Gratitude - To the Nth degree

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A few days ago I received an email from a friend of mine, who wanted to let me know that her son—I’ll call him, “Joey”—was going to be speaking at his church. Joey had been in my sixth grade classroom five years ago. He was wondering if I would attend; this would be his first time speaking and she said it would mean a lot to him if I were there.

I arrived at 9:00 to the designated address and quietly slipped into the back row, where I could see Joey up at the front. The meeting began and progressed…a few minutes after my arriving, Joey noticed me and broke into a smile, waving.

I waved back.

When it came time for Joey to get up in front of the congregation, I sat up a little taller in my seat. I remembered the young boy in my class, who years before had a difficult time getting up in front of people, and often spoke very quietly. With a lot of practice throughout the year—as well as a mother who challenged him with every assignment I gave—I watched him slowly become much more relaxed in front of a classroom full of his peers.

However, these were not his peers. Some of those present were five or six times his age.

Joey began.

His voice was strong. He looked confidently out into the crowd. He smiled.

He began to talk about how, at this time of year, he was not grateful for parents, religious leaders, good friends, and a teacher who’d taught him to get up in front of crowds of people. He went on saying that he was not grateful for these things only once a year, but every day of his life.

I felt myself beginning to tear up as I watched this young man—still able to see the boy who’d walked out of my classroom all those years ago—a young man who is confident and strong.

For this, I am grateful.

The molding is finally in place...

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It’s official.

I’ve lived in my house for exactly one year.

Granted, I did take possession at about 10 p.m. on the night of July fourth; however, weeks of cleaning, painting, tiling, and getting it ready were required before an official move-in.

It is hard for me to believe that I’ve been here for a whole year. I remember this house feeling so strange, so foreign, so uncomfortable. Like a brand-new pair of dress shoes. Well, the house has since been ‘broken in’ and it feels like home. Many upgrades and improvements have been made over the year, but there was one which eluded me for the longest time…

Let me take you back to just over one year ago: (insert shimmering screen and time-travel music here).

Well, Shawna and I have been working really hard on the house. I get up pretty early every morning and head up to start spackling in holes. I had a group of friends who showed up the other day and helped me wash down walls; I am so grateful for the help they’ve provided…it saved me hours of work. We took out all of the screens and washed the windows, too.

I love the look of clean windows and how the world looks through them.

The other day I decided that I would pull up the linoleum in the kitchen…it’s the same design as in the kitchen of #4 Privet Drive. If you don’t believe me, watch “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” Look at the Dursley’s linoleum in the opening scenes of the movie which take place in the kitchen with Dobby, the house elf…it’s the same floor.

I tore the linoleum out and as I did I found myself looking at the bare wood. All I could think was, “What in the world did I just do?” I wanted to sit down and never get up. I can’t believe just how much of a project this whole house has turned in to.

Well, I knew I just couldn’t leave it so I started to get to work. I next removed all of the floor molding, and started to prep for tiling. Now, I’ve never tiled before, but I decided to sit in on the little class offered at the Home Depot (after how much I’ve spent there over the past few weeks, I’m glad it is something that is free). I will just tile the thing and hope it doesn’t look terrible.

(Two days later)

I started to tile and it is going pretty quickly. Well, at first. Tiling is a lot of work and there is a lot you need to do to make sure that it is level, equally spaced, and getting cuts right, so the pieces look good together. Though this project took me only a few days to complete, I’d never want to do it again. I think I’d rather eat shards of broken glass.

So, how much time did it take altogether? Well, let me put it this way…I just finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on audiobook as I was working on this and touch-up painting. The molding still needs to be sanded down, repainted, and attached to the wall. I just don’t feel like it…I am beat. I ended up putting the molding in the kitchen pantry and will do it when I feel like it.

I think I deserve a break.

(Return to the present day…)

Well, the molding just stayed in the pantry…for a whole year; I just couldn’t bring myself to put it all back on. It was far too much work in my opinion…of course, after doing everything else such as sanding the deck and restaining it, and cleaning out the back patio (which was a jungle), I just felt like doing nothing else. Every day I’d look in and see that molding. It was like the wood was continually calling my name, “Teachinfourth…put us back on the wall…” (well, the voice usually sounded like Annette or Tara, who’d both offered to do it for me, however, pride would not let me let them do it).

Well, I am happy to report that this weekend I finally completed that year-long task and my kitchen and dining room both have the molding back in place! At first it sure did look strange, I was so used to that unfinished strip at the bottom of all of the walls…It sure feels good to be done.

I would write more but it is coming up on 11 and I am bushed. I don’t have the effort to try to be funny anymore.

Time to blog out…

Goodnight.

P.S. Using power tools always makes a job much more fun...and if you are dying to see what the molding looks like now, let me know and I’ll snap and upload a photo of it...

Whoa...that sounds pretty lame even as I type it; however, you are now invested at this point, aren’t you? You’ll probably feel somewhat incomplete if you don’t see the completed project...

My sister has a webcomic

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She recently had a contest for entries, asking what the two characters, Alice and Victor, were saying in a textless strip. The following comic is my entry (no, I didn’t draw it, just submitted the text, Miya did all of the magic).

As for the choice of language in the text, just be it forth known of the following:

as·i·nine

–adjective
1. foolish, unintelligent, or silly; stupid: It is surprising that supposedly intelligent people can make such asinine statements.

I am proud of my little sister…

...and her taste for good ideas.