It’s 5:09 a.m., and the sun is coming up over the Rockies. I’ve been awake for an hour talking to God about a student whose progress is concerning to me, as we end the school year. Behind this name trails the name of a friend’s kid and another friend’s kid who are making bad choices…
I was exhausted from two nights of poor sleep, so I announced that Panda Express would be making dinner for the night. Matt had just gotten back from a four-day trip and realized he had forgotten his tablet at the church, so he offered to go with me to get the tablet and the Chinese…
It was a mistake I became aware of too late –taking the inside ordering lane at McDonald’s. The people on the outside track can pull straight forward to pay at the window, but the drivers on the inside have to work to merge. I ordered a crispy chicken snack wrap and a yogurt parfait and…
If you’re willing the clock to get to the end of the class period, that is a very bad situation. But I was one teacher who had come into the hour unprepared. This was partly due to fatigue, partly due to Friday short-timer’s disease, and partly due to plain old procrastination. (I would like the…
I snuck two more packs of 3 x 2-1/2” notecards into my cart at Shopko, the way a drunk slips a flask into his pocket. Only those people in my inner circle could even begin to count the number of Spanish flashcards I’ve made over the years, for my class and for my own personal…
We were asked not to bring birthday gifts –only some kind words to say to her. So we finished off our hamburgers and gathered in a small circle in the living room. It wasn’t hard to think of things to say to this sweet friend, but my favorite was when one of her co-workers sat…
I had my friend on speaker phone the other day, while I was ironing Matt’s preachin’ shirts. One sleeve was giving me grief. I ironed one side smooth and flat, only to turn over the sleeve and see a new wrinkle I had accidentally ironed in on the other side. “This is my life,” I…
“Are you okay?” he said. “You seem down.” Daaaaaah! How does he do that? I was going to keep my blues to myself, so I acted all cheerful, but he knew. I don’t know how, but he knew after three seconds. “Seems like you’re carrying a weight,” he said. “Yes.” “I like you,” he told…
While you’re doing your regular job, I’m rewinding the animated movie Bolt sixty-seven times, so that I can find familiar words for my Spanish students to listen for. There is Mittens, a street-hardened cat who has fallen into the hands of the animal catcher. We see her back turned to us, as she cowers in the…
Here’s how it works: I listen to the nerdy audiobook and give you the Cliff Notes. (SparkNotes, for you young folks.) I was on my way home from Costco, listening to Daniel H. Pink’s To Sell Is Human, and pretty soon I was saying out loud, “Ooh, ooh, ooh! I have to get home and…
My conclusion at the end of spring break: I am…different. Partly I know this because of the look on my brother’s face when he found out I was listening to Grit: The Power of Passion And Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth, on my 12-hour drive to our mom’s house. “No,” he said. “You should be listening…
My apologies to the older couple who chose to sit in the long bench seating at Chick-fil-A. It was our twin nephews’ seventh birthday, and our family and some friends were taking the place by storm. They were good sports, though, and held their ground, while we filled the rest of the seats next to…
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