm letting people down. But this is so good for me and for us. I get to actually get to know the kids (though I see every class in the school, on rotation!) and make lesson plans and be in the same happy place every day. Some of the kids know a fair amount of music theory, but NO ONE knows solfege! I don't know if this is a regional thing or what, but when we talk about scales and I mention sol or do-re-me they ask me if I'm speaking Spanish.

They also don't know Spanish, which is another kind of absurdity. I digress.

So I have been channeling my inner Julie Andrews. If only I played guitar! We're having a great time and they seem to like and accept me ok. And I'm watching watching for the District 60 job postings! And also excitedly contemplating the end of the year and our June trip out east.

To conclude, a brief anecdote. Last week Adele and I were the last to leave the sanctuary and we took a moment to look at this window, our favorite, because of the giraffe in the upper right hand corner. And she noticed the monster Jesus is stepping on. I said, "That's the enemy of God. He wanted to be in charge, but God always wins." And Adele mused for a second and then said, "But Jesus comes in second place."

She's a winner, my daughter. 

The Holy

This year, the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Virginia Tech fell on Easter Sunday. I'm sure this fact made for a heavy weekend for those who lost loved ones in the attack. They held the yearly 3.2 for 32 on Holy Saturday. I ran it in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Each year, it was a pilgrimage for me. It was holy because of the togetherness with the Virginia Tech community, who gathered both to honor the victims and to celebrate Hokie life. And, it was holy because every year I shocked myself by being able to do it. In 2014 when I did the first one I had not been running since before I had Miles. So every year it's a testimony to life and to triumph over fear.

This year, obviously, I'm not able to run with the community in Blacksburg. But in Pueblo, I am running more than I ever did in Blacksburg, so there was no question I was going to do the 3.2 for 32 this year, even on Mountain Time. I registered and everything. Maybe next year I'll figure out how to get a tee shirt. 

I snapped this shot while I was running on CSU-P's campus.

I had some Thoughts about Holy Saturday and grief and time after the run.

Typical Miles at age 7. Pushing his long hair out of his face, wearing a dress/jumper, and studying a huge astronomy book.

In 2014 and 2015, when I ran the 3.2 for 32, I cleared my schedule for the rest of the day, because I had no confidence I'd have any energy left after such a feat. This year, we had an Easter Egg hunt and a piano lesson to attend. 
They were such an amazing team! Adele had a breakdown when the "go" command was given. She doesn't do well with high-pressure situations when everyone is yelling "go" (see her performance at the 50 yard dash last month). But Miles came to her rescue and took her by the hand and led her, as she wept, and pointed out each egg for her to pick up. He then did his own age bracket's egg hunt and got such an astounding number of eggs that he had no problem sharing a third of them with his sister. Sometimes he can be a really swell kid.                          

And then suddenly, it was Easter Morning and we were trying to get some family pictures... we really need to teach Koopa to take photos. 

I really really missed my Easter vigil. Holy Saturday evening Miles and I walked to a Catholic church at the end of our street for the lighting of the New Fire and the Great Vigil. It was lovely and gorgeous, but I miss doing this with my own church community. Also, I like dawn services.

Still, if I lost that, my replacement gift is being in the choir and getting to sing John Rutter's Anus Dei for Good Friday and the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter.

My other gift was being able to be warm on Easter Sunday.

Miles took this one.

They decorate the Good Friday cross on Easter Morning. I love this tradition!

I was praying for some extra joy, because Good Friday and Holy Saturday I felt really weighed down. Probably I was just exhausted from all the extra choir practice.

Anyway, I got more than I asked for. Easter was golden and overflowing with Alleluia.

And now it's nearly May. Now we have six more weeks of the school year. I'm applying for jobs for next year and I'm back to regular running. Hooray for Eastertide!