Eating Crow and Hometown Pride

Susan getting her awards next to
the most dapper kid at school today.
I don't know him but I sure love his style.
And his smile. Precious!

Today was Susan's 1st Grade Awards Program at school and I am still having a hard time believing that "School's Out for Summer". Actually, school's not officially out until Thursday but I can't wait until then to write this post and I don't want to write this post without mentioning that song.  Let's just not get too caught up in the details, OK?  

As many of you know, Susan started a new school this year.  It was new for her, anyway.  She was at a private school last year but we just never really felt like that was where we were supposed to be so after a lot of thought, prayer, and a great visit with Mrs. Laura Hartley - the Principal of her new school - we decided to make the move to Southview Primary School in the Opelika City Schools System.*  

For those of you who live in/around Auburn-Opelika, you've no doubt heard people say they choose to live in Auburn for the schools.  I get that.  Auburn City Schools (ACS) are among the best in the state of Alabama and I could never fault a parent for wanting the best for their child.  What I don't get, however, is the connotation that Opelika City Schools (as a whole) are sub-par. On paper do they we score as well as Auburn?  Maybe not.  I've never really studied the systems' documented performance and I'm not claiming that their stats/scores/whatever are equal.  I'm only suggesting that just because one school system is awesome doesn't mean that the neighboring system is not awesome.  Not in this case, anyway. Nope. Not for a second.  

For Opelika City Schools, I think it's kind of like being the middle child.

Well maybe it's not.  I don't really know what being the middle child is like but I've heard it can be rough and when I read about the phenomenon known as "Middle Child Syndrome" (MCS) I think the analogy is actually a fair one.  

Yeah, I know you didn't come here for a psychology lesson.  And I do realize I've only mentioned two school systems, which makes the "Middle Child" analogy seem somewhat obsolete.  And maybe it is.  But I'm in too deep to turn back now so you're just gonna have to humor me and pretend my lack of details isn't an issue here.  Again.

Moving on...

There was a time when Mike and I considered selling our house to move into the Auburn City Schools system and if it weren't for the economy and the fact that I'd have to keep my house clean in order to show it to potential buyers we probably would have**.  And I will admit here - publicly - that we chose to send Susan to a private school to avoid Opelika City Schools.  We were drinking the anti-OCS Kool-Aid.    

But boy oh boy...  We were wrong. So wrong.  

I cry when I think about how wrong we were. Really, I do. Just ask Mrs. Hartley or Dr. Brenda Rickett, one of OCS's Assistant Superintendents.  They've seen me do it ("it" as in cry).  

But today, I advocate.  I advocate for OCS and I'm proud to do so. I advocate because I believe in OCS and know, without a doubt, that my child is exactly where she needs to be.  As a mother, this is exactly what I hope and pray for when it comes to her education.

What a great year First Grade has been for Susan!  She has worked so hard and learned so much from her amazing teacher, Mrs. Huddleston (not to mention all of the other teachers and staff at her school!), made some sweet friends (and we've gained their fun parents as friends, too!) and we've all had a lot of fun in the process.  Every time I step foot into her school I feel at home, just like I did over a year ago when Mike and I showed up for our tour.

I could not be more thrilled with our experience with this great school system and I am so proud we are a part of this family.  

I wonder how many other blessings we're missing out on because of some false or unfair perceptions we may have? Mike would tell you sushi is one of those blessings.  He thought it was disgusting until he actually tried it and realized he loves it.

I just wanted to share something that's been on my heart for a while so thanks for letting me do that here. Not that you had a choice - this is my blog - but you read this far and definitely had a choice in that matter.

I'll leave you with a Tweet I posted last fall:
"I don't cheer for red and black Dawgs often, but when I do it's for the Opelika Bulldogs!"  

*If you follow the link to the OCS website, don't be surprised to see the current Miss America gracing the homepage.  She grew up in Opelika and we claim her even though she's "technically" Miss New York. Again - don't get too caught up in the details.  She's one of us.)

**We still wouldn't mind selling our house so if you know anybody who needs one, please send them my way.  Our house isn't actually for sale or anything; I still can't bear the thought of keeping it clean.  It's just that there's a beautiful house that's currently on the market and I would love to buy it.  It's also in the perfect location for us: Opelika.  

Mrs. Huddleston and "her babies"

God Winks

Sometimes God winks at me. I can remember my friend Amy Fisher mentioning a "God wink" a while back and I thought it was a sweet way to look at the 'little things' that happen around/to me that seem coincidental but really aren't coincidental at all. There's even a book (actually several) about God Winks. How did I know about the book? Because less than a week after Amy introduced me to the concept, I happened to be at Books-a-Million and the book just happened to be displayed on a shelf near where I just happened to be browsing.  Hmmmm...

So here goes my attempt to blog about something really cool that happened to me this morning - something definitely worth sharing. I only hope this post can do the experience justice.

One night last November (the 14th, to be exact), I awoke out of a deep sleep and immediately felt like something was wrong. I lay in bed for a few minutes and distinctly remember thinking "you needed to check Facebook." I love me some Facebook, but I do not make a habit of checking it in the middle of the night.  Ever. But this night was different. I checked Facebook and read a message from my cousin in Nevada asking me to call her as soon as I read the message.  I immediately knew.  Grandma. 

Gram was very sick and her life here on earth was ending. Less than two days later she was gone. I knew in my heart of hearts that call would come someday, but I was not ready.  My heart was broken.

Allow me to rewind a bit more...

I last saw Gram when Susan was 11-months old. Along with my parents, we made the trek to Hawthorne, Nevada, to visit her. It was a wonderful trip and of course there were photos taken on that trip. Lots of photos...  Beloved photos I would eventually... misplace. For months now I have been looking for the digital files of these photos. I have no idea where I saved them, didn't have them burned on a CD,  a USB drive or saved on my external hard drive. Not a good feeling at all. I have found myself looking for these photos many, many times since Gram died, but all of my searches came up empty.

So... Let's fast forward to 4:21 AM this morning... (dramatic pause implied)

I once again found myself wide awake when I should have been getting that last good hour of REM sleep in. I should have been dreaming about flying over or through buildings (my absolute favorite recurring dream - I literally wake up smiling). But I was wide awake.  

As I lay there, I thought about Gram (as I do often). I thought about how much I miss her and would love to be able to talk to her. I thought about how I wish I had made another trip to Nevada before she died. And then I randomly thought about the "you need to go check your Facebook night" in November. Isn't it funny how one thought just seems to lead to another?  

I felt a bit unsettled this morning, but not really in a bad way. I just couldn't sleep so I lay there trying to think of something to do. Then, it came to me... "you should get up and download/edit/save all of the photos that are currently on the (full) memory card in your camera."  

So I did.

I normally download photos directly from my camera to the computer, but this morning I decided to use my card reader in order to save my camera's battery power. I connected the card reader and Google Picasa went to work searching for the photos on my memory card...  

Be still my heart. Right there, on my screen, at 4-something in the morning, were the photos of our trip to Nevada*. Beautiful pictures of a beloved grandmother meeting her great-granddaughter for the first time...  For the last time. I just sat there, staring/smiling/crying. Memories of my Gram flooded my mind and I felt this wonderful sense of peace.  

God definitely winked at me this morning. 

*Apparently these photos had been on that memory card all along, but the files didn't show up on my current camera because I used an older camera to take them.  Since I never use my card reader, I didn't even realize this until this morning.  That's ok, though.  The timing was perfect. God wink.

Because of her...

• I drive a minivan and like it.
• I like pink.
• I know lots of words to lots of Justin Bieber songs.  Yeah...  they're even on my iPod.
• I remember how much fun it is to dye Easter eggs.  And make forts out of couch cushions.
• I remember to pack the sunscreen.
• I recycle.
• I make better decisions.
• I make better dinners.
• I celebrate the "small things" (I'm pretty sure my pee-pee dance rivaled anything MC Hammer ever did).
• I cry.
• I laugh.
• I play.
• I protect.
• I learn.
• I hope.
• I love.
• I love (more).