Here's to the end of April

I feel as though I have been doing things from sun up to sun down for over a week now. So it was with a great sigh of relief that I used today as a catch-up/relax day and a much-needed one at that.

I have been lagging behind on laundry and general household chores for the last 2 weeks. I had planned to do a ton of wash and baking and other goodies last weekend but wanted to head North to be with my lovely family and celebrate my Uncle John's life who passed away recently. As tough as such things always are, it was a wonderful day. My cousins were doing extremely well and my Aunt Sug, who has endured so much in the last few months is just a rock and so emotionally strong. Between the passing of her sister, my grandmother a few months ago, a broken arm which took a very long time to heal and the nursing of her husband of over 40 years who had cancer and alzheimers - Aunt Sug is a model of sheer determination and someone I truly admire.

The school week has been hectic, too. My students in Coop began their final projects which involve research, typing and a presentation. Many complained. Some are really taking the project seriously and realize that every component is something they can use after they cross that stage at graduation later this month. Last week also marked PSAE month, the state school testing exam that determines how our school is doing on teaching the "essentials" to students. It left me a bit out of sorts because the 3rd floor where my office is located was closed for the 2 days of testing. I made it through and work is now back to normalcy.

Thursday night was "Buddy Night" as always and was quite a fun time. Friday was my department chair/mentor's birthday so spent a celebratory 2 hours at a local pub with him and some of his friends before heading to church for Game Night. That led me into yesterday which was the Illinois Marathon. I left my house around 6:45am to meet up with a buddy. The plan was to park near the start, see part of the 5k to cheer on some school colleagues then see 2 spots of the half/full marathon around miles 3 and 12 in Urbana then drive to Champaign and see miles 18 & 22 which nearly intersect. All in all, we saw more people running than we expected and only missed seeing 2 people. My biggest reasons for cheering was A) I love cheering marathons in Chicago so I had to cheer this one and B) the new teacher coordinator at Urbana was running the full marathon and I wanted to support her. (She did awesome by the way!) We accomplished all of our goals, including driving through a part of the course (streets are not shut down here in entirety the way they are in Chicago) between some of the lead runners. It was a gorgeous day, a few sprinkles on occasion and in the 70's. I jumped in to run with Melissa around mile 18 since she seemed to have been off her pace and stayed with her for about 1/2 mile. It was warmer than any day of training the last few months and it took its toll on a lot of runners by knocking them off their training pace. But everyone I know that was running completed their races and that is always Goal #1.

After the marathon I came home and took a nap. Shorter than I had wanted, at just an hour, but it refreshed me enough to get me through the rest of the day's activities. First up was dinner with David, who had been my marathon buddy, and 2 of the student teachers who wanted to experience prom. It was a bit strange, them being so young and still talking about graduation and things of a bit more frivolous nature but they are nice and I wish them well. From dinner we headed to the iHotel for Prom 2010. The theme was Casablanca and the movie showed on a continuous loop throughout the night. We stood ground as greeters at one of the entrances which is a perfect role for me. The students looked so glamorous and I know so many more of them now than I did when I chaperoned Homecoming in October. I wore my green Swing dress and I felt a bit overdressed but my students thought it would be cool if I dressed up. Next year I'll opt for something a little more casual, I think.

Prom ended at midnight. There was talk of one last social outing before parting ways but I needed sleep and bid everyone good-night. I tried to sleep in this morning, tired as I was I knew I could sleep for a long time, but having been outside all day yesterday for the first time this season got my nose in a bit of a sniffle. I have handled this viscous allergy season with determination and come through it fairly unscathed due in part to NOT being outside at all and in taking every medication I possess. It was worth it though and I'm going to aim for a few more outdoor days this month in the hopes that allergy counts reduce somewhat in the coming weeks. I am hoping for some nice evenings on my back patio in a chair and a glass of vino watching the sun set. There have been some brilliant orange and red sunsets lately, seen only from the vantage point of my couch, safely behind windows in my allergy-free zone home.

The first day outside means there are many more to come. And the coming of summer. Less than 40 days until I'm done with my first year of teaching. It is going to fly by...