Musings

A few months ago, my dad emailed me to say he'd had an unexpected visitor at work. This person was none other than a teacher I'd student taught with oh so many years ago. This teacher (who shall remain nameless) described to my dad of the remorse that had plagued this teacher after I'd finished my student teaching because there had never been any recognition of the work I'd accomplished under this teacher's guidance. Nor had there been any kind of send off after my student teaching was finished. Therefore, this teacher had set out to remedy this situation by coming to visit my dad at work to give dad two books that this teacher selected for me. By the way, this teacher is now retired and is living in Montana.

Needless to say, I was completely shocked and surprised at such a revelation. This teacher had always been extremely nice and jovial during my student teaching stint and though I did notice the lack of any congratulations on my finishing student teaching, it didn't really bother me. So to know that this teacher has carried around these regrets for the last eight years is astounding. Dad said when the books were handed over to him by the teacher, with the promise that they would get to me, visible relief washed over the teacher's face. I asked my dad what books they were, and he said a teacher's blessing book and a journal. Hmmmm.

In the middle of September, my parents were in DC for the Values Voter Summit (co-sponsored by FRC Action and Focus on the Family Action) so we got to see them briefly. My dad handed me the books given to him and there was a small book of prayers for teachers (a nice leather-bound edition) and a blank journal with a small, fake white flower on the front. There were no lines in the journal--just blank pages. "Isn't that nice?" I thought, while reminiscing about my student teaching with my family. I couldn't believe this teacher had felt so bad as to bring these to my dad while vacationing back in CO from the retired life in Montana. While we were still chatting, I flipped through the journal. There, in the middle, I found a page that had writing on it. Oh, an inscription, I thought? Looking closely, I realized that this inscription was written not to me, but to this other teacher. It was a personal sentiment from another colleague on the occasion of this teacher's marriage. "God bless you both as you emark on the journey of marriage together, congratulations, etc" for a whole page. I couldn't believe it! My family couldn't believe it. Why in the world would one feel so bad about not recognizing a graduating student teacher that they would carry guilt around for eight years, only to give me a used journal? I am still baffled by the entire situation. Of course, I am grateful that this teacher would think of me so kindly after such a long time...but a used journal? I don't get it.

Trip to the Park

We had a free couple of hours today, so we all ran down to a park along side the Potomac to let Kate play in the grass. She had lots of fun getting dirty.
Here's a little illustration of the difference between how Dad and Mom play at the park. Here's Dad handing Kate a leaf to play with ...
And here's Mom taking it away before she eats it.
Hopefully the experience will be a good warm up for the dirt associated with the camping trip we're planning in October....

It should help Kate get prepared as well :^)

Luminati Double Birthday Extravaganza

At long last, I've finally gotten around to uploading a few photos from the Luminati birthday bash last weekend. Here we go ...

Jen and I decided we wanted to throw a BBQ at a local park with a bunch of friends from the area. Up until the night before the forecast was calling for rain, but thankfully the weather cleared up that morning and we ended up with a beautiful day.

In the days leading up to the party, Jen decided she wanted to make t-shirts for the two birthday girls. Here they are sporting their party duds ...
We had a great time at the park, with Jen and Kate opening their presents and me getting asphixiated from smoke inhalation at the grill. Off to the right you can see the two butterfly cakes that Lacey made.

Here's Jen examining a gift of two conjoined pumpkins from Gene & Nancy (see our posting from last fall about our trip to the Northern Neck). Nancy found them at the farmer's market and thought they were appropriate since Jen and Kate share the same birthday.Kate, however, provided the main entertainment as she tried her first piece of cake. Here she is at the beginning of the process. Don't you wish you could remember you first exposure to sugar?
A couple minutes later she began to pick up speed as the Minnery sweet tooth started to take hold. A few minutes later the cake was gone, and we had one happy kid.

Nothing like a little b-day gluttony.
When we got home, everyone took a much needed nap before getting on to round two of presents ... this time from the families.

There were lots of pretty clothes and fun toys. Kate really got a kick out of a baby doll she received. If only we could convince her that it's not good to chew on other children.All in all it was a great day for everyone. Jen promises me we won't have such a big to-do every year, but something tells me we're going to have to take that one year at a time.

Thanks for everyone who made the day special, whether you were at the party or just here in spirit!