Hello, Life

Per the norm, it's been a while. Today I am home with a sick baby and a sinus infection myself, so it's been an opportunity to slow down, relax, and refuel a little in the hectic pace of every day life. I know it's odd that a sick day can be this, but often when you're on the mend but still not well enough to stand and deliver as an educator, a sick day can be a blessed reprieve in spite of masses of mucus causing headaches.

Some general observations about life in this new Fall 2018 season - Tommy is off the charts huge for his 13 months. He is walking, talking a fair amount in his own little ways: 'allo (hello) , 'I (hi), all dah (all done), uh-oh, gogo, OK, momma, d-dy (daddy), jaja (John John), up-a (up) & n-n-no! He stomps all over and is happiest when playing with John. He is all smiles and giggles, and has yet to meet a person he hasn't liked.

John seems to have adjusted pretty well to his new teacher and classmates at Foothill Christian Preschool. For a kid who went through a lot of hard transitions and drama at school when he was 2 and 3, his life seems almost strangely drama free. It's a nice change. He has lots of fun with his old friends on the playground (Dominick, Jackson, and Brandon still among those favorites), and he's made new little friends in his classroom this year, DJ and Logan. He also frequently talks about the guy who uses potty words and is not nice. We talk a lot about how he's still learning and we should be kind to him even if he makes different choices than we do. I feel like, hooray that he knows that's not how to act, and also, now let's teach him not to be a self-righteous jerk.

Gordon's had some excitement at work lately. In the summer he got to present the "dry run" of the Northrop Grumman pitch to NASA with clients and managers in the room. The guy whose job it is was out of town, and Gordon made the presentation last minute. One of the NG managers came up after and said he did such a good job, he should make the actual presentation as well. Gordon was not eager to jump into the Q&A fray with so little preparation, but it was cool that he got such high profile and positive exposure. 

He also had a customer presentation today and was all dressed up in his suit and tie on his way out the door. It seems like things are going in a positive direction for him there, and it's also been great not to have to deal with any launch testing schedules for most of this year. Having him around during regular at home hours and not having to work graveyards is great for everyone.

I've had some big changes at work as well. I got moved from a portable in the far back end of campus (technically outside the main gates) to a large room with lots of storage right off the quad. I have one less section of freshman and one more of sophomores, which is a step in the direction I'd ultimately like to go in, teaching more upper than underclassman sections of English. I also have a chrome book cart in my classroom this year which makes everything easier when it comes to incorporating digital assignments and grading. I am also the debate, fashion club, and unofficial GSA advisor. Coupled with being at the heart of campus and able to access the faculty workroom in a matter of 2 minutes rather than 8, my work situation has really improved significantly. Most notably, I have no student who seem unreachable. Even the challenging ones seem to want to do well, and I can work with that.

Gordon and I made some personal life goals before the summer ended to try and mitigate the chaos of life as we headed back into the two full time working parents mode. Even when we're not 100% successful, it feels good to have plans and work towards better together. In small ways, I feel like we're figuring this family of 4 thing out. Also, I can bear my testimony of Instant Pot. Pressure cooker dinners have literally changed our lives.

I also made a commitment to myself to try and be more human this school year. I read Cal Newport's Deep Work recently, and the take away for me was about work/home life balance and how to be more proficient and productive in both aspects of life. It's interesting, research based, and pretty profound, actually. I would put it up there with Gladwell's Blink in the degree to which it affected the way I think about the kinds of choices I make and why. Anyway, that plus making a point to actually spend time with friends and family in meaningful ways makes me feel less like I am lost in the work machine, and that allows me to go back without feeling quite so resentful of it. It's a win-win really.

Also, John has had snow tiger drama. He lost his favorite little sleep toy, "snow tiger," sometime in the summer. Since the Easter Bunny brought it to him, John asked if we could write Santa and he could talk to the Easter Bunny, then Santa could get his elves to make a new snow tiger like the first one so he could be happy again. His detailed depiction of how this would all play out was pretty impressive. Anyway, last week Friday when John came home from School he found a new snow tiger with a note from Santa explaining that he spoke to the Easter Bunny and had his elves make him a replacement Snow Tiger (not exactly the same, but close). Then after all that, the original snow tiger showed up in one of Tommy's clothing bins under all the folded laundry. So now there are two snow tigers! (Hopefully we can keep track of at least one at a time. Haha)

All is well here in Glendora, with the necessary exception of complaint that California weather is not yet perfectly autumnal. (I'm told by natives that complaining about the weather and traffic are SoCal cultural musts.) Two and a half years in, and this place has finally grown on me. If or when we leave, I will leave a piece of my heart in this place. I suppose that's all for this little slice of life update.

'Till next time,
Alison

Here are some photos for good measure: