The End of an Era

This weekend my son will play his last peewee tackle football games. We've traveled to a neighboring town for the past three years to play in this league. We started when he was seven.

Year 1

Since we've played in another town, we've been fairly anonymous. Which was nice. The first two years I became acquainted with some of the other parents, but this year I helped with the fundraiser and had to hang around at practice. I made some friends. And over the past three years, so did my son.

I'm pretty sad to be done. I'm pretty sad to leave behind the group of kids that I've watched develop as players and as a team for the past three seasons.

Year 2

As we drove home last night, my son said, "I'm going to miss that little field." We talked about the friends he'll miss the most and how lucky we were to have the same defensive coach all three years. A coach who really pushed him to be better.


Next year we will move up to Junior Tackle and play in our small town. I know we'll have a blast watching him play with his classmates and watching them come together as a team. I know I'll be typing a similar post when he's a senior.


As we transition, what I think I'll miss most is being a really LOUD, SHRILL, and ANNOYING fan. In this league I can scream (encouraging things, of course) as loud as I want and as much as I want, because after all, I am anonymous.

Year Three (on the left)

Marxism and my Manicure

This weekend is my college's annual fundraiser dinner dance. At work we refer to it as the Gala. At home, I call it Prom for Adults. In preparation I got a manicure tonight. My shiny red nails look awesome. I should do this more often.

I had been warned about the limited English at this particular salon. I am NOT GOOD with Asian accents. I work with some great people who's native language is Chinese. I am always asking them to repeat themselves. I always feel like such a jerk.

So I walk into the salon and ask the lady at the counter for a manicure. She had to ask four times if I wanted fake nails. She finally had to show me the display for it to sink in. I was short on time and I was a bit frustrated.

This is where Marxism comes in, kind of. This semester I am enrolled in Adult Education in the Social Context. At home, I call it Marxism and Socialism in Education. It's a class about power, alienation, oppression, revolution, and hegemony.

Did you know that Disney is the devil? We had an 300+ page book on it. Next time you watch a movie, think about how they depict the villain. They are usually not American, speak with an Eastern European accent and don't reflect the white, middle-class ideal. Food for thought.

It's a good thing the class is required because there is no way I would have ever chosen to take it. It's been painful. Not just because I appreciate capitalism, but because I never took philosophy or sociology in my undergrad or Master's programs. It's pretty deep stuff and it takes forever to read and actually understand. It's all abstract and I prefer practical. Even though I don't like it, I'm glad I've been exposed to it. It's made the Take Back Wall Street coverage much more meaningful.

Before this class, I would have been very frustrated with my nail salon worker. Not mean, but internally frustrated. Instead, I spent my time thinking about our exchange from her point of view and how frustrated she must be living in the Midwest. I tried to do something that I am not good at. I tried to empathize.

My husband and I went to Spain for a week in June. We don't speak Spanish. The last three days we spent on the Mediterranean coast at a hotel. We didn't hear a lick of English. People looked at us funny. If there is an "American" look, we must have it. It was very lonely and we were ready to come home.

This must be how my nail salon lady feels every day. And she doesn't get to go home. Maybe this class wasn't all bad.

P.S. I am not the lady in the bikini:).

Has it really been a year?!

In looking at my blogger dashboard tonight, I noticed almost a year has passed since my last post. What have I been up to? What haven't I been up to?



So...hopefully to get myself back into the posting habit, I COMMIT to posting everyday this month. I also commit to not overthinking this whole blogging thing and to just write. So let's start with a list.



Things I am thankful for today:



1. The Yellowstone Association webcam. We took a family road trip to the park last summer and had an excellent time. The park is gorgeous. We hiked. We saw the thermal features. We saw an old friend. We enjoyed one another. I don't know if we will ever be able to top this trip. Today I discovered the live webcam that you can control remotely. All day long I gazed upon snow capped mountains and watched elk graze near the north entrance of the park where we stayed for two nights. It brought some peace to a day full of writing. Thank you Yellowstone Association!







2. Wonderful co-workers. Tonight we had a girls' night to celebrate boss' day. We had wine, chili and pie and watched one of our alum compete on a reality show.



3. Babysitters! My husband has been in the field for about a month and my mother-in-law has been helping. This means I am hardly ever off duty. I am ready to be off duty. Thankfully, one of my high school babysitters could watch the kids last minute tonight so I could celebrate boss' day tonight. Being off duty, even if only for a few hours was worth the money!

Merry Christmas!

I Love Kindergarten

My daughter started kindergarten this fall. In the months, ok years, leading up to the first day of school, we consistently butted heads. I wouldn't necessarily call her strong willed but she is just as stubborn as her mom and dad.

And then kindergarten started. She has been such a joy and so much more easy going. She has some doctor appointments on Monday and we get to spend the entire day together. I am so excited!

Easy as Pie (and Jam)

I have a four day weekend and lots to do. I have grapes, apples, frozen peaches, frozen raspberries, red peppers, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. My house is hot and humid from the canner boiling pretty much non stop the last two days.

I mentioned my activities on Facebook earlier today and my friend, Holly asked for my apple pie filling recipe. The recipe calls for ClearGel which my mother-in-law buys in bulk online and shares. I think this came from her USDA canning guide.

Here you go!

Doubt

Last spring I decided to go back to school, again, and work on a doctorate degree. Lately, I've been doubting that decision. I seem to be surrounded by very academic people, people with doctorate degrees that seem really smart. I listen to them and think, am I really smart enough to do this? What if I'm not? Can I really put together a valid, meaningful research project that adds to a body of knowledge? What if I just don't have the time or desire to do what it takes to research, write and defend a dissertation?


Tonight, I read this on one of the blogs I subscribe:


You can either do what makes you happy, or do what keeps you comfortable.


It was exactly the kick in the pants I needed.


If I don't do this, the world will not end. If I don't do this, our family will not starve. If I don't do this, our kids will still have two parents with three advanced degrees, and hopefully, grow up to see the value of higher education. If I don't do this, I will remain comfortable.


If I do continue, I will be challenged. I will be forced to consider other perspectives. I will have to stretch. And, I will be happy. Being in school, learning new things, and learning to look at things through different lenses make me happy. Yes, I am a dork. But at least I'm a happy dork.

So what if I don't sound as smart as the others I'm around? I'm a bit rusty with the school and theory stuff. And, the last thing I ever want anyone to do is compare themselves to me and think, "Gosh, I can't do that because I'm not as smart."

So what if I join the 50% of people who start but don't finish a doctorate degree? My family won't starve. I'll still be employable. I'll still be able to do work I enjoy. I'll have a broad range of knowledge, I just won't have the research experience and the credential. It will be ok and I will be a better, happier person for it.