Manilla Envelopes

Mood: Full (Thanks to Cold Stone Pumpkin Ice Cream...YUM!) Song: "Autumn" (I'll Treat You to Cold Stone Ice Cream If You Figure Out Where That Song is From...) About the title: 1) what you use to send information to an absent friend in Manilla 2)items in my classroom which contain information about each of my students :) I knew I went into teaching for the express purpose of corrupting...um, I mean molding...young minds. Last Thursday, my plotting reached new levels. It is still a thrill when students actually seek me out over the lunch hour just to say "hi." One in particular is a girl from my 6th hour named Rachel. During class later on, Rachel mentioned to me that she'd been inventing new words. Of course, I told her about my plan to write a dictionary; she enthusiastically agreed to participate, and we decided to make it a class project :). Here are a few entries: "mediatious": somewhere between "beautatious" and "grotatious" "camalious": extremely thirsty "snail": true You'll have to buy the dictionary to find out all the rest :). In other news, it is finally, really, fall. It's snail. Even in Arizona, where seasons is part of a hotel chain's name only, the weather has a decided nip in the air. Pumpkin everything is available, and those aware of my pumpkin obsession know how thrilled I am. I can't wait 'til Monday, when I get to participate in the Fall Festival at my church. My mother and I have a balloon animal table (it's a little known talent of mine). Today, however, I was far too busy to practice constructing giraffes or parrots... C.'s schedule has changed :) :) :) :) :) :). Instead of working Friday-Monday (I work Monday-Friday) he'll begin working 24 hour shifts, giving us weekends together :). It was amazing to wake up this morning and KNOW that neither of us had to run off to work. Luxuriating in each other's company is a rare privilege, and it doesn't matter what we do as long as we do it together. Although it is easy to become sidetracked by little issues when we're apart too much, having time together reminds us of how precious our marriage is. Not that we had ALL day to just stay at home... At 10:30 we were due at my grandparent's house in North Scottsdale to participate in a family discussion about long term solutions. My grandfather is fading away, and I weep to see this brilliant man reduced to a shell. He is undergoing radiation treatments for a slow-growing brain tumor, and my grandma is optimistic about his full recovery. While my God is the God of the miraculous, it looks as if his earthly life will be terminated all too soon. The true tragedy, of course, is that niether of them have faith. My grandmother is a mess, and it is hard for me not to become embittered when I consider that her life up to this point has been one of ease because of my grandfather's hard work; she is so resentful of what she percieves as his "stubbornness" to allow anyone to help him that she screams at him and even curses at him when she's fed up. The rest of us are filling in, of course, since my grandmother is so frail at this point it is physically impossible for her to assist him even in the simple tasks of getting out of bed or dressing. She's exhausted, but she doesn't want help either, as much as she needs it. I'm afraid that assisted living is the best option, but she's not at a point where she can even consider that. It's a bad situation all around, and I can do nothing but pray for wisdom. What a day! Thank goodness I could go into my mental "Pumpkin" box for a while. Yes, I realize this picture is a year late, but I couldn't resist...it's just TOO perfect :)