Growing up...

Remember when you were little and all you wanted to be was big? It all seemed so exciting and wonderful. I don't want to go back to being little but I do sometimes wish I would have been little a while longer while I had the chance. What do we do as grown ups that make our lives so glamorous to little ones? Do they really not see all the crap that we deal with? Do we really shelter them from the "real world" that much? Don't they see the car break down, the house become a mess, us lose our tempers, have a bad hair day, fight with loved ones, get sick and still have to work? Or maybe it's not that they don't see it but they have the better perspective. Really, I remember "bill paying day" it happened once a month and we were supposed to leave Mom alone. But maybe through 10 year old eyes 1 day in 30 doesn't make life suck. It didn't take away my burning desire to grow up. I remember my parents arguing (not very often) but I also saw them dance in the kitchen, go out on dates, hold hands, and kiss. Through the eyes of a 10 year old arguments didn't define a day or a month or a life. Grown ups were like superheros, rock stars.
SOOOOO maybe should put on our 10 year old eyes the next time we have a life sucks and then you die day. Maybe we should remember how badly we wanted this and love all the perks. Maybe we should cut ourselves some 10 year old slack and not get hung up on the little stuff. And maybe we should fight for 10 year olds to stay 10 as long as possible to help us all keep some perspective.

An Early Morning...

I've decided that no day should start with a 4:45 wake up call. But that is in fact how my day started! Brian reported to MEPS this morning to ship to Basic Training. Yesterday, I got to take the day off of work and we just hung out. They put all the new recruits in a hotel last night and then they bus them to MEPS and then the airport. I got a room at the hotel, and when we got there the front desk said they would just assign Brian to my room rather than another room and a roommate. It was nice, except that Brian didn't sleep last night and at 4:15, I started waking up every 5 min paranoid that we would sleep through the wake up call or that it wouldn't happen. So we are now both very tired but it was worth it to get to hang out last night. 10 weeks, 70 days, 1680 hours. I put the official count down on my phone :-). We are excited to have started this next adventure. I'll keep the blogging world posted.

Kindergarten...

On Tuesday I subbed in Kindergarten for a half day. This was a big step for me, as a general rule I avoid all things Kindergarten. I think that people who teach 5 year olds are going straight to Heaven. I was actually sort of nervous about dealing with 19 little tiny kids for 3 hours. But it was a lot of fun. It was a nice change from 5th graders. See in Kindergarten, I didn't have anyone argue with me, or with each other. They didn't feel the need to voice their opinion on everything. The math lesson was on the idea of more and fewer not exponents. I tied shoes and pushed kids on the swing and held hands while 1 little girl cried because the fire alarm scared her. I love my 5th graders, and the fact they have very distinct personalities and are starting to figure out the world. But 5th graders don't think I'm nearly as cool as the Kindergartens do. To a 5 year old, you can do no wrong. Teaching the little ones all day everyday would wear me out and not something I want to do. But every once in a while it is really fun.

Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week. At the beginning of November I thought about doing something to think about what I was thankful for each day. I thought about it, but it didn't happen. I spent pretty much the last month and a half thinking about myself. It's interesting what it takes sometimes to get us out of our own little bubble of a world. Saturday was sort of "blast from the past" day. I spent it with one of my best friends, we hung out "like old times". I was reminded that we all have different things going on in our lives. Good things and bad things. It's not that one person's life is better or worse than mine, just different. This dear friend of mine reminded me that all too often we try to plan and control every aspect of our lives. When things don't go according to our plan we get upset. We get impatient and frustrated when things don't happen on our time table. Maybe, we need to give things time and enjoy what we have right now. So today I am grateful for old friends, perspective, and embracing the moment.

Cold

I've decided that winter is a trick to make us all fat. I mean really, who wants to eat fruit, salad, veggies, etc when it is freezing? I know, it isn't even that cold yet, but all I want to eat is warm food, hearty food. Also, who wants to change clothes and put on workout clothes to actually go to the gym? Seriously, fuzzy PJs and hoodies are not conducive to working out. Then you throw in that the 2 biggest food and treat holidays of the year happen in winter. It's a conspiracy. Winter is out to get me.

...

This is another post about school, if you don't want to read about 5th graders you may leave now.

Today we read an article about a WWII era ship that was found 3 miles deep in the ocean with 250 million dollars of silver on it. The salvage company that found the wreak gets 80% of the money. After reading the article, each student wrote a paragraph about what they would do with 250 million dollars. I made a list of "average" prices for things like cars, houses, mansions, etc to give them an idea of how much they could afford. I was expecting to read and hear about buy video games and swimming pools and cars, maybe even some charity donations. MOST of the kids wrote about just that. Except for a couple of conversations: o
5th grade boy #1: "How much would it cost to buy a lady?"
Me: "....what do you mean?"
5gb1: "Like a girlfriend, a cute girl"
Me: "You can't buy a girl" (What I'm thinking is that would depend on how picky you are walking the Vegas strip...)
5gb1: "Why?"
Me: "It's illegal." (Except for in Vegas)
5gb1: "Why?"
Me: You can't own a person, and you can't pay someone to be your girlfriend.

Conversation #2:
5th grade girl: Can I buy an Australian Model?
Me: No, you can't buy a person in the United States
5th grade girl: But if he's Australian then it doesn't count
Me: Yes it does, you want someone to like you because of who you are not the money you have.
5th grade girl: Oh...

Conversation #3:
5th grade boy #2: Mrs. Harris, I want to buy a smokin' hot babe
Me: You can't but a girl, it is against the law!
5th grade boy#2: Can I bribe her to go out with me?
Me: No.
5gb2: But I want a smokin' hot babe.
Me: Then you'll have to get one without paying her to spend time with you.
5gb2: Well that's stupid.

This is the future. 10 year olds who think Prostitution is a GREAT idea. Sigh.

The workings of a 5th grade

So what do you do when in the middle of talking about Jamestown in 5th grade a student raises his hand and asks you what all the Indians and Kings will do in the 2nd coming? We can't have all those kings in charge and Indians have never seen a car and where will they live when they all come back to life?
What do you do when you class develops a black market? See we have class money, and they can use their class money at our class store, our auction at Christmas and the end of year carnival. BUT now they're using their class money to buy and sell things of their own: snacks, origami, etc. They think I don't know but I do. Do you view it as capitalism and decide that you can't shut down, you can't have a communist classroom right? But what if I really want to shut down their black market/entrepreneur endeavor? Does that make me a power hungry dictator, or just a control freak? Can I justify it as preventing fights and disagreements when someone wants a refund and the seller refuses?
Do you see the dilemmas I face daily? These are tough decisions...