Becoming an adult

I always wanted to become an adult. Even when I was very young I would spend all my free time hanging out with adults trying to learn to be like them. I even hid underneath my grandma's dinning room table so I could hear what the grown-ups said when they thought all of us kids were gone. My mom says I was like a little grown-up when I was born.

Now that I'm a grown-up I still really like it. Yeah, there are headaches like having to pay bills and having to get a job but the good stuff definitely outweighs the bad. I like not having to do what others tell me to. I make my own money so I am not dependent on someone else. When I see something I want to do or buy and I can afford it I purchase it. I also no longer have to spend time with people I don't want to. When I was a kid a lot of times I had to go places and spend time with people I didn't like because it was the polite thing to do. Now I am a grown-up I can simply say that I'm busy and send my regrets.

Learning lessons as a kid and teenager has also has made being a grown-up better. Things that I didn't use to like to do use to feel epic. I've learned that nothing lasts for ever and that I can stand just about anything for a short period of time.

I know adults who say that they would love to go back in time and be a kid or a teenager again. I can't imagine that. I have been lucky enough to have my life only get better as I get older. That's not to say that I haven't expierenced sadness, Kellee passing was truly tragic on so many levels, as was grandparents' deaths. However, I've also learned from those times and while I wish I could have learned those lessons differently I still would not go back in time. I'm glad I'm an adult.

Secret to happiness

I'm not sure if I know the secret to happiness I do know that I'm happier this year than I have been previously. A large part of that is that I no longer feel pulled in two. Before I loved being in Alaska and especially in Napaskiak but I really missed Mr. Hicok and spent a lot of time being sad because I missed him. It is really nice having him up here. Little things like cooking and eating dinner are more pleasant to do them with someone else.

On another note, it's also really nice to have gotten to know the community of Napaskiak so well. More and more this feels like my home. So for my the secret of happiness is being surrounded by the people who love you and the people you love. At least it is for me.

Thankful for on Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. The thing I am most thankful for is that Ben and I are finally living in the same time zone. Heck we're even better than that, we're actually living in the same village, in the same house, and sometimes even sharing the same classroom. hhhmmm maybe that's a little too much to be thankful for. Just kidding honey, I do love having you here, you've given me a great new outlook and appreciation for everything this year.


I'm also thankful for my students. It's nice to have known all of you for the last 3 years. I've gotten to see you all change so much. It's hard to imagine that the seniors were the freshmen my first year here.

I'm also thankful for the great friends that I have up here in Alaska and my friends back in Michigan. You are all a wonderful support system and I would not be who I am today without you.

I'm thankful that my family will be together on Thanksgiving even though I wouldn't be there with them. I do wish I could be either there with them or some up here with me. (hint, hint) Planes do come from Michigan to Alaska you all know.

I've had a good year and hope to finish it out well and continue on with a good year in 2010.

Up

So it's 4:16am, I've been up since about 3:30. I'm not feeling that well. I didn't feel at all well yesterday, actually put my head on my desk for a minute yesterday, looked like a lot of the kids. Yet, I pulled through and did my day, it's always harder to make sub plans then to call in sick. Plus I had to make those pies with the cooking class.

I really hope I feel better before today really gets started as feeding everyone lunch could be a major pain if I don't. I also have a date to make pie with Ms. Sara Reardon and I don't want to break that this afternoon.

Ok, I've eaten a pear my tummy is still cramping a little but not as much as before. Maybe some more sleep will help. If I go now I can get 2 1/2 hours in before I get up.
Good night again.

Celebrity Dinner

The journal prompt for my students today is:

Which celebrity would you most like to have dinner with? Why that one? Where would you go? What would you eat?

This is tricky since a big part of me wants to pick some great world leader at the same time another part of me just wants to go and have a good time. Ok, since I don't feel very good today I will pick a good time. I want to go have dinner with Anthony Bourdain. I would let him choose the place, as he has been to many more places and eaten a lot more food than I have. I choose him because I love his caustic sense of humor and they way he respects the cultures that he visits.