Close Calls and Wrapping Up a School Year

 This past few days have been somewhat a roller coaster in a figurative sense.  There is a bit to cover so I will begin by just chronicling what happened.

To begin, some good news.  I have had a bit of an empty space in my heart since losing Lily at Christmas, and my goal was to find another Tortie cat like her.  I have been on the search for one over several months, and many of these possibilities were dead ends.  However, about two weeks ago I began expanding the search to look in Washington County, our old area, and the Humane Society there.  Turns out they had a 1-year-old Tortie named Electra who would have been perfect.  So, last Thursday Barbara had some business in Hagerstown anyway so we decided to stop by the Humane Society and check it out.  Electra was there, and she was really a cute little girl, but there were a couple of issues.  She was recovering from a surgery, but also she tended to be a little more temperamental and territorial than I wanted - with Mickey and Tippy at home, it would have created problems.  However, in the next cage there was an adorable little tabby mix named Rocky who captured our hearts almost instantly.  After some deliberation, I decided he would be the one we would choose, and I set it up with the desk lady.  A couple of days later, we got the call that he was neutered, microchipped, and ready to go, and on Saturday we went and got him.  It turns out he was the perfect cat for us - he was young (1 year) and he was also little, and he had the most outgoing and affectionate personality.   So, we got him home, and he is now very well-adjusted and is doing wonderfully.  And, the more I am with him, the more I love the little guy - he is the cutest and sweetest little animal anyone could imagine.  So, I anticipate a long and happy life with him. 

However, this bit of brightness was not without issue.   Barbara for some time has been having some serious health issues - her blood pressure and her sugar levels have been through the ceiling. She became a serious risk on Thursday after a visit to her doctor in Hagerstown, and they gave her a potent blood pressure medication called clonodine.  Unlike the relatively mild Lisinopryl I take, clonodine is extremely potent and can make a person drowsy.  The idiots at the clinic in Hagerstown where she went gave her a whopping three times her regular dose, and it was a scary ride home as I had to work overtime to keep her alert.  I had a brief experience with clonodine myself a few years back when I had an elevated blood pressure level and did not have my Lisinopryl at the time.  Barbara gave me one of those clonodine tablets before I went to sleep, and my goodness, that thing knocked me out!  My heart rate I recall dropped dramatically after taking it, and in all honesty Barbara was scared for me.  While in general my bp is good, I am hoping not to go on something like that in the future, because it is a dangerous drug.  Then, last night, Barbara decided she needed to go to a Walmart to get her diabetic supplies (test strips and lancets), but the problem is that in Baltimore you have to travel a considerable distance to find a Walmart.  We ended up going all the way out to White Marsh,  which is east of the city, and that drive was scary as well.  I was never so glad to get home than I was last night, as that ride was scary.  Barbara had elevated blood pressure and sugar levels, and she was dizzy, disoriented, and really in no condition to drive anywhere.  By the miraculous grace of God we managed to get home, but I told her that until a doctor stabilized her, she is better off not driving those distances for the time being, as it could be dangerous.  She thankfully agreed, and for now is confining her driving to just local destinations within a few miles of the house.  This morning she was doing somewhat better, but she still has some work to go.  And, she also had to spend Sunday night in the hospital because she appeared to be having either a TIA or stroke episode - she called me from the ER and her speech was very slurred and she was not doing well at all.  Yesterday, a home health care professional paid her a visit and checked her out, and she also now has her full complement of medications now.  Hopefully she will be stabilized soon, and she needayqs a lot of prayers. 

The other big thing I wanted to mention this week was that we are nearing the end of the school year.  In all honesty, I am ready for it to end because teaching full-time can really take a lot out of a person.  For people unfamiliar with teaching, it is often assumed that a teaching job is cushy and easy, but in reality there is a lot of responsibility involved.  For one thing, if you teach kids who are either minorities or lower-income (in the case of my school it is both), that creates a special level of challenges as some of these kids can be a handful.  Also, there are records to maintain, grades to post, and we have a principal here who is both calendar-crazy and meeting-obsessed, so he calls meetings at the drop of a hat and many of us who are teachers here find that to be a bit inconvenient.  While the principal himself is a nice guy, at times I don't think he fully comprehends his duties, and he tries to be micromanager as well as thinking every little thing requires a stupid meeting.  Fortunately, his tenure as interim principal is up at the end of this year, so we will have a far more capable leader in charge next year, and the current principal will be back to teaching classes like the rest of us.  Although the job has its challenges, I am happy to say there are also good things about it too, and I wanted to share one of those this week.

Although I only check my faculty mailbox sporadically, I went down and did so yesterday because I had to write up a student who seems to have a bad fascination with peppering his conversations with the "f bomb," and after repeated warnings I had enough. So, I wrote him what is called a JUG.  A JUG is essentially a serious student violation slip that will often earn a major consequence for the student's actions, and we write those out when a student has a discipline issue.  I don't like writing those in all honesty, so I use them sparingly as I have other ways to address the issues.  But this one student - I will call him Jake here to protect his identity - is a real pain in the butt.  He has an attitude, and he also loves using profanity and seems to do what he can to push the limits.  However, Monday I had enough so I issued him a JUG and my guess is that he will have an in-school suspension at some point.   I said all that though to get to what I found in my faculty mailbox once I took the JUG slip down to give his advisor.  In the box was a large posterboard, and on it the students had written some really nice things to me as their teacher, and it was one of the sweetest gestures I have gotten since being here.  It is amazing that when you start questioning whether it is worth it, God sends these little messages to remind you what it is all about.  While Jake and Jenn are two of the more negative manifestations of bad behavior of the students, it is a reminder to myself that most of these kids are actually good kids and they have unlimited potential.  I have seen some of them really shine in my classes too, and I am personally proud of them.  And, I will definitely treasure and keep that little "love note" from my students, as it is a beautiful expression of their appreciation and it really made my day.  Now I want to talk about another student who surprised me this year too.

Daniel is one of my regular students in the first class I teach.  Originally, I thought of him as kind of a pain, but for some reason he seems to really be drawn to me and I am really starting to like him.  Daniel is basically a good kid, although he can be a challenge at times, but he has an endearing quality about him and I respect that.  And, in this case, Daniel is his real name.  Daniel is smart, does very well on his work, and in recent months he is even displaying a growing maturity.  I have a feeling I may be seeing more of him next year, and that is not necessarily a bad thing - if he comes out of his high school experience being inspired and motivated by something I have showed him, then that makes it all worthwhile. 

There is not a lot more I need to say for this week, so I think I will wrap up until later.  Thanks for your visit, and look forward to seeing you soon.