April 8

Between teaching (now English and APUSH) and summer planning, my mind is spent.  I'm overwhelmed with the details and demands.  My heart is weary from hurts and good intentions and missed opportunities and highs and lows. I'm looking forward to summer break, but I'm at the part of the school year when I feel like I may not make it to June.  Our life is good- just exhausting.

completely unrelated to blog but adorable picture of Chicheme

My new English classes did go super well this week.  We laughed and learned, and I was reminded how much I like these people I get to teach.  Jane Eyre and Gatsby made the week go around, and it was great fun.  My APUSH class landed on MLK on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.  The timing was tragically perfect.

Friday after work, I decided to call my dad.  I don't remember ever learning about Vietnam, so I thought my dad might be able to share some information.  The phone call was the best 30 minutes of my week.  He explained the draft, and more importantly, his memories about the draft.  I love history because it's our story.  History is the study of how people approach their challenges and victories and how that got us to where we are today.  Listening to my dad tell his stories was both bittersweet and amazing.  It reminded me that I should have been listening long ago to my grandparents and aunts and uncles and their stories.  How much did I learn in just 30 minutes, and how much could I have learned over the years??  I kept wondering how my grandmothers must have felt as those draft dates were announced.  The thought of Carson going to war is a long shot that makes me weepy.  My grandmas stared it in the face.  One had to release her son (who returned safely).to Vietnam.  How did it never occur to me to ask?

I told the kids at dinner that the old quotation about those who forget history are bound to repeat is misapplied.  Learning history as dead guys and old dates from a textbook doesn't change anyone.  Hearing the stories from the people who were just living their lives- unaware that history was being written in their movements- is what determines we don't make the mistakes of the past.

To living our lives intentionally aware that today is determining our tomorrows,

L