The Sorrow

I haven't been writing about what has been at the forefront of our thoughts over the last two months. David's mom is dying from cancer. It has been a source of deep sorrow to see a woman so filled with life and strength and sass be in so much pain, her spirit is trapped in a body under attack.

I intended to write more, but I'm not sure I can right now.

Back to School

All went well. I love my second year students - they are so fun and so warm and joyful. Last Friday they spent almost the entire hour listening to a story I wrote about how a girl in the class went to the Olympics to compete in trampoline with her cockroach friend. It was really fun. The first year classes I don't like as much as last year, but they're mostly ok. They behaved really well and were learning on schedule.

Until hellions plagued my 6th period class with their baneful presence. At first I thought they were just the usual rowdy boys, but it escalated. When two freshmen boys continued to steal each other's belongings, we had a class-wide chat (the You-Are-In-High-School-Now-Act-Like-A-Grownup-Or-Get-Out-Of-My-Class one). They settled down for a little while, at least until the body parts started flying around the room. That's right. Some kid had a prosthetic ear that fell off and rolled across the floor of the class and came to rest at my feet.

Read that last sentence again. I want to make sure you got it.

All hell broke lose, naturally. They are thankfully gone now, even the kid who was punished for yelling, "Earless Hobo!"