Welcome to the mean streets of Stratford Hills, Mr. President

A lot of folks had a lot to say about President Obama's dropping by our rec center today.  Several were fairly unkind.

When I was in the first grade, I SOOO wanted Nixon to beat Kennedy.  My mom  (nice person) was a Republican.  My dad (a not-so-nice person) was a Democrat.  This was just one way of trying to annoy him.

When Nixon lost, I was distraught.. I mean crying bitterly distraught.   My mother took me aside and said, "Mr Kennedy is our president now.  We have to respect him."  That was that.  Once you're the President, the politics are over - or should be.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if folks, politicians and normal people, lived like this nowadays?  No political affiliation until the 6 weeks before the election would be nice.

I'd vote for that.

The Loss of a Life

I found out today that one of my former students, Joseph Roberts, lost his battle with cystic fibrosis.  He'd finally gotten a match for the lung transplant, but pneumonia followed and his body just gave out.

I know that he's not suffering anymore, but I grieve the loss of what would have been an amazing husband and father - determined, intelligent, funny... He made my life and the world a better place just by being in it.

So amazing was this young man, that it never occurred to me that he wouldn't beat cf.  I know that God knows what he's doing.  I know that when life doesn't seem fair, that there must be something I don't know.  This is one of those times.

Migraine & Myasthenia

"Many young women with myasthenia gravis also suffer from migraine headaches."  Knowing that I'm still considered young under some circumstances, makes my head hurt a little less.

As I'm typing this, I can't really see my computer screen.  So I'm off to close my eyes and let the pharmaceuticals do their job.

Retirement.

Retirement.


I never thought I'd be here this soon. "Rather wear out than rust out"  Life, however, has its interesting little twists and turns.  A middle-aged woman with myasthenia gravis (google it) just can't manage a classroom full of energetic high school freshmen.


So, officially, I'm on disability retirement.  It took 2 years to convince the Virginia Retirement Service that I was, in fact, too disabled to wrangle 9th graders.  Now VRS is making me file for Social Security disability so that they won't have to pay out as much.  More papers to file... More waiting.


So, in the midst of my first year of retirement, I have....

1. started re-tiling the bathroom...
2. started 3 books
3. started reorganizing the house
4. started (apparently) a blog

Notice that I've not finished anything... except today's blog

There are two kinds of people in the world...

I've always thought of myself as being open.. nonjudgmental...accepting of all...
Hogwash.
I realize now that I divide the world into two groups of people:  those who know the difference between your and you're, and those who do not.

I just sent an e-mail to a group of folks.  I re-read it, AFTER I'd sent it.

There it was.
In black and white
 "...you're brain is functioning"

I immediately sent out a retraction.  Surely people wouldn't put me in the "don't know" group, but I had to be positive.

My fear told the tale.  I didn't want to be one of them.  


Now I feel like I need to send apologies to all the other people whom I've put in the "don't know" group.  Maybe.... just maybe.... they, too, had made a mistake.

I think that this lesson may have long-reaching consequences.  We'll see.