Teacher-me…

Was once told by a co-worker that she wasn’t a REAL teacher…as in not a classroom teacher…and didn’t exactly mean it as a compliment…have to say it stung a little…

Those degrees and certificates said ‘teacher’ but the most recent one also said ‘Reading Specialist’…so teacher-me decided if she wasn’t deemed a REAL teacher, she would consider herself a reading intervention specialist…

Which is what she was…worked with small groups of readers from many grades and classrooms…built confidence…reinforced reading skills…tried to make it fun…but sometimes a child hesitated…

Didn’t want to be singled out…pulled from classroom activities…taunted for needing that extra boost…

Bought a poster from the book fair cuz a student loved jets…put it by the door…started using the phrase as a mantra…and then…it happened…

We became The Jets…

Every reader who crossed that threshold was deemed a Jet…each lesson ended in a team huddle…hands in…the mantra said…followed by a raucous “Go Jets!”…

Kids were proud to be a Jet…
Kids not in the class wanted to be a Jet…
And they knew…once a Jet, always a Jet…

And so it is…in life…find your team…be confident…feel successful…

And if you’re sad, stop being sad and be awesome instead…

GOOOOO JETS!!!
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And that little team of mine…would agree…

Teacher-me…

Loved bulletin boards…loved creating bulletin boards…offered to do extra bulletin boards in hallways…spent hours in the 1980s with cray-pas, tagboard, and the overhead projector…

Saw a suggestion once that bulletin boards should lose the fluff—be interactive teaching tools…great idea, but nah; teacher-me used hers to encourage, lift up, or just bring a smile…

And so it was…looked up above the fridge and saw a bulletin board…well not really a bulletin board, but had the vibe of a bulletin board…

Daily affirmations, on the back of the Cheerios box…hadn’t noticed them before…maybe going-into-the-kitchen-me never looks up…who knows…but suddenly, the two of us, connected…

Your Best Is Good Enough…”Yes, Cheerios! Yes, it is!!!”

Believe In Yourself…”I Do, Cheerios! I do!”

You Make The Day Brighter…”Duh, Cheerios, duh. That goes without saying.”

And so it is, in life…we all need someone to cheer us on…keep us going…and if you need a little more than just a Sis, Boom, Bah…flip that box over…and feel the love…

Cheerios…CHEERios…kind of embarrassed to admit one of us never looked at it that way…but you know what they say…or at least what that box of affirmations says…

You Grow And Learn Every Day…
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And this old gal…agrees…

This old gal…

Was watching a news segment…one of those feel-good stories…reconnecting teachers with former students…former students celebrating teachers who they say believed in them…

Each was interviewed…each told their story…a quote by one educator hit home for teacher-me…

“You teach 4,000 kids in a lifetime,” he said. “All it takes is one to say you made a difference to make it worthwhile…”

Got a box in the mail a few days earlier…a surprise gift…a special gift…a gift from a former student…

Met her first in kindergarten…cutest little thing…sweet, kind, hardest worker ever…

Have watched her grow up…a beauty in high school…hear from her now and then…still sweet…still kind…still a hard worker…

And in that box were two gnomes…colorful…fun…adorable…with a note written by her mother…

“We saw these and knew you would love them…”

You teach thousands of kids in a lifetime…and it only takes one…

One to reach out…one that makes you feel special…one that remembers you well enough to know that yes indeed, this old teacher loves those happy gnomes—and will always think of those special students of hers when she sees them…
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And those daughters of mine…agree…

Getting ready for Texas, this husband of mine…

Is a packing co-pilot…packs from the sidelines…utters the phrase ‘pack light’ over and over…”Pack light. Remember to pack light. Only take what you need. Gotta have room to bring things back”…

Seriously?…like in six years what have we ever brought back that wouldn’t fit into the extra area around the travel totes?…there’s plenty of space, thinks packing-me, for that t-shirt, that mug, that thrifted cat figurine…

But then it happened…something she didn’t see coming…one of us…and he shall remain nameless…fell in love with that kitty cat planter he spied at Gruene Gardens…

Then fell in love again—the big Buc-ee’s bucket…
And again—the bluebonnet basket…
And again—the tuxedo cat Fat Ass wine bottle holder…

Throw in her thrift shop finds and Goodwill Christmas decor, packing-to-go-home me was regretting not packing light…or at least light-er…

And so it is…in life…you live and learn…six years of Texas travel you learn what you need and what you don’t…what you’ll wear, what you won’t…what you can buy there and what you can’t…

And you learn to be a better listener…because maybe…just maybe…that co-pilot of yours…knows what he’s talking about…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

Growing up, little-me…

Hated meatloaf…hated her mother’s meatloaf…

Copied the recipe when moving out, just in case grownup-me wanted to make meatloaf (which, of course, she knew she never would) until…

She saw a recipe on the back of the oatmeal box…a recipe for meatloaf…a recipe completely different than the meatloaf of her childhood nightmares…

One used breadcrumbs, the other used oatmeal…one contained sausage, the other just beef…one added milk, the other didn’t…and this meatloaf tasted like a dream…

And so it was…this old gal said, “I’m hungry for meatloaf”…that husband of mine, not surprisingly, replied with, “I’m hungry for meatloaf the way I make it”…

Had never had his meatloaf…didn’t know he HAD a “meatloaf way” but learned it soon enough…

Crackers instead of oatmeal…chopped onion instead of instant…petite tomatoes instead of ketchup…use a large pan instead of two small…

And it was decent….decent enough, in fact, it made meatloaf-eating-me think there may be more than one way to skin a cat…or, in this case, make a loaf of meat…

But that proverb—that cat proverb—has got to go…cat-lover me thinks she detests that saying almost as much as she detests that meatloaf from the past…

Almost…
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And those cat friends of mine agree…

This husband and I…

Always visit the farm store in March…the weather warm…the plants out…but mostly because it’s baby time…baby duck and chicken time…

Such a cute store…always something new…always something to make old folks smile…

Cat food galore…a wall of colorful buckets…clever plushies…delightful stationery…cards that bring a chuckle…

But it’s the chicks…the fluffy, chirpy, skittering-around baby chicks—that are the draw…the big draw…

Because baby chick time is spring time…and spring time is a happy time…a time for rebirth…new beginnings…a chance to start again…

And so it is…in life…let go of the past…look forward to the future…reset…refresh…enjoy…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

Buc-ee’s-Lovers Us…

Said good-bye to our favorite beaver…checked out the Easter merch…bought one last coffee and paddle tail…picked up treats for family and friends…

Shopper-me—browsing the aisles, toodling along, not a care in the world—froze. Because there it was: the song…the song that gets this old gal, every time…

Don’t typically notice the background music, because, well, it’s in the background. But suddenly the world stopped, and it was just us—shopper-me, salt water taffy, and Garth Brooks saying, “Hey, Old Gal, here’s that song that gets you every time”…

Hours on the road…activity after activity…Garth on the radio…those girls of mine in the back seats…all of us crooning…emotional…feeling it…”The Dance”…

Mama-me knew the song was about love and loss, but to her, it’s always been about something more…the dance…the dance of life…

HER dance of life, with those daughters of hers…and looking back she wouldn’t change a thing…wouldn’t miss the pain…because that dance…that dance of life with those sweet ladies of hers…and now that grandbaby to be…

Is a dance…this old gal wouldn’t trade…for anything…
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And those daughters of mine…agree…

This husband and I…

The week of the One Lasts…took one last trip to the quaint town of Gruene…check out the garden shop…look for cats at the catio…have a bite to eat…

Stopped by the General Store…picked up a gift for a friend, when what to my wondering eyes should I see…bandanas…bandanas that spoke to bandana-wearing me…

‘Buy me!’ they said…and so she did…two of them…soft, colorful, fun…they were perfect…meant to be…

Wore them proudly…loved the random pattern of the prints…until one flopped open laying flat on the bed and again it spoke…or more like shouted…a message, or more like two messages, to unsuspecting-me…and the conversation went something like this…

It: “Chickens are my spirit animal.”

Me: “Yes, Bandana, Yes!! This could certainly be, considering one of us tends to be a mother hen or maybe it’s because she’s a chicken-sh**…or maybe it’s both: a chicken-sh** mother-hen who is also a legend.”

It: “If a girl wants to be a legend, she should go ahead and be one.”

Me: “Yes, Bandana #2, Yes!! You could not be more right! Like this old gal always says: if you act like you own it, you own it.”

And so it is, my friends. Get out there and own it. Be your own kind of legend—whether it’s a mother hen, a chicken-sh**, or something else entirely…

Be you…and just like this chicken-sh** mother-hen legend and her hidden-message bandanas…wear it proudly…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

Superheroes Us…

Got into Comic-Con for the Dynamic Duo price…someone apparently seeing something in us we didn’t know was there…

Surveyed the area…checking out surroundings, taking note of all our fellow superheroes and or any villains in our midst…

Went to the famous guest section…none we knew…some guy who was an extra in a show back in the day…never heard of him…didn’t recognize him…

Perused the tables of wares…so many talented people…artists and authors…photographers and comic book writers…was in awe of the talent…

And told them so…table after table…person after person…superhero me couldn’t stop herself…

‘These are lovely’…‘What talent you have’…’So clever’…’So unique’…’So Inspiring’…and so it went…so so so…so much…almost to the point of being SO annoying, even to superhero me…

But then it became clear…maybe this half of the Dynamic Duo DOES have a superpower after all…been using it for years…honing it with those students of hers…using it with people she knows, random strangers, and neighborhood cats…

Seeing the good…finding the special…reaching out and letting them know…

And so it is…what’s YOUR super power?…put on that cape…do your thing…and maybe, just maybe, save someone’s day…
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And that husband of mine…agrees…

This old gal…

Went through an ‘OMG what if I drop dead’ phase when she hit 60…

Started to ponder…all those things she takes care of…bills, paperwork, odds and ends…they are a mystery to everyone but her…

Started to panic…are those mysterious things in order?…could that family of hers figure out an old gal’s method of madness…

Then started to plan…wrote down everything they need know…do this, do that, here’s this, here’s that…took pictures of family heirlooms and documented their story…and finally, recipe-lover-me created a legacy for those daughters of hers…

Found a Favorite Recipes book at Hobby Lobby…(a barn scene—quirky, hideous, not a first choice but unfortunately the ONLY choice)…and then…started writing…

And writing, and writing, and writing each beloved recipe three times, adding silly comments, funny memories, hoping one day these little cards in their mother’s hand will take three sweet girls back…

To stuffed mushrooms on New Year’s Eve…making cut-out cookies for Christmas…a young child’s desire to eat nothing but chicken dip for supper…

To laughter…to love…to three little ladies who, along with their mom, could make something as simple as eating food…a grand adventure…
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And those daughters of mine…agree…