Stalled, Without Words (11/31)

11 of 31 - SOLSC 2019

It took me seven years to be able to slice before I went to bed, ready to post for the day when the calendar page turned in the EST/EDT time zone. Something magical happened on year eight. For ten glorious days my posts were written and scheduled the night before. None of the scrambling as the clock ticked down the final moments of the day - those slices were numerous and behind me. 

Now it is Year 8, Day 11 and my writing has stalled. 

Perhaps it is the enormity of today's anniversary that makes today feel like swimming in sand. I'm not sure what it is. 

I have gone looking for inspiration; in the moments of yesterday, conversations this morning, slices of life I've noticed, and other's posts. Though inspiration can be found, the words can't.

Remembering Moments

This post makes sense when you remember the date - September 11th. I had a bi-annual meeting scheduled for today and anytime someone said the date I bumped on it. When I got home my Facebook feed reflected that the U.S. had caught up to my calendar day. This year I was struck by two specific things.

That day was horrible. It was much worse for many. I am not going to retell my day. It is one of those moments that I am transported to as soon as someone mentions the 11th of September. There are tears. I have strong words with God. I come back to the present and go on.

This year, in addition to the images of the two towers, American flags, first responders, etc. there were postings about the musical "Come From Away". If you haven't been paying attention for the last couple of years, "Come From Away" is the story of Gander, Newfoundland on September 11th. Prior to its Tony winning Broadway run, the show ran in Seattle. The show is fun and fabulous, but with September 11th being at the heart of the show that days and all of its emotions run close to the surface. 

My mom's birthday, December of 2015, I asked her what she wanted to do for 'her day'. It was particularly important that she had a chance to as she was giving hospice care at home. She chose "Come From Away". So, in addition to the tears that would flow from the show the tears of grief were intermingled. We turned our phones off as we went in, but weren't sure if we would turn them back on to learn that the pain and ended and we were planning a memorial service. LOTS of emotions will always be linked to this show.

Reflections on Daylight Savings Time

11 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

There are many reasons that one might have varying opinions regarding Daylight Savings Time. 

How far north or south you live impacts your thoughts. The closer to the equator you life the more consistent the length of your days is, therefore the change does not have the same impact it does for those who live closer to the poles. So is it a surprise that Hawaii, the state closest to the equator, last changed in 1945 - long before they were a state? (Florida is legislating a change to Standard Time, though there are legal challenges.)

If you have ever lived somewhere that doesn't change the clock on two random days per year, your opinion will change. Once you realize that life does go on without the major interruption imposed by humans, you may just find the lack of change refreshing.

What you believe to be the origins and reason for the practice impact one's thoughts. I know that reading this New York Times article challenged what I had believed for multiple decades. Had you been told it had to do with farming? I sure had.

Then there are the years we have lived in places that could have three different dates to change their clocks - all within the span of one weekend - for bordering countries. (Managing public transport was the biggest challenge to navigating that one!)

Currently the greatest change impacting my life is how I play "Time Zone Bingo". I have regular meetings across the globe. As we enter the season of time changes I have to double and triple check when each place does or doesn't change their clocks.

And finally, as I sat down to write this, I realized that I had never noticed that light takes hold over darkness during Lent, when we are preparing for Light to overcome.

It's Just A Number

9 of 31 - SOLSC 2018

The Slice of Life March Challenge is hosted by Two Writing Teachers and part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge that takes place each Tuesday throughout the year and everyday in March. It is a supportive (and awesome!) community of those trying their hand at writing and encouraging others in their writing. Join us!

There are numbers you look forward to. A 1st birthday. 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 30, 40... 

This birthday is a number I was excited about - a number I could really get behind. Unfortunately I'm three years too young. 

If this was 2015 I could post "#45" everywhere. Unfortunately it now has a different connotation.

Sigh.

I still plan to have a great year. I still think it is a cool age. It's just no longer a hashtag I can cheer about.

It's About To Happen

There are certain days that you can think back on year after year, remembering where you were and what you did. Generally they are spread out, (unless you are one of those people who chooses to get married on a birthday so you have a better chance of remembering both!) Sometimes dates overlap, (like my sister-in-law's and niece's birthdays). Occasionally cycles overlap - a calendar date and a lunar calendar occurrence, for example. I can't think of another time that three completely different events have happened concurrently.

Tomorrow will change all of that.

Tomorrow is February 14th - it is obviously Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day comes with all kinds of emotional baggage for folks of all ages. It is also very much a cultural occasion. I like the excuse of the day to be given chocolate and flowers (if the country I live in hasn't banned the sale of flowers on that day). I'm optimistic for tomorrow as the seniors decided to sponsor 'Friendship Grams' and I'm pretty sure someone made sure to get money from my husband! 

For a parent of a TCK I try to find ways for my child to experience a holiday as closely to what she might if we were in Seattle. I make sure there are Valentines for her to give to each of her classmates. We work for days ahead of time to get them filled out, find ways to check that everyone's names are spelled correctly, and anyone special (favorite teachers or neighbors) also get something prepared for them. (This year all of the neighborhood boys are getting a homemade craft and a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. It may not seem like much, but that stuff is hard to come by around here!)

As a teacher, Valentine's Day can be a recipe for too much sugar, or hurt feelings, or both. I'm at a school that doesn't have parties. Friendship Grams will be put in their backpacks to be opened AFTER they have left the building, and I only have one kid for whom the idea of giving out Valentines would cross the mind of any of their parents. I'm anticipating a low key day.

Tomorrow is also 46 days before Easter, which makes it Ash Wednesday. Whoa. That's a change of pace from Valentine's Day! Instead of chocolate and flowers and friendship and love it is a remembrance of our mortality. Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten season, a chance to prepare ourselves for the biggest celebration in Christendom. 

Tomorrow will also be marked, in my little corner of the world, by primary classrooms in particular. It's our 100th day of school. For those of you who may be far removed from any young children - it's a BIG deal. Imagine everything being about counting, and collections  of 100, and celebrating the largest milestone you couldn't even imagine when it was the first day of school.

(Tomorrow is also the second Wednesday of the month, which brings several meetings for me, in scattered locations across the globe. My alarm gets set unbelievably early for a Tuesday evening meeting, PST. In addition, I meet with the Literacy Coaches across my district - all of which are 900 miles from me. Finally, there is an Elementary Faculty Meeting after school.)

Tomorrow is about to happen.

Seattle Memories - The Kingdome

This post is part of the Slice of Life March Challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Check it out and join us.

I am sure I am not alone in this phenomenon. You're scrolling through your Facebook feed and someone posts something that brings memories flooding back, something you haven't thought of in ages.

This is where I was taken - Seattle's Kingdome. It wasn't a story of the grandeur that she brought it to mind, it was the occasion of the Kingdome's implosion. I am guessing that it was this local news story that reminded her. (She is a very busy woman and I am certain she is not keeping track of things like this in her spare time.) So now I'm pondering this Seattle icon.

Besides seeing it dominate the skyline, my earliest memories of the Kingdom were of the paper airplane contests that were held inside. (You can read articles from the 1970s & 1980s here and here.) What a great idea! Take a humongous, inside area with a huge open space in the middle. Place circles on the ground with different prizes to be won if your plane lands inside particular spaces, line people up around the upper decks, make sure they put their name and phone number on the paper, and let them fly.

I have very fuzzy memories of being taken to an NFL game, but have no true memories of it myself.

I have spent hours and hours and hours in the Kingdome in the 90s, though. I am a 1995 "Refuse To Lose" convert to the game of baseball and a diehard Mariner fan ever since. I bought tickets to tons of single games for the duration of the Kingdome and continued those first years at Safeco Field and finally also purchasing partial season tickets. (Living overseas has changed how I experience baseball, but that's another post.) I have been fortunate to be a most of the major moments in Mariner history and the Kingdome was a part of those.

This was the fate of the icon...

Back then photos were taken with film. I have one, from that morning. It was a Sunday. I was riding up to Crystal Mountain to teach skiing with what is now Outdoors For All. As we drove by, at sunrise, I realized it was the last time I would see the Kingdome mostly intact and I snapped a picture. The colors are pink, there is a full moon hanging above. Prior to the actual implosion they had some work to do in deconstructing some of the monolith to ensure it would actually implode when they pushed the button (or flipped the switch, or whatever they did to make the implosion happen). The picture is at my other house so I can't share it with you here. I titled it "Full Moon, Half Dome".

Seventeen years the Seattle skyline has been without this icon. That was the point of my friend's post. How has it been that long? Yet the life I lived then seemed more than 17 years and 8,000 miles away. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

(Random Kingdome trivia and memories here.)

Happy St. Nicholas Day

At 91 my grandmother needed assistance with her shopping, but when it came to purchasing Hallmark cards for everyone all she needed was a ride to the store. On this particular outing we passed Santa in the mall. "I've never had my picture taken with Santa" she happens to mention. Well, I couldn't let that go! She has been gone for nearly eight years now. Stopping to take this picture is something I am so thankful for (and she'll never know that I have cropped myself out as she couldn't possibly sit on Santa's lap without me - ha!)

Happy St. Nicholas Day everyone!

SOLSC - Our Room Has Gone To The Dogs

 It's March - Time for the month long Slice of Life challenge thanks to Two Writing Teachers.

March is not just about the Slice of Life challenge, though that is a HUGE part of my month. It is also about basketball (my nephew's team lost in the state championships by ONE point) and birthdays (I get older soon - and so does my brother) and anniversaries (my brother and sister-in-law just celebrated and tomorrow would have been my parents 29th - figure that one out!) and spring break (Sri Lanka here we come), and then the two big ones: Easter and Iditarod. 

Saturday was the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, which is just what it sounds like. My house is twelve hours ahead of Alaska, so my days don't line up. It feels like the start was today, but my calendar says "Sunday". I will try to keep day references accurate to the time on the ground for the teams.

As with many years, snow was trucked into downtown Anchorage in order to prepare a trail for the dogs and sleds and mushers. As with other recent years, the lack of snow has impacted the trail. Last year the start was moved from Anchorage to Fairbanks. That didn't happen this year, but it was shortened significantly - from eleven miles to three. The Saturday start is about pageantry. It has nothing to do with race times, that comes Sunday.

Some of you may remember the Iditarod being covered on TV, and I have vague memories, but it wasn't until I spent time in Alaska that I began to care about the race. I then had dear friends who were involved in mushing. The race and the people came alive to me as I spent time with the people and the dogs that make The Last Great Race.

I started sharing my love for Iditarod in my classroom when I first began teaching. For my students in the Middle East, just the idea of Alaska is exciting and then you add on a 1,000 race and we are all hooked. Every year, as the Yukon Quest kids into gear in February, I take out Iditarod Dream and begin to share the excitement of Iditarod with my students. By the time the race arrives they are rooting for 'their' mushers, learning about life in rural Alaska, using math for temperature conversions and mileage calculations, following weather reports, and learning about human and canine athletes.

Today we spent time sharing things we have learned about this year's race and various mushers. The buzz in the room is strong. I wish I could give over entire days to Iditarod, and perhaps, with better planning I could. Though I would love entire days, my students' excitement might wane and sometimes it is best to leave them wanting more. Fortunately, for the next week and a half there will be a lot more.

(Photo credits: Kristi Lonheim)

Where were you?

Austin Post, USGS

Where were you that Sunday morning 33 years ago?

I lived in Seattle. Our dining room had a huge picture window that faced south, from which we watched the plume of ash grow and spread. Since the winds kept the ash from falling on us all those drills we had done at school (and on the school bus) were for naught (plus it was Sunday). I remember thinking that the eruption was very anti-climatic, but that was because we weren't in the thick of it. I still find it amazing, all these years later, that there is still ask in the median on I-90 as you head east.

Do you have memories of that day?