Too much sadness
I have been overwhelmed with events around me of late. The latest one has affected me personally the most. My good friend Jean, who was the library aid when I worked in the computer lab at the middle school lost her husband on Tuesday. It always sounds a little odd to say one has lost a person when they have died, but I am certain that she is feeling very lost without him or at least she certainly will once the shock of living alone becomes real.
Jean retired almost 5 years ago along with my friend Donna. They are best friends and I am peripherally another of their best friends. When we do see each other we laugh and love each others company.
Anyhow Jean's husband was 76 and rather ill. He had some kind of rash that they were trying to figure out and were giving him all sorts of medication. Some of that was Steroids which made him bloated and uncomfortable. Apparently on Tuesday He called to Jean telling her that he could not breath. She found him struggling for breath in bed and called a neighbor who knew cpr for help (they live quite a ways out of town) Then she called 911. The friend worked on him, but he never regained consciousness. When I die I would like to go like that.. quickly and with the people I love around me. I tried to call her that night, but only got the machine. I left her a message to let her know I loved her and was praying for her. I called our friend Donna the next night and she said Jean would probably enjoy a call. I did and we talked for about 45 minutes. By the end of our conversation she sounded good and relaxed again.
I am glad I could help a little. The funeral is tomorrow. It will be difficult. I guess I have reached an age. That makes me sad.
Last week the mother of another co-worker passed away and her substitutes father died as well. Another co-worker/friend's son crashed head long into another car and was injured, the other person was killed. The boy had spilled a soda and was grabbing for it when he drifted into the other lane. This has been very sad too.
All of it has begun to overwhelm me I think.
Well that is the sad part of the past two weeks. Today is homecoming. It is weird being at the high school for this event. They take it all so seriously. I never was a big sports fan so it all seems a bit much to me. The kids seem to enjoy themselves, but I will be ever so glad to be back in a schedule again. I am walking to school every day, but I come home starving so am not in any better shape for all my good intentions.
I am getting used to the routine of the high school, but have trouble with kids that do not want to do any work. That is frustrating. In the art class I support I am simply modeling appropriate behavior by doing one of the projects that the class did. I get out my pencils and get to work. I would not have thought it would have much of an impact, but interestingly enough once I began working on something so diligently and asking for opinions, some of the behavior of the rambunctious kids got a little better. I could feel more respect towards me as well. I hope I have enough time to finish the picture by the end of the semester. I might have bitten off more than I can chew :)
I would like to start welding in my welding class, but don't want to take any time from the students.
Foods is going ok but the kids need a great deal of help and I often find myself helping everyone in the room. The teacher seems to make many assumptions about what the kids should know.
wish me luck dealing with stuff
Jean retired almost 5 years ago along with my friend Donna. They are best friends and I am peripherally another of their best friends. When we do see each other we laugh and love each others company.
Anyhow Jean's husband was 76 and rather ill. He had some kind of rash that they were trying to figure out and were giving him all sorts of medication. Some of that was Steroids which made him bloated and uncomfortable. Apparently on Tuesday He called to Jean telling her that he could not breath. She found him struggling for breath in bed and called a neighbor who knew cpr for help (they live quite a ways out of town) Then she called 911. The friend worked on him, but he never regained consciousness. When I die I would like to go like that.. quickly and with the people I love around me. I tried to call her that night, but only got the machine. I left her a message to let her know I loved her and was praying for her. I called our friend Donna the next night and she said Jean would probably enjoy a call. I did and we talked for about 45 minutes. By the end of our conversation she sounded good and relaxed again.
I am glad I could help a little. The funeral is tomorrow. It will be difficult. I guess I have reached an age. That makes me sad.
Last week the mother of another co-worker passed away and her substitutes father died as well. Another co-worker/friend's son crashed head long into another car and was injured, the other person was killed. The boy had spilled a soda and was grabbing for it when he drifted into the other lane. This has been very sad too.
All of it has begun to overwhelm me I think.
Well that is the sad part of the past two weeks. Today is homecoming. It is weird being at the high school for this event. They take it all so seriously. I never was a big sports fan so it all seems a bit much to me. The kids seem to enjoy themselves, but I will be ever so glad to be back in a schedule again. I am walking to school every day, but I come home starving so am not in any better shape for all my good intentions.
I am getting used to the routine of the high school, but have trouble with kids that do not want to do any work. That is frustrating. In the art class I support I am simply modeling appropriate behavior by doing one of the projects that the class did. I get out my pencils and get to work. I would not have thought it would have much of an impact, but interestingly enough once I began working on something so diligently and asking for opinions, some of the behavior of the rambunctious kids got a little better. I could feel more respect towards me as well. I hope I have enough time to finish the picture by the end of the semester. I might have bitten off more than I can chew :)
I would like to start welding in my welding class, but don't want to take any time from the students.
Foods is going ok but the kids need a great deal of help and I often find myself helping everyone in the room. The teacher seems to make many assumptions about what the kids should know.
wish me luck dealing with stuff
posted by Orbie/\;;/\ @ 4:32 PM
4 Comments:
At 7:40 PM,
Jilly said…
It seems like you've paid your dues for awhile in the loss department.
i got stuck in a foods class for two years and it was awful. the woman decided that she didn't want "those kids" in her class and flat out failed all the special ed kids. the first year, i ended up having my own foods class while she had hers, which was braking several federal laws, but my kids got a lot out of it.
the second year, i was pregnant and didn't want to have anything to do with food of any sort. After she explained to me that the kids "Were dirty" and didn't wash the dishes and she'd be "damned" if she did it for them so that all the dishes in the room were filthy, i knew not to eat ANY OF THE FOOD EVER. Moreover, that woman never once washed her hands when showing the kids how to cook something. I was so glad when I never had to work with her again.
The only advice I can offer is try to make it fun and get them to try new things as often as possible. After I put two years in, I had enough pull to refuse to do the foods classes.
The art and welding classes sound like fun. My mom was a professional welder for many years. We don't have votech like classes where I used to work, or else i would have requested to be in them. I get along better with those kids anyway.
how is maddie doing?
Jilly
At 8:32 PM,
Unknown said…
The special needs kids in the foods class are interesting. We lost one young man who decided the best way to get out of the class was to be a complete jerk. Then we added another young man who in middle school was quite a handful. He is a very big kid and sometimes volatile. I was apprehensive about working with him as was the teacher. She had had some problems with him last year.
His brother is also in the class and they do not always get along. they both need quite a bit of help in different ways. There also is a young lady who is new to the school. She is a wonder with the two boys and a sweet girl.
I talked the teacher into alternating the kids choosing their own groups and us choosing them. That way my kids don't just get stuck working with each other all the time and getting shut out of the group. That seems to work.
I have built a nice rapport with the kids now and am able to help them with their work without pissing them off too much or frustrating them.
This teacher is ok, she just expects a great deal from the kids and seems surprised when they don't remember everything. Heck I bet most of them don't even see anyone bake or cook much at home. We are doing world recipes in this class since it is Foods II and so are using many unfamiliar ingredients and methods. I had to explain to several groups the reason for adding hot liquids a little bit at a time to beaten eggs... if I had not they might not have understood the why of the operation.
I always think it is important to understand the "why" of things or they just slip out your brain.
The teacher is also quite poor at pronouncing some of the foreign words and I find myself correcting her. She is pretty good-natured about it but she is the first cook I ever met who could not pronounce marjoram. :)
and thank heavens she is a clean and safety nut :)
At 6:14 AM,
Brenda said…
good luck with all your projects, and as you already know, i am sorry for all of your losses.
At 1:35 PM,
UrbanStarGazer said…
Sorry to hear all that sadness in your life. Hope you are well.
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