Finished . . . rested . . . home!
My first semester of grad school is finished! Woohoo, I am DONE! Final papers are written and turned in, portfolios are graded and final grades are entered, presentations are given and books are read, and I am now HOME in Iowa with my family. Oh, ilhamdulillah.
So life is good. I've gotten to see my adorable nephews, eat WAY too much yummy Christmas cooking, and sleep, sleep, sleep. That's the best part, actually.
Today I had coffee (well, hot chocolate) with my pastor here, and that was refreshing. He's a wise person, but beyond that he is simply kind and thoughtful, and he listens. So he listened to me today, gave me some good advice, and made me feel as though it's all going to be okay. :) As Lady Julian of Norwich said, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." After a wild and wonderful semester in Montana, I was glad for a quiet conversation in Iowa.
I'd forgotten how many people I know here. I went to Wal-Mart today (yes, Wal-Mart--honestly, it's almost the only place to shop here! At least, darn it, it's about the only place to get hair gel and contact solution--plah!) and ran into an old friend from high school who's just had her second child, and then I ran into an acquaintance from Dordt who knows some people that I know in Missoula, and then, of course, I still know half the people who work at Wal-Mart from MY days of working there . . . and then there's all the people I recognize as I walk down the street or through the mall--former profs, people from church, etc. It's good to be home; I've missed knowing every third person who passes by.
So I'm hoping to get some lesson planning done this break, as well as some writing, and some reading, too. I have about, oh, ten books that I've borrowed from various EVST friends that I'm going to try to read, starting with "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner, a thus-far fascinating history of water in the American West. I'm starting with this one because I'm hoping it will help me to expand my water essay, which I'm excited to work on in the coming weeks.
Okay, I want comments from ya'll. :) So I'm going to give a prompt that I found on someone else's blog (and I think she found it somewhere else, too--let's pass it on!):
Make up a fake memory of us. That is, post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want - good or bad - but it has to be fake.
Hee!
My first semester of grad school is finished! Woohoo, I am DONE! Final papers are written and turned in, portfolios are graded and final grades are entered, presentations are given and books are read, and I am now HOME in Iowa with my family. Oh, ilhamdulillah.
So life is good. I've gotten to see my adorable nephews, eat WAY too much yummy Christmas cooking, and sleep, sleep, sleep. That's the best part, actually.
Today I had coffee (well, hot chocolate) with my pastor here, and that was refreshing. He's a wise person, but beyond that he is simply kind and thoughtful, and he listens. So he listened to me today, gave me some good advice, and made me feel as though it's all going to be okay. :) As Lady Julian of Norwich said, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." After a wild and wonderful semester in Montana, I was glad for a quiet conversation in Iowa.
I'd forgotten how many people I know here. I went to Wal-Mart today (yes, Wal-Mart--honestly, it's almost the only place to shop here! At least, darn it, it's about the only place to get hair gel and contact solution--plah!) and ran into an old friend from high school who's just had her second child, and then I ran into an acquaintance from Dordt who knows some people that I know in Missoula, and then, of course, I still know half the people who work at Wal-Mart from MY days of working there . . . and then there's all the people I recognize as I walk down the street or through the mall--former profs, people from church, etc. It's good to be home; I've missed knowing every third person who passes by.
So I'm hoping to get some lesson planning done this break, as well as some writing, and some reading, too. I have about, oh, ten books that I've borrowed from various EVST friends that I'm going to try to read, starting with "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner, a thus-far fascinating history of water in the American West. I'm starting with this one because I'm hoping it will help me to expand my water essay, which I'm excited to work on in the coming weeks.
Okay, I want comments from ya'll. :) So I'm going to give a prompt that I found on someone else's blog (and I think she found it somewhere else, too--let's pass it on!):
Make up a fake memory of us. That is, post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want - good or bad - but it has to be fake.
Hee!
When I was seven, and you were eleven or twelve, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for my teacher, Mrs. Veltkamp. You tried to help, even though I wanted to do it on my own. I yelled at you and told you that you were the worst sister ever because you always had to take control. You threw a beater at me and I got a black eye with some dough on the side. So I took out your favorite hot chocolate mug and smashed it on the floor. Mom grounded both of us for a week and sent us to our rooms (not a great idea, since we're right next to each other). We didn't speak for at least 10 minutes. Then we yelled some more. I think we made up at some point because right now you're slicing something for me, and it's an apple, not my hand or something weird like that.
ReplyDeleteWasn't it YOU who threw the beater at ME and gave ME the black eye? You need to make sure to get the facts straight!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. :)
ReplyDeleteSo I don't believe anyone knows this, but Allison and I had a wild passionate fling while she lived in Chicago a couple of years ago. It only lasted about a week, before she realized it would never work and left me. But what a week. I'll never forget it Alli-oop. And maybe dear sweet Allison.... maybe... someday... you'll find your way back to me??
ReplyDelete-Lost and longing in Chicago
When we were in Egypt, there was a man at the orphanage dressed up in a chicken suit trying to sell eggs to us. One of the orphan kids kicked him in the shin. Of course that boy was sweeping a little earlier in the morning than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteHa! I made you look to see who posted the 6th comment! So....it is one month after I posted my last comment....what does that tell you, hmmmm??? Post, dangit!
ReplyDeleteI remember back when we were in high school, you told me about a dream where your hair had become a mass of serpents, like Medusa. When you woke, you had this gripping terror that there was something about you which would keep others from ever truly seeing and understanding you. No matter how things appeared superficially, you would forever be isolated. This feeling stuck with you through breakfast. When you got in your car that morning, you were so distracted; you didn’t even look in the mirror and ended up backing straight into the garage door.
ReplyDelete