I digress.
So, (my favorite transition) I went to sleep, hit snooze for two hours this morning, and started thinking about listing the best of 2010. I like lists. In some ways, it makes me sad because my life away from school seems pretty bleak according to this list. In some ways, I can't help but be thankful again today for having a job that provides so many blessings. This list is in no particular order. The New Orleans trip, if given an option, would dominate a Top Ten Moments list. It was, hands down, the highlight of my year. I continue to think about it often, and I am thankful that I am permitted to plan countless reunions. So, I tried to limit New Orleans' moments on the list, but you will still see a lot. :)
Here's to you, 2010. (Oh my, this got really long. Surprise.)
1. "What haste looks through his eyes. So should he look that seems to speak things strange." (I did that from memory, boys!) Macbeth is not my favorite play, but being in a play with students and colleagues and an awesome directorial duo was really special to me. (And I loved eating chicken around that fire.)
2. CWC jr. If I have to pick a moment, which I guess I didn't do with Macbeth, it would be the first time Ian read to everyone or open mic night. Yes, open mic night it is. I was so tired. It was the night of the walk-a-thon. The day before had been the frisbee tournament. Parents would be there. The kids were INCREDIBLE, playing the crowd like trained comedians. I sat and ate my delicious chicken salad sandwich and cookies and watched and learned.
Oh geesh. I am doing that thing where I write a paragraph...I need to stop.
3. Sheehanigans TOOK OFF. This also caused a lot of stress and terrible back problems, but it has truly been a blessing for me and something to look forward to in the future.
4. Spending most Friday nights with my mom. We have grown so close, and there is so much comfort in going to her house each Friday night, putting on my PJs, sitting in the recliner and watching television. (And falling asleep at 9:32.)
5. Watching Nick when he spotted Kaitlyn for the first time at Morris Fork when she came to visit. That hug was so genuine. It was so beautiful.
6. So, the entire Academic Banquet was wonderful. But maybe a highlight would have to be when Alex told everyone that I was his Lady Gaga, well, his and many others'.
7. Have you ever seen Jeff Gutzwiller dance? Line dance? H-I-G-H-L-I-G-H-T.
8. It takes a long time to finish the literary magazine, even when you think it is almost finished. When that moment comes, add six hours of work to what you think will be one. However, in the midst of that, you have these ridiculous bouts of crazy. Thus, I present you with moment #8: the Doodle paragraph in the back of Chicken Pox. I think Aamena cried from laughing. (We know it's not that funny.)
9. Have you ever heard Daniel Schoch sing? What about sing to songs like "Push It"? Hmmm...our van heard that on the way home from New Orleans. It was priceless.
10. I always love Mini-O, but 2010 was something incredible. My top moment? Either seeing Funiture completely assembled or walking back to my classroom as all-out chaos was booming in by the main stairwell. I. Loved. It.
11. I tried to be like Jay Newlin last summer. I tried to host my own Backyard Games. It might not have been quite as successful as his, but watching my incredible colleagues play the Oreo game was something to be remembered. (Sidenote: Being a 3-peat champion at Jay's backyard games was also pretty incredible.)
Oops. Font change.
12.The past two Homecomings have been spectacular. But my highlight of Homecoming 2010 has to be the passing periods on Thursday (reflecting a bigger moment). When classrooms would empty, it was this crazy rainbow filling up the hallways. I believe the number was 1586, give or take a few. That is how many students participated on the class competition dress-up day. And thus, tradition is being born.
13. When we decided to do the Minute to Win It challenge, I didn’t want to throw up numbers. I never do. I didn’t want to give people a false expectation of what success would be. But you have to give a goal. You have to make it real. I don’t actually know how many students and staff members we have. I estimated at 2500. When Zoe read that we raised over $3,000, well, I screamed and danced, and I could spend quite a bit of time explaining why, but I will save that for another post.
14.Going along with that, let’s talk about the last day of the semester. Hunter and I (as per usual) still had a lot of papers to grade. I was supposed to leave at 3pm. That didn’t happen. I also realized that it would be possible for us to raise $20,000. The day before, when we were a little over $18,000, I was content. I was finished…again. And then generous people donated online. And boom, that day changed. All of a sudden, we had this unbelievable, never-would-have-dreamed-it goal in sight. And I will never know all the people who chipped in at the end. You see, we didn’t work for that last $1500. We were given a gift by teachers and community members and students and parents and alumni. Maybe even strangers. And, as the night wore on, and Hunter and I got crazier and crazier, the total rolled over $20,000. Incredible.
15. My niece and nephews are awesome. I love them all, but one highlight of this past year was getting to know Casey, my niece, a little better. She is fiery and loving, and I can’t wait to see who she becomes. She rocks stripes and polka dots like nobody’s business as well.
16. Another highlight has to do with the fact that my family will be going to Europe together this summer. I know it hasn’t happened yet, but the decision was made in 2010. It is a huge investment, and it stresses me out, but I know it will be simply wonderful.
17. I have a lot of great memories with Aubry and Carly (we spend a lot of time together), but I REALLY loved the night we did the "It Happened One Saturday Night" story. Read and see it here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199517&id=503268952 (I wonder if that link will work.)
18. Oops, I tried to spread out the New Orleans moments, and now I am getting near the end and have a few left. The lying game. If you were there, you understand. "She was acting up."
19. The dedication. That was SO SPECIAL for me. I hope for everyone. But I didn't really want it to be about us.
20. CWC: Senior Year was a part of Chicken Pox that is priceless to me. I hope it wasn't completely self-serving. But I don't really think that many people would or could realize how special those words were (and will always be) to me.
21. There were a few moments from Halloween that I loved, but strangely, this might be my favorite.
22. Hearing Richard (and Jimmy) speak to us during the Face-to-Face tour was priceless. His words will continue to resonate in my heart for a LONG time to come. Hopefully, his words will be heard again in Uganda this summer or maybe in San Diego.
23. I think this will be the last one. I will come back with more, I am sure. (And no one will read them but me, and that's okay.) We did some "unpleasant" jobs on the work site in New Orleans. I am not sure if anything in the sun could be pleasant in late July in New Orleans, but there were just a few jobs that caused a tremendous amount of frustration. But, strangely enough, these jobs also caused so much pride. The teams that worked on them wore their badge of honor. They united and laughed behind the frustration. People screamed and possibly wanted to throw hammers, but still, they kept going. Pounding aluminum nails into the house was miserable. MISERABLE. I swear Kacie and Elly almost cried. I don't know how Alex and Corey did it for SO LONG. I just didn't understand. And then we got a new box. These were steel. (Or something way stronger than aluminum if I am wrong.) And HIT. HIT. HIT. DONE. HIT. HIT. HIT. DONE. Sometimes, maybe more than we acknowledge, the little victories taste the sweetest. High on those ladders, sweating buckets, feeling like a failure in every way possible, I was handed the greatest gift of my year: nails. It was (and still is) bigger than the nails, but like I said, maybe another time.
Go ahead and re-live your moments. It takes a bit of the blur away from time. You get some back.
Happy New Year.
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