Some good news for a change

Looking over this dusty blog I realized I've been really depressing lately. Not wanting to be Debbie Downer all the time, I think I should point out some good things that are going on in my life. Between work, school, and the separation, there's admittedly not a ton of stuff to giggle about, but there are moments.

For instance, Monkey just turned 9! How that happened, I have no idea. One day he was a babe asleep in my arms, and before I knew it he was leading his friends to a laser tag victory at his 9th birthday party. It's been a tough year for him, but I am so proud of how well he's been managing it. Not every day is a great one, but for the most part, he's adjusting to the separation better than I could have expected. While he wishes this whole divorce thing wasn't happening, he knows that things are more peaceful here now, and he likes that. He's been talking to a counselor at school, and that's helped a lot. It's a relief to know that he has an objective third party that he feels comfortable opening up to. His grades have been fantastic through this whole thing, when he certainly had cause to let his schoolwork slide. He even exceeded the standards on several areas of that all-important-but-not-really state test the kids have to take. And this was the year that he was really nervous about it because the geniuses here use the third grade reading test to determine if kids go to the fourth grade or not. Because everyone knows that one test taken on one day should be the determining factor there; the work they've done all year really doesn't mean anything, after all. Oops, sorry. Off the soapbox and back to the bragging. Last year, it was a struggle to get him to read and do his homework, but this year...okay, it's still sometimes a struggle to get him to read, but it's not as bad as it was last year. And he doesn't fight the homework nearly as much as he used to. He's shown a lot more responsibility about remembering what he needs to do and getting it done. I really couldn't ask for a better kid. I'm so looking forward to this summer. I'm going to try and take him for his first horseback ride and whitewater rafting trip. Can't wait.

In other good news, the yearbook is done and distributed. It was my first year as adviser, and I survived. The kids did a great job on the book. So great, in fact, that our publisher was showing it and some of her other clients' books to a principal in a neighboring county, and he kept ours to use as an example for his adviser and staff. A nice compliment indeed. My senior staff members taught me well and showed me that the future is in good hands. I was lucky to work with some of the brightest, most responsible, most talented young people at our school. They truly are going to change the world for the better. Next year's staff has big shoes to fill. We got off to a rough start, but when we found our footing, things really clicked. It was hard work but so much fun thanks to the kids. And they wrote the sweetest things on the editor's page and in my book when they signed it. Those are the moments that make teaching worthwhile.

Another warm fuzzy from teaching came this morning when a former student brought me a gift. At our school, it's a tradition for seniors to "buy" ceiling tiles from their favorite teachers' rooms and paint them before they graduate. They pay two dollars to put a memory, a picture, a quote, something to remember them by. It's part of their legacy to the school and the teacher. One of my kids from a couple of years ago painted a tile for me commemorating my love for Rick Springfield. He blew up one of my Rick photos to put on it and painted things like "VIP Seats" and "You Rock" on it. It's awesome. It's going to look so great on my ceiling next year. And it's nice to know that sometimes the kids really do see you as a person instead of an automaton that recharges overnight in the lockers and is stored with the other automatons in the gymnasium over the summer.

Speaking of summer, our last shining beacon of good news has to do with the Master's program I've been in for the past year. Only one more month to go!!! I'll actually have about three or four weeks of summer this year. And my paycheck should be a little nicer come fall. Which is good, because I would love to take Monkey back to Disney in the next year if possible. I think we could both use a little magic.