A Southern Rehabilitation

One year ago almost to the day, I was waiting in an airport waiting to take off for a 10-hour flight to Zurich then eventually to Cairo. This morning I'm sitting at the same airport waiting to board my flight to Austin, TX. I really do enjoy traveling but it's the "getting there" that is so stressful (or can be). I didn't pack anything until yesterday. I'm going to be gone for the next ten days. Kudos to me because I packed everything in a carry-on and a backpack!! Crazy! I'm getting really good at this packing thing. :) I felt like I was well prepared this time--much more relaxed than last year's panic because my alarm didn't go off and I had to practically turn myself into a magician to get there on time! I got up at 3:25 this morning, left my house by 4:30, arrived at a friend's house (left my car and hitched a ride) by 6:00, left their house by 6:15 and was dropped off at Charlotte International at 7:00am. I even got through security in a d...

Honestly, I don't know how we do it... and by *we* I mean teachers. Once the hardcore press of testing is over, we are done. I mean, everyone is done. The kids most of all. They have had to endure HOURS of testing for days. Even the K-2 kids get tested and then tested some more... reading, math, writing... a seemingly endless cycle. The whole process wears everyone out so when the last test is taken and the pencils have been sharpened down to nubs, it's time to go home! BUT NO that's not what the state does. They say, "Let's make them all stay for three more weeks so we can get those mandatory 180 days in." If they only knew the ridiculousness of this decision! So we teachers try to come up with things to do for all of these days... the last week especially... things like: Game Day Water Day Class Picnic Field Day Pizza Day Arts and Crafts Day Get the cart of iPads and let them play for a couple of hours a day (or 3) Movie and Popcorn Day Sidewalk ...

I have never once watched " Orange is the New Black " but I titled my post similar to this b/c well, the setting is the same... jail.  For the past 3 months, we have had this REALLY BIG thing hanging over our heads. Truthfully, my youngest son has had this REALLY BIG thing hanging over HIS head and since it affects his life, it affects mine. I've debated whether or not to write about this, but I feel it's a good lesson to put out there. Plus, this "thing" has had its long ugly fingers wrapped around our necks for a lot of weeks. Back in January, while I was enjoying a girl's weekend at the beach, my son, while unbeknownst to me, was enjoying a weekend with some friends in the little town of Salisbury. His good friend attends college there. So what do typical college-aged boys do on the weekend? Well, they go to bars and drink and play pool and dance and hang out. These boys did just that except J drank way more than he should have and while all his f...