Our family right now

Thought I would toss out a family update:

Right now, Jason is back to school teaching all A.P. classes. He works hard at school and then picks up the kids, gets Roz going on homework and piano practice, and cooks dinner. On the weekends, he does the grocery shopping (at Costco, Trader Joe's and then maybe the regular grocery store) and often much of the cleaning. In short, he is working his butt off and functioning as the primary parent. I greatly appreciate everything he does, and at the same time, I hope to step in and do more of it as soon as things settle. He is also brainstorming topics for his master's thesis. As always he makes me laugh constantly.

Right now, Roz is back to school in the third grade. We love her teacher. So far, the GATE program hasn't made much difference, but we are hoping it will provide some enrichment for her. She hates homework with a passion, which concerns us. Hating homework at this age doesn't bode well for the teen years. She does passionately love reading, however. Swim lessons are on hiatus, and we are trying to decide if we will enroll her in art classes or karate. It's tricky - finding that balance between being appropriately stimulated and over-scheduled. Her favorite color has moved from rainbow to turquoise to purple, and she stills puts together some pretty crazy fashions. Often, she will disappear into her room to draw pictures and write stories.

Right now, Sawyer is in preschool and loves it. His teacher tells us repeatedly how sweet and easy he is. He loves to play with the dog and is into superheroes. His moving away from his train obsession makes his daddy happy and his mommy sad. As he always has been, he is a boy of routine. For example, he gets up every morning at 6 a.m., regardless of the day of the week, and immediately gets his fiber bar and eats it. He then plays for a while and then asks for an egg or a bowl of cereal.


Right now, I am heading off to my last CCSSO trip as teacher of the year. I am excited about a trip to New Jersey and New York, and although I am sad to say goodbye to my friends, I am looking forward to being more focused on my homelife and my plan to go on a residential retreat next year. (Yay!) I am no longer teaching A.P. classes and have replaced those classes with remedial English I, including one co-taught section. It's a stretch for me, but it has been a good stretch. I still teacher Senior Rhetoric, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. My creative outlet lately has been cardmaking, since I can have a finished product in about in fifteen minutes. I am trying to cut back on responsibilities at work.

Right now, Shadow has learned sit, down, stay, off, and leave it. We are working on come, and in case you are a stalker considering breaking into our house, we are training him on eat the nose off that guy. He doesn't jump on the kids as much, and I spend much of my home time trying to find ways to channel his lab energy, especially since walks make him nervous and he doesn't chase balls. We have found some good lab activities, like chase the red laser dot and walk four houses before you panic and try to run home.




That's the family Right Now update. Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather.

On the anniversary of September 11

As I sit down to write my thoughts about this day, I feel paralyzed. It somehow seems frivolous, almost disrespectful, to write about September 11, as if words on a blog cannot quite capture the emotions, the enormity of the event.

Many around me see today as just another day.

Not me.

While I stood there and watched in real time as a plane hit the second tower, I knew that something previously unthinkable had happened, and even though I didn't know exactly what had happened, I knew my world would change. As the day's events unfolded and we watched as victims jumped to their deaths and the towers collapsed and later the mass debris enveloped the city, we all mourned for lost lives and for our country. But the real tragedy of the day unveiled itself later in the week as we heard stories of those who lost their lives or those who lost loved ones.

Therein lies the tragedy of 9-11. Not that our country was attacked, though it was. Not that we no longer felt secure, although we could never be as secure as we thought we were. But rather because people lost their husbands, wives, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, friends, lovers.

While the rest of us on September 12, 2001, returned to work, quiet and thoughtful though that return might have been, we were fortune enough to be able to return to our lives without the heartache of mourning a lost loved one, without having to relive the horror of watching from the streets as the towers collapsed, without the lonely waiting and wondering.

The fact of the matter is that although 9-11 deeply impacted me, what I felt was only a reflection of what those in the midst of the debris must have felt.

It's the individual human suffering that breaks my heart. It is for those who mourned real losses that I believe we should further commemorate this day. Not for those who lost their lives or those of us who lost our sense of ease and naivete. But for those who mourned real losses.

Summer Review

What a whirlwind of a summer we had! It was fun and in some cases exciting, and at the same time, it was also not the restful summer I am used to. I am not starting the school year feeling rested, but it's okay. It was worth it.

Summer was fun because:

1. We went to Disneyland.
2. I went to summer camp.
3. We adopted a new puppy.

It was exhausting because:

1. I worked too much.
2. I was gone a lot.
3. We went to Disneyland.
4. I went to space camp within a week of Jason going to San Francisco for a conference.
5. We adopted a new puppy.

I know, blah, blah, blah. busy. blah, blah, blah, work. blah, blah, blah, tired.

The story of my life. Anyway, here are some pictures to illustrate the fun:

Happy new school year, everyone.