I spent inordinate amounts of time being consumed with teacher stuff. Student teaching was incredibly busy, and sometimes I'm not even sure how I did it and kept my sanity! I hated keeping up with all of the not-so-little things OSU made us do while keeping up with our classroom. I really, really hate it. I felt like it generally a waste of my time and energy, but it was what I had do to graduate and be certified, so I moved on with life. While I hated most of those things, what I really loved were my students! They're equal parts crazy and sassy, but I loved them so much! They made all of the late nights up grading, lesson planning, and juggling all of my obligations worth it. They were wonderful, even on the days when they weren't quite so wonderful ;) They were easily the best part of this semester, and I consider myself blessed to have been able to be a part of their lives and learning experience for this semester! In the same vein, I greatly appreciate and respect my cooperating teacher! She is awesome and continually sought to help me grow to be the best teacher I could possibly be! (Yes, there was some tough love in there at times, but it was ultimately for the best!) I've said it before, but it bears repeating: good teachers make teaching look easy. My CT is the best example of this statement...she is wonderful, and I am blessed to have been under her tutelage!
In one week, I will graduate! I am becoming increasingly excited...senioritis hit right around spring break, which made it hard for me to stay motivated to complete anything! On an even more exciting note, I have a plan for after graduation and a pretty good one, at that! I have a job!!! Through what I can only describe as divine providence, a family friend from church is retiring after over thirty, maybe even forty years of teaching high school math. She called me on the the day she was submitting her retirement to the school board and gave me her principal's number to call if I was interested in her position! I'm happy to report that I will be the newest faculty member at Waukomis High School!!! I never would have guessed that I'd end up there, of all places (they were our biggest rival in high school), but I couldn't imagine a better place to begin my teaching career!!! I am beyond blessed to have this opportunity! After I graduate, I'll have an opportunity to sit in on classes and get to know my students a little bit before next year! All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better place to land for next year! Even better, I'll get to be back with my family all the time and watch my nephews grow up! Thomas is incredibly supportive of my career choice, too, and can't wait to get to experience a taste of small-town Oklahoma life whenever he's able to visit! (He still has one year left of school.)
Naturally, this brings me to the next topic: my beloved Thomas :) I don't know where to start in talking about him, because he has been such a HUGE part of this semester for me, in the best way possible!! He kept me sane, accountable, and laughing/smiling, all of which were VERY important things this semester! There were a few moments at the beginning of student teaching when I wondered why, of all times in my college career, when I seemingly had the least amount of extra time, that God decided to give me a boyfriend. (Hear me out!) I mean seriously, I had been waiting, praying, hoping, trying my hand at plenty of relationships that went nowhere fast, and waiting even more for a span of two years. (I know that that's not that long, but still!) Then, God trusted me to maintain a relationship with a man when I felt like I didn't even have time to eat a normal supper, when I had loads of free time in every other semester of my life?!?!?! Well, joke's on me. I have come to realize just how much I have really needed someone more this semester than in any other, and he has been a true Godsend! I have no idea how I could have even tried to conquer this semester without Thomas! He helped me with any and everything I could possibly need help on, he was a GREAT sounding board for ideas, he let me vent like a crazy lady, he was my shoulder to cry on when I felt like I sucked at life and should rethink every life choice I had made to date, he encouraged me, he prayed for me, and he helped me to know when to take a break and stop thinking about school for even ten minutes! I could go on and on about this amazing man...believe me, I'm just scratching the surface here!!! Words cannot express how grateful I am for this amazing man and how humbled I am that God sent him to me at the absolute perfect moment in my life!
I don't know if I've ever written about this, but he met my family at the end of January and has basically been a fixture with us ever since! He fits in really well, like scarily well, and everyone loves him! My nephews (with the exception of Andy at first) adore him and constantly ask where he is whenever I come home without him! Yeah, Andy was not exactly fond of him at first and wouldn't even talk to him until the third time they met. (I think he was being protective or guarding his heart, I'm not sure which.) However, now they're great pals :) Cole and Kyle have especially taken to him! Cole is always our shadow when we're at Mom and Dad's house, which I don't mind at all! Honestly, having my nephews around with us reminds me quite a bit of whenever I would tag along with Gina and Jeremy or Scotty and Emily when they were dating/engaged and is possibly a bit of payback at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I love seeing everyone together...it really makes my heart burst with joy! As time has passed, Thomas has also met Liz's family, various aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Tonisha! As of yet, all have approved of him! (I don't know why they wouldn't, but I'm pretty biased in the matter!)
Here's a great shot of Thomas and Cole, while Cole was pretending to drive the Kubota RTV :)
I've even had the opportunity to meet his family! Over spring break, he brought me down to Dallas for a few days to celebrate his birthday with his family and visit all of his favorite hometown places! Highlights of the trip were, of course, his birthday party, attending one of his sister's (Elizabeth) softball games, eating at his favorite restaurant (Love and War in Texas), taking pictures in their neighborhood park, walking around his high school campus, visiting his grandparents' cabin, and getting to know his parents and sister just a little bit better! Another related highlight for me was celebrating Ultimate Pi Day by getting pictures in front of the Texas Instruments headquarters and factory! :) He's truly a gem! Here's some pictures of the fun times that ensued!
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| Me at TI Headquarters on Pi Day, with my Pi Day t-shirt, wearing my math TOMS...math nerd heaven!!! |
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| The beautiful neighborhood park we visited after Mass, hence the fancy clothes :) |
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| The cabin, in all it's glory! |
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| Thomas practicing his crossbow skills at the cabin! |
We also celebrated each other's birthdays, as Thomas turned 21, and I turned 22! His birthday coincided with our celebration of dating for 3 months, so we super celebrated with supper at El Vaquero, our favorite Mexican restaurant in town and a celebratory trip to Finnegan's afterward! For my birthday, Thomas came home from break early and stayed over at Mom and Dad's so we could get a jump start on my birthday celebrations! Unfortunately, I woke up feeling crummy and didn't really feel well until late in the afternoon, so that put a damper on our original plans to go to a shooting range. The good news is that I live on a farm and there are lots of flat, cattle-less spaces in which you can do a little bit of target practice, so we made our own fun! We ended the evening by ordering chicken from Rooster's in Hennessey and celebrating with the whole family! It was a great night and a great birthday!!!
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| Birthday sombrero and sopapilla :) |
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| Obligatory Finnegan's 21st Birthday picture :) (This is literally the third picture of its kind that I have!) |
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| Celebrating with great friends!!! L-R: Mari, Me, Sara, Thomas |
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| Happy 22nd Birthday to me! :) |
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| Golly, I love this man :) |
Many of you know, but for those who haven't heard, my beloved Mimi passed away on March 26th. It seems weird to realize that a month has already passed since her death, because it still feels like it was yesterday. We knew it was coming, as she had fought a long, hard battle since January. As mentioned before, she did indeed have a compression fracture in her L6 region of vertebrae. The only way her doctors said she could heal was with bedrest, which entailed her being placed in a nursing home, much to her chagrin. I mean, she was willing to go, but she wanted to go home the whole time. After being in the nursing home for about 3 weeks, she had a stroke, which she never really recovered from. It greatly affected her speech, and left her almost incapable of speaking coherently. Most of the time when she spoke, it was in random letters or broken Czech. (She hadn't spoke Czech in MANY years and claimed she forgot it after her stroke 2 years ago.) Every once in a while, she'd come through with coherent English, but those times became fewer and fewer. Mostly, she laid in her hospital bed, moaning and writhing in pain, most likely wishing for death to come. Ultimately, she ended up returning to the nursing home with hospice care for a little less than a week before she passed away. Really, her funeral was a beautiful celebration of her beautiful life...I couldn't have asked for a better way to pay tribute to her. In the time since, I've found myself at various stages of the grieving process. Some days are just fine, but there are still days where I feel the sting of her death. I know she's where she's supposed to be, but I find myself feeling selfish and wishing she were physically here to see me graduate or to spend more time getting to know Thomas.
In case you were wondering, yes, Thomas was able to meet Mimi and see her multiple times before she died. His first time meeting her was just before she went to the nursing home initially, and they had a beautiful conversation. Many of the times he saw her after that were less than ideal for conversation, as most of them consisted of her time after the stroke. Ultimately, I can't become too hung up on this, as I knew with all of my heart that Mimi loved Thomas just as much as I do, if not more. His presence alone was instrumental in the last few weeks of her life. So many times, he was willing to drop everything on a school night and accompany me to Enid to visit her for a short while, which was an intense journey in and of itself. These trips consisted of late nights, forcing me to pause and eat a decent meal, consoling me as I sobbed uncontrollably, and pushing me to get a little bit of sleep so I wouldn't be useless the next day at school. He was my rock and helped me to survive the last week's of Mimi's life. He was over immediately after I called him when Mimi died, because he didn't want me to be alone since I couldn't be with my family right away. Like I said before, he truly was a Godsend this semester. God had to have known that I needed someone to specifically be there for me when Mimi died, and I'm eternally grateful for all that he did for me and my family in the days following her death.
Other highlights of the last few months were celebrating Easter with my family, during which time Thomas was able to experience Scheiber's Donuts in Enid for the very first time! (He LOVES them and is already ready to go back!) I had lots of fun teaching my Pre-Calc students how to make clinometers and using them to measure heights of buildings on their campus! Another fun thing I did regarding student teaching was attending their prom! It was my first time attending a prom, or really a dance in general, as a responsible adult, so that posed a bit of culture shock for me. Thankfully, I had Thomas with me (of course :) ), so I had lots of fun! We dazzled my students with our Macarena skills and felt a little bit old as we realized that the song "Yeah" by Usher is over ten years old and could be considered a throwback. The song literally came out when my students were 5-7 years old! Sheesh! Nonetheless, it was a great time, and Thomas had much more fun than I anticipated! I enjoyed seeing my students all dressed up and snazzy, and they were excited to see me and Thomas there!
A bit of a tangential point here, my students were oddly fascinated with Thomas. I was often asked if I had a boyfriend, and once they saw him with me earlier in the semester, one student asked if he was my "lover", while another student asked if he was my "bae". (Thomas shut down the bae question, as he despises that word and said that he was my boyfriend :) ) After prom, another student told me he was hot and that we were cute together. I really had no comment for that one! I've also started encountering students out and about around town, which still feels a bit awkward for me. I'm sure I'll embrace it as my career goes on. It will take some getting used to, though!
On my final day of student teaching, my cooperating teacher had my students write me encouraging farewell notes, all of which were really sweet! It was awesome and heartwarming to know that my students actually enjoyed having me there and that I had made at least a minuscule impact on their lives this semester! One of my Algebra II classes even threw me a party, complete with donuts and Dr. Pepper! It warmed my heart to know that my students were willing to spend their own money on a party for me...by the time I left school that day, my heart was full to the brim with love! It was a wonderful last day to an overall great semester!
Starting tomorrow, I begin my last official week of college and I have my very first finals week that contains absolutely NO finals :) It's a huge relief, to say the least! Tomorrow is the baccalaureate Mass at St. John's, Monday is a cookout for all of the math student teachers (hosted by our sweet supervisor and her husband), and Tuesday is our last meeting as a large group. Of course, Saturday is graduation :) Thankfully we have the first of the three ceremonies of the day, which leaves the remainder of the day to celebrate! As of now, there's a big celebration planned at Mom & Dad's that evening for those who want to celebrate all day with us, or for those who don't want to fight the crowds in Stillwater or wake up early but still celebrate a little bit! Dad is planning on putting pork loins on the rotisserie, so I'm sure that'll be wonderful! Even though I've been pushed to the brim this semester, I am proud to know that I've handily survived ALL of the challenges that have been placed in my life! I couldn't have done it without lots of support from my loved ones, TONS of Divine intercession, and the desire to fulfill my lifelong dream!
Here's hoping I'll get back to posting regularly! I've really missed it!
Immensely proud of all your hard work over there on the big campus. My Danny is beaming with pride as well, I'm sure of it. You would definitely be getting one of his famous bear hugs if he were still alive. Love you dear. I'm here to listen and/or help you anytime you might need it.
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