Rock-a my Soul (in the bosom of Abraham)

This October has had so much sunshine and beauty.
And struggle, and prayer, and mundanity. But I'm going to show you some beauty, because that's what I want to remember.

I took this selfie a couple of Saturdays back when I was giving myself a break and a bucket-filling day. Just me lingering at the park with the dog, no makeup, cozy in my hoodie. A particularly weekend indulgence.


We had a more vigorous energy last weekend when we visited the Happy Apple Orchard.
It was a lovely day. The orchard looked... almost like a real orchard.

























I'm a little facetious. As a fall experience, Happy Apple was a lovely one. But as an orchard, it was really a disappointment. There was one bucket of small yellow apples remaining, and NO cider left. Honestly, what is the point of calling yourself an orchard? Autumn is really the season in which I am probably least content to be in Southern Colorado, even though the skies are bluer than reason and the sunshine looks awesome on the yellow leaves. There's just no sense of bounty in the nature around here.
Still, we enjoyed the hayride!

And the pallet maze!

Koopa loving tolerating the hayride

I got some decorative gourds, so you know it wasn't a total loss. Still, I bought some cider at the grocery last week and I swear to you it's white. It's WHITE. 

I miss apple country.



We're cuddled up in Fall Break this week! I am a huge fan of Fall Break; I don't know what I did without it before. Yesterday we had an experience in nature that made up for the disappointing apple scene. We finally made it the 2+ hours to the Great Sand Dunes National Park! Guys... I don't say this about a lot of things. But you  HAVE to get here. It's haunting and exhilarating at once.





After the visitor's center, you can choose to hike to the dunes over the trails, or drive. Someday, we'll always take the hike option, but this time, we drove. Still, we managed to get some epic hiking in once we got to the dunes! I was proud of our stamina at 8000 feet!

You have to begin by crossing the creek. There is no bridge. This is best done barefoot. The water is wicked cold! but the sand is warm.






Miles had a bit of a meltdown here. He is so much my kid; he didn't want to cross because the water was so cold and "the sand would make his feet messy!" I'm positive I had similar meltdowns as a child, usually surrounding my family's attempt to go fishing.

I told Miles, the water is "so high, you can't get over it (not true), so low, you can't get under it, so wide, you can't get round it" and tried to get him to sing Rock-A-My-Soul with me. It didn't work, but I enjoyed it. It took about 20 minutes and a bunch of prayers and threats to go on without him, but he finally crossed the river, put his shoes back on, and began to walk on the dunes.


If that wasn't miracle enough, we spent more than two hours climbing dunes and having the most transformational time at it, too.

When you turn around and look back from the dunes, this is what you see. 

It looks exactly like the Sahara, or like Tattooine. You expect camels at any moment.


This is a nature experience I found extremely moving, for some reason. It's a surreal place, because there appears to be absolutely no life anywhere around you. The quiet is deafening. But there's the sense that you're utterly safe, somehow, walking on these sand precipices with the only danger being that you'll fall over onto soft sand and slowly slide down the side. I can't fully describe why I found this so spiritually electric, but it was like nothing I'd experienced before. There's no loud, powerful ocean to draw your eyes or ears, just soft sand and still, cool air. And a slowly appearing sunburn, in my case.



The dog was in heaven; we let him run and frolic and dig a bit since there was so little traffic on the dunes. He was totally worn out by the end.


The peace and sense of utter security just overwhelmed us. It feels like the very best kind of dream, or like the beginning of some kind of afterlife adventure. I can hardly describe the feeling but I can't wait to go back. We've sketched out an anniversary trip complete with lodge and stargazing.



There came a point when Adele's and Jon's bodies just wouldn't go anymore. It is super taxing to hike here; imagine climbing a mountain made out of the beach. But Miles and I were inspired, so we set out and let the other two play in the sand and then mosey back toward the creek. 

Sand angels.

Miles and I made it to the top! Or at least, it felt like the top. We're calling it the top. It took a while...


Sometimes, I read, elevations of 8000 feet and higher can cause altitude sickness. I had a mild headache throughout, but mostly what I experienced was exhilaration.

Miles running along the high ridge.

At the top, you can see mountains in nearly all directions.

Bliss.


On the trip  back down, we fell in with a father and daughter on a cross country trip. They were on their way to Cali from Philadelphia and they went to church at Wayne Presbyterian! And knew about Eastern! And recognized the school where I used to work! That was a cool moment of serendipity.



On the way back down, we sang the old hobbit walking song from Fellowship and other tunes that popped into our heads, and we just laughed, for the fun of it.



That trip was worth every mile. If you make it down to see us some time on a vacation week, we'll bring you.

Spanish Peaks, twilight. 

Who are the people in your neighborhood/ The people that you meet each day?

Guys, I just can’t. The blogging thing is just not a thing I can do above maybe once a month, now. On top of that, I JUST wrote a long and thoughtful post and was nearly finished when I hit something that navigated me away from the page and I lost. it. all. There was swearing.

This is the first time I’ve been back to teaching since I started this blog when I was pregnant with Miles, and it’s kicking my ass to try to do anything beyond the essentials. As it is, I’m astounded at myself. I’m teaching full time, parenting two, singing in choir, teaching children’s chapel and keeping my pets alive. That would have put me in the hospital back when I was 26, but I’ve grown a lot since then.

Now, however, I have to discipline myself to say no to whatever is not integral, so blogging will probably become a monthly thing. 

A few weeks ago we had a Saturday that reminded us how many new friends we’ve made and are still making. Our friends Justin and Alisha (Alisha watched Adele last year) were having an emergency in which Justin was hospitalized, and I took Loki, her five year old, for the day.

 
We hunted butterflies at Belmont, and then were joined by Miles’ best friend, Robert. They were our little herd all day and were so happy with each other. At the end of the day we walked to Alisha’s good friend’s house to drop off Loki with them (they’re only a few blocks from us! So, potential new friends in our neighborhood? Maybe?).

Then as the sun was setting we walked Robert to his house, talked to his mom for a while, and then headed back to our house, where we lingered outside talking to our next-door neighbors, Aura and Gustavo, and their eight year old, Angie. And we just felt lucky to have all these good people within walking distance from our house. It’s pretty cold and vulnerable-feeling to be so far from our families and friends; the world seems cold and alien, sometimes. So this day warmed us through.

Miles and Robert. They are scientists and book-lovers and dreamers and best friends.

The kids are in ballet, now in separate classes. They are doing MUCH better that way.

I got to attend the Chile and Frijoles festival and have some Mexican food from a truck while I watched a gospel concert. Bliss.

We also had our own ER visit a couple of weeks ago when Jon pushed his arm through a pane of glass and sliced several gashes down his arm. It was ghastly; I'm only back to baseline like, now. There was blood and glass everywhere and it was 18 stitches for Jon that day. We were so tired that weekend. But I got more Epsom salts and we're trying hard to focus on rest and peace, and we're in good order now. 

In other news, Adele has a brand new relationship with Madame Tooth Fairy!

And I am growing as a teacher and really finding a lot of satisfaction in it. It’s just bloody exhausting! They sent me on a conference in Aurora this past week for two days, putting me up in one of the worse La Quintas I've seen, but I got to spend more time with my team-mate, the other sixth grade ELA teacher, Katelyn, whom I love. And get Thai food, which there ISN'T in Pueblo. So we got a lot out of it and ate a lot of free food. And we're probably about caught up on sleep by now.

My classroom wall.

I am also being PAID, now. So that’s making a massive difference to our morale! We can go to a restaurant or buy that thing we’re out of or get Halloween costumes without a second thought. It feels a bit like the promised land, except I’m working a bit too hard for that.

Celebrating Pay Day at a real restaurant

It's getting homier and homier around here, too. 

We hit up OctoberFest at the preschool yesterday- and Robert came with! He’s expressed interest in coming with us to church sometime, too. All the kids enjoyed the ponies, but Adele waited in line to go THREE TIMES. She split her face grinning; maybe she’ll be my horse-lover someday.

Also, the October weather is here! And so is the October sky. And the scents. One of the things I bought myself this month is an Autumn-scented candle. I’m pouring out the contents of my bucket every day on my students and my children, so I’m making a daily effort to do what I can to fill it back up.

Dog Days

We're really enjoying these school days in late summer, before school has entirely consumed us, while the summer weather is still blazing. I haven't had to bring any grading home- yet. The kids haven't yet had more than one homework. It's a nice slow start to the year.

Last weekend, City Park Pool closed for the season by allowing the dogs to play in the water before it was drained away. The pool was filled with deliriously happy dogs! What a thoroughly delightful way to spend the morning. We skipped church, probably the only time we'll do that when we aren't traveling. I recommend playing hooky once in a while! It gave us life.

Koopa considers... He only went in with one of us, and then not for very long.

Some of these dogs had amazing bathing outfits...

The kids spent most of the time in the water with the dogs, despite that we had forbidden this. After we found them both completely soaked in the baby pool, we kind of gave up enforcing this and decided that the natural consequence, having to be wet without a towel, would be sufficient.

We decided to dry off with a stroll over to the playground and found that the Baptists had taken over that end of the park! In a good way. They were having a church service outdoors, but it had (happily) ended by the time we got there; we were right on time for the free hot dog lunch and free rides! That was just the cherry on top.

They are my favorite Baptists. Also, we really treasured an escape from routine.

School is in full swing. The kids had Back to School night last week, and I got to see a happy Back-to-School photo of Miles! In contrast to the ones I shared last week. 

I'm really enjoying my job. It's had its stresses and vexations but I love these kids; they are SO much easier to manage than my students at Norristown or Northeast were. I don't know if it's the schools or the age, but it's been much easier to get control of the class. They seem to like me pretty well, too, and we're off to a swimming start, academically.

This is me, being domestic this weekend and baking for our neighbors. I was inspired by the new family that bought the (pretty run down) house next door. I'm so grateful that they did, for several reasons. For one thing, they have an eight year old daughter that likes to play with my kids! For another thing, the couple is from Guatemala and Spanish speaking and I want to make friends with them! I'm... lonely. And also, in a new and strangely middle-class way, I'm glad that this house is getting fixed up. It wasn't in such great shape before, but these folks have set to work improving it already, which will (can't believe I'm pleased about this) raise the value of the homes on our street.

I went courting their friendship with my cookies and didn't get too far (they're super busy and tired, of course), though I did get their lovely names: Aura and Gustavo! And little Angie.

I also brought some over to our dear neighbor on the other side, Mr. Dave. His wife has recently moved into a nursing home and has had a series of major health problems over the past year. He's been pretty down, as you can imagine, but he gets a lot of joy from playing with Miles and Adele and from getting them little gifts. And he even found time and funds to get me some school supplies for my classroom! He left a box of one-subject notebooks (of the kind that are required by the school) and construction paper and markers and other supplies.

(sidebar: I've also received a generous gift card from a friend that has allowed me to get some things I really need and have wanted for years for my classroom! When my meditation app has me focus on gratitude, I never ever lack for faces to focus upon.)

I need to brag about my kid's teacher, and about the schools he's attended in general. Every single public school teacher he's had so far has been great. His second grade teacher was a marvel to me. I used to want to stay in her classroom just to watch her work. She's an artist. She knows all her students and differentiates for them all, and has a lightness and humor and joy about her that makes it look effortless (though I know better).

Now, his third grade teacher is a completely different personality, and at first I wondered if we'd done right to let the random system choose his teacher for him rather than requesting one. Mrs. Herrera is much more serious than his previous teachers, seeming down-to-earth and balanced and brisk rather than the Ms. Frizzle-like energy about Ms. Poteet. But I'm sold. She's wise and old-fashioned about the right things (his class WILL learn cursive). At the meet-the-teacher event before school began, I told her that I was hoping to see Miles improve in his social approach and ability to make and keep close friends. I wasn't sure she was really listening. But during the first week of school, Miles came home and said, "Guess what, Mummy? I made a friend. Robert. He's really funny and I really like him." At back-to-school night last week, I mentioned that Miles was excited about his new friend, and she said, "Yes, I noticed that he and Miles had a lot in common, and I know you said you were hoping he could improve his social skills, so I adjusted the seating chart so they'd sit together, just to see how it went. They seem to hit it off." She engineered this friendship! Robert loves reading and science, so they have loads to talk about.

Last night, we were taking a sunset walk at Belmont to exercise the kids and the dog before bed. And suddenly I saw Miles take off running and go hug a kid in a Superman tee shirt. It was Robert! And I found myself introducing myself to Robert's mom. Robert's family just moved to town this summer from California. I said, "Does Robert like school?" She said, "He does now that he has a friend! He talks about his best friend Miles all the time." Pahn is Thai and has promised to have us over (and make us Thai food!!) sometime. They live 700 feet away from us! Ms. Herrera engineered at least TWO friendships this month.

I love this school with a passion I didn't know I could have for an elementary school.

In my down moments, I wonder what I'm doing way out here on the other side of the country from everyone I used to know. And then a new day comes, and I have another reason to be so grateful to be exactly where we are.