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…
I really did think he would cry when I said, “Lowe’s. I want to go to Lowe’s for my birthday.” He had himself all set to endure someplace like The Dress Barn for our annual shopping date. But I had my heart set on new bedside lamps for our bedroom, so to Lowe’s we went….
T-minus seven school days until the accreditation team arrives at my school, and things are ramping up. A dust cloth is in my to-do stack for when the time gets a little closer, and I’ve been asked to take a second look at my classroom, to make sure everything is ship-shape. A re-accreditation visit is…
When you think of the perils of living in Montana, you imagine blizzards, hypothermia, or Glacier Park’s Night of the Grizzlies. But there is a more subtle danger that occurs in the spring. No lines. Snow and muck and plows work against the roads for weeks on end, until one day everything melts, and we…
My mouth is where I feel it first. Because my bite has changed with age, if I get stressed out I start to clench my teeth and rub raw spots on my tongue and cheeks. This serves as a low fuel indicator light. And I’m not like the guys, who live for the adventure of…
My mom calls it “cauliflower ear,” which is what happens to wrestlers when their ears get pressed into the mat too many times. I will not post an image of this but will leave you to your imagination. “I’ve got cauliflower ear,” she says to me, when I’ve talked too long. You might be saying…
I have another smokin’ hot car story. Really hot. Caleb called the day before he was to fly home for Christmas, reporting that he was driving and his car started smoking. He babied it back to his apartment and left it to sit over the Christmas holidays. So there I was, in the middle…
February 22. It may mean nothing to you, but my students having been eyeing this date on my dry erase board every day for the last two weeks, along with the ominous words “examen acumulativo.” February 22 is the day they have to walk into class and be able to translate, into Spanish, 80 sentences…
I watched Gettysburg and General Robert E. Lee’s anxious eyes on the eve of battle, as he spoke with southern drawl, “With the enemy out there up on the hill, they’ll be ready to finish the job. But I don’t even know how much is up there. How many men? How many cannon? I don’t…
It was 7:45 a.m., and everyone in Kalispell was trying to get to their posts for the day. I came to the stop sign at the south end of Helena Flats road and waited for someone to close the gate, so that I could take a right onto the highway. (I was a teenager when…
Not to make a big deal out of it or anything, but… TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! If you’ve been hearty enough to stay with me for a few years, you know that I have an inner seven-year-old whose eyes light up at the thought of confetti cupcakes and getting presents. Ask me how old I…
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