Unexpected visitors.

We just had a nice weekend. Many tasks were done, and many were left undone. The stock show animals were taken to market, pens were cleaned, everything had that feeling of being 'finished up'.

I enjoyed a lot of time at my desk creating projects for new classes. The boys had some hours of just being boys. There was bike riding, hole digging, and just plain ole' country living.

Then, as we sat down for the regular Saturday night taco dinner, the most wonderful unexpected thing happened.




The cousins stopped by.

It's funny when the cousins stop by. All on their own. Because they can both drive now, and they have a deep well of independence. It was a choice. It completely blessed our weekend.

They were happy to stop long enough to eat some tacos. The Bossman is famous in these parts for the best tacos, and I expect the cousins thought the visit might end there.




It didn't.

We thought it was a perfect night for a fire, so the Bossman and Mav fired up the pit, and all the cousins gathered outside. We didn't have any fixings for smores. We didn't have anything special. Just each other. As it turns out, that was more than enough.

I listened to many glorious conversations about classes at school, friends, sports, Bar b Que grills and new jobs. Some funny stories were shared, a jacket was borrowed, dogs chased balls and enjoyed their ears being scratched.

The simplicity of the evening surprised me. And, made me feel happy. And, grateful.

Then, I grabbed the camera and took a few snapshots. These pictures don't come close to capturing the feeling of the evening. The togetherness the cousins felt. The comfortable feeling of knowing someone their whole life, and the expectation of things yet to share.



The past year or so has been hard on the cousins. Life lessons have been learned. Experiences have been had. Worst nightmares have come true. We have lived through it all. Together.

Maybe all those things were floating through my mind during that enjoyable evening. I'm not sure. I don't think any of the cousins were thinking about any of those things. I'm pretty sure they were just happy laughing together. When they are all older, they might look back and remember the tough times together, but I really hope they just remember the unexpected times of joy.



As I'm remembering the evening, one quote stands out. I'm not sure why. About half way through the picture taking, the Bossman asks me to take more pictures of him with JM. That request rings in my head, still. I still don't know why. I snapped several, we laughed. I remember. And, I'm thankful.

Adventures in Substitute Teaching

I'm not sure how this happened. I am a substitute teacher. I'll take almost any assignment (3rd grade and up). Recently, I've done a lot of work in Junior and Senior High School. The teenagers don't scare me, I guess that makes me perfect substitute teacher material.

My last assignment was a short one, and was completely uneventful with one exception. After giving out the assignment left by the teacher, I was answering odd questions: 'Can I go to my locker?', 'Can I go to the bathroom?', 'Do we write in pen?'..... Various other things that all the precious teenagers already knew the answers to. It's my delight to make up absurd answers to these questions. Really, it's one of the highlights to the substitute teacher's day. 'I have the power over your bathroom visits, don't trifle with me.'

Then, out of the corner of my ear, I hear, 'Can I go to the special ed room, I'm a retard.' (Asked in the most horrible teenage boy whisper voice you can imagine, followed by laughter.)

At that moment, I forgot who I was, and why I was there. I completely jumped out of my human skin, and transformed into Demon Teacher, feared by all. I looked that boy in the face, my eyes as big as baseballs, and said to him in the quietest voice imaginable, 'WHAT DID YOU SAY?'

He immediately knew the line was crossed. He went into full-on apology mode. I heard none of it. I simply pointed at him, and motioned for him to join me in the hallway. There, I monologued to him about his fatal mistake, whilst I imagined in my 'perfect world' a vision of me strangling him with my bare hands, hanging his lifeless body from the flag pole with a sign on him that read, 'I made fun of innocent people, I don't understand human decency and I paid the ultimate price.'

He was delirious with a series of 'yes, mam's' and 'I'm sorry Mam' and 'please don't tell my mother.' I wanted to scream at him from the top of my voice, 'words hurt... you are a bully... don't poison society with your negatives... do you know what prison inmates do with pretty little boys like you?' My mind flashed to horrible tortures. My heart raced. My blood pressure went sky high!!!

Then, a moment of tranquility entered my airspace, and I was hit with a moment of pure inspiration. I simply drew an imaginary circle on the wall in the hallway about 2 inches too high. Then, I said to him, in an extremely calm voice, 'Put your nose in this imaginary circle, and don't utter one sound. You're going to stand in this hallway, with your nose on the wall and consider the life choices you have made today. If I were you, I'd concentrate on the specific words you used to land you in this hallway, with your nose on the wall.'

He did it. He stood there, silently, while I returned to my skin and planet Earth. Then, I said to him, 'Do you understand? Do you understand that you cannot ridicule people? Especially in situations that you can't possibly understand? Do you understand the importance of respect?'

He had a blank, almost confused look on his face. I continued,'I need you to understand respect, I need you to know that although I am horrified by what you said, I respect you enough to teach you this lesson. I also respect you enough to dismiss you from this hallway before the high school boys and your football coach walk by to see this. I respect you enough to save you from that embarrassment. Even though you insulted your classmates, yourself, and me today, I still respect you. Can you try and understand?'

He looked down, and then... he had his moment....he looked me in the eye and said, 'I will try.'