Teamwork

Since my book came out in 2007, school visits have become one of my favorite activities. I love watching the 'audience' respond to my words and the questions they come up with during the Q&A portion... When I still had signings lined up, I was so excited to see students from a visit come to get an autographed copy. I've had students tell me that they love the story and they wish they could play like Nate, and I've also had students remind me that I'm not famous - 'you only have one book!' It's not all pretty; Eh-hem, moving on...

Every spring I do a writing workshop with a group of 4th grade students at a local elementary school in preparation for an annual writing test. This year, one of the fourth grade teachers invited me to come in for a Fall visit and chat with her class about the importance of teamwork - I chose to leave the book out of it. What I did instead was focus on not only the importance of helping your teammates reach their potential, but the necessity of you (as a teammate) pulling your own weight. We also did an exercise close to my heart - we re-enacted a coffee line from a coffee house that I frequent (hint: it rhymes with Marbucks). We wore aprons and had a customer give his order - give it to the cashier who called the order to the person writing it on the cup who called it to the barista who called it to the customer once it was made. The demonstration illustrated the importance of communication and how essential it is for everyone in that line to bring their A-game or it would all fall apart and in theory make the company lose money. It was one of my favorite visits thus far and I hope to develop it further to share it in more classes - my thought is that this could be spread to other classrooms, board rooms, clubs, teams - the sky's the limit... for trademarking purposes, I'll leave 'Marbucks' name out of it.

September 7th...

When my husband and I are looking at old pictures from college or our wedding or sports pics when our son was in preschool, we often look at individual people and discuss how different their lives are from the time of the snapshot. Several wedding guests are no longer married or friends and family have passed away or had several children or been paralyzed or moved to another country - life changes and sometimes we don't know why but if we're lucky we can appreciate it anyway.
10 years ago today I found out I was going to be a mom... life changing to say the least. I remember like it was yesterday being in the doctor's office by myself and being frozen in time. I got in the car and sat stunned praying to my grandmother (and Chip's), literally out loud asking these women to surround me in my mothering quest as it was complete uncharted territory.
It's one thing to babysit or to be an aunt but to be a mom was totally different - 24/7 dependence and were we up to the task? If there is ever a cure of being selfish or self absorbed, it's being a mom; at least for me that was the case.
The anticipation of telling everyone and how was probably the most excited since so many of our family members had kids already but technically the first to find out were Chip's students.... I sent him flowers to his classroom with a card that said, "You're going to be a GREAT dad!" That's how he found out and he called me from his classroom immediately and couldn't hide it from his students, whom he adored.
Four days later everyone's world was shaken but that's a blog for another day...
I feel like every time I write, I'm writing about learning something new through our son but it's so true - they aren't always things I want to learn (like the words to "Goofy Goober" or what the best cleaning methods for pee behind the toilets) but they are lessons none the less. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be staying home - I wouldn't have seen it... but I'm glad I would have been wrong.

Off the Cliff...

This time of year has been one of angst for me for since I was younger than my son... who is in 4th grade. I'll be the first to totally admit that I am not good with change and the beginning of the school year is nothing but! I know there are lots of people who love the idea of the new school year but I'll love it once it becomes a more old hat. I absolutely love my son's new teacher and the school is amazing - just the stigma that I've held from elementary school all the way through college and has never been on hiatus because even before our son started school, my husband was a teacher - always symbolized change! It's the shift in schedules, the unknown, the fears of sending my baby into the clutches of evil kids who won't necessarily always be kind to him or include him -don't even get me started on approaching the age when girls are lurking around the corner ready to pounce (can I get a witness from any other moms?)... lots of different things working together to create this pressure cooker.

Waiting to find out teachers... the simmering starts

Buy supplies (all one hundred and one of them!)... a little warmer, but still simmering

Help with before school prep at the school... the pressure begins to build

Start Fall sports... the writer's cramp starts from checks and calendar adjustments

Buy school clothes... pressure builds and avoidance from online banking commences

Buy school shoes... (and discover my 'baby's' feet are bigger than mine!)

Open House... the lid starts rumbling

Lunches bought and healthy snacks thought out... heat building

Labor Day/pool closing... cool off temporarily because Tuesday is just around the corner - full blown pressure cooker!

Like I told a friend today - the ball has started rolling, I'm just ready to push it off the cliff already!

He has never shown the same overwhelming feeling (paralyzing at times) that I receive for school and I pray that he never does. He definitely gets uneasy but works himself through it and comes out just fine on the other side. I'm hoping he never 'smells the fear' - so far (miraculously) I've been able mask it... a skill that has also been a part of my life from a very young age.

For all of my fellow parents out there who may have a little trouble adjusting - take comfort in the fact that you are not alone (or a numbing libation - your choice). I'm shocked at my son's resilience every day and how adjusted he becomes so quickly...

I could learn a lot from him.