It has been a couple weeks since I posted last...computer problems, open house, packing up my classroom and life have taken a front seat to this little blog. Hubby was in town for a long time and it was such a treat! He is off again trekking across the big 'ol United States. I still have been weighing myself each week...just couldn't find the time to make it accountable here.
I am happy to report that I am still dropping weight and I am down to 262 and still seeing movement in the positive direction! I am continuing to make great choices even when faced with my usual disatrous fair but the most important thing that I will keep repeating because it is important is that I am not denying myself anything. If I want chips, salsa and guacamole...I eat it....I just don't eat the whole bag and bowl along with it. I will say that I haven't had too many of those moments. I still try a "low-carb" option first or I go outside, work in the garden, read a book, pin on pinterest, call Henry, play with the kids and if I still have the hankering I go for it. But the difference is control and not over indulgence.
What I know for sure is that this works for me. More than the number on the scale, I have noticed how I don't ache as much first thing in the morning, I walk faster, I have energy now that used to take a vat of Diet Coke to achieve.
With that said...I am looking forward to a busy summer full of community based activities that are easy on the pocketbook. I am looking forward to another summer of job interviews that I will rock and a new district to make my home. I found out from my principal that I will not be returning to Wood Canyon or Capistrano Unified next year. They have already replaced me with another teacher via bumping rights. The budget in Capo is not looking so good so a rehire at another school doesn't seem so likely. At Open House three of my four families cried when I told them the news and one of them was an outgoing 5th grader. That warms my heart more than anyone can know because I do this for my students and for their parents. I teach and treat each and every child the way that they should be treated and help the parents realize that their child is worth something more than just the behaviors or the disability that the rest of the world sees.
I will leave you with this...a professor of mine during college read this to the class. It pretty much sums up my approach to teaching. Have a beautiful week!
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.
Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
<3, Jen
