friendship

I went to Christene and Tim's wedding. It was pretty awesome. Friends and family come together to celebrate the joys of life. I thought it was going to be insane--staying at a house with 29 people, a shower schedule that came 3 weeks in advance, buying food for everyone for four days. Amazingly, everything went off without a hitch. I think all that planning really paid off. Really, all I had to do was show up with a blue dress and sit in salons for three days straight. When you compare that to spending 6 hours a day with 8 and 9 year olds, it really is a pretty simple life.

Basically, I spent the last four days hanging out with friends and other people's family. Christene was a beautiful bride and all of the details were incredible. It was a wedding with a capital W. And through all of the money, time and energy put into planning and traveling to it, you realize, a wedding is really all about love and friendship. Not just for the bride and groom, but also for everyone else who gets to show them how much they love them. Actually taking time out of your life to state things that you've thought for a long time but never really said, is sort of a once in a lifetime experience. Which I guess, is the whole idea. Here are a few pics. Enjoy.

Living on the edge

So I've decided to quit my job and...well, I don't know what I'm going to do. The first step was to quit and I've done that. My students were hilarious when I told them. Here's how it went:

Me: I have something important to tell you. I'm not going to teach at this school next year.

Students: collective gasp.

Then came the questions.

R: Where are you going to work?

Me: I don't know yet.

E: Where are you going to live?

Me: I don't know yet.

E: Well if you don't know what you are going to do, why don't you just stay here. I mean, you have this job.

Me: Because this is something that I've been wanting to do and I want to live in another country.

Various students: Brazil? Paris? Europe? Japan? Utah?

Me: Utah is a state in the U.S., I'm talking about another country. All good ideas, I'm not sure.

G: Well, you only have two months, you better figure it out.

Me: Yes, I do need to figure it out.

M: Is it because you don't like us?

Me: No, it is because this is something I really want to do. Are there any other questions?

E: Will I still be in this class when I'm in third grade.

Me: Probably. We'll have to figure out the class placements.

Third graders: Can I be with Ms. Hayes? Can I be with Ms. Strauss?

Me: We'll have to figure out class placements as teachers. Are there any other questions about me?

G: What's your favorite color?

Me: Red. Anything else?

M: Will we still do things like Reader's Workshop and go to Slide Ranch and stuff?

Me: Probably, that will be up to the next teacher, but we'll be sure to get a good one. Okay, why doesn't everyone do their class jobs.

M: But I don't want to have a new teacher.

Me: I know, and that's sweet of you to say.

L, from across the room: Well, Ms. M, at least you got to have me and my sister.

So, I think that about sums up how my students took it. Clearly, they've really pushed past the ego-centric phase, eh?

So, all of life is up in the air. What to do now? Asia? Latin America? Work? Travel? Volunteer? The world seems to be my oyster but the shells seem a bit hard to crack open. Somehow, I feel calm about it all right now, not sure if that will change as it gets closer. One small step at a time.