Reviewing Valentines Week

Here I am at home without my husband again on a Saturday night. We were supposed to go to dinner at a friend's house but he got called to work this afternoon. He got a camera on his last trip to Idaho. It came with a cool program which he used to frame a picture of himself with his dad.

What a week it has been. Much stress at work, with my dear office co-worker suffering the effects of her first chemo treatment, trying to work as much as possible but not able to be there as much as she wanted. Something happened that I have never seen before at school - a girl bit another girl's arm in anger, and felt it was an acceptable thing to do under the circumstances. I got yelled at by the victim's mother. During a break in her ranting, I requested a second time that she please take a seat until the principal could be with her. She turned to her daughter and said, "Is she stupid? I already told her I did not want to sit down." I almost laughed.

Then came Valentine's Day, always fun at our school, with parents and friends dropping off balloons, flowers, candy, stuffed animals, etc. for us to deliver to their darlings. A church youth worker even brought gifts for nine students and seemed annoyed when I respectfully requested that they not bring their valentines to us to distribute next year. (Note to church youth leaders: Please I beg of you don't ever do that to a school.) With about 40 extra note deliveries and then passing out the valentines as students came to the office at the end of the day added to our normal busy office duties, somehow one child did not receive the notification that there was something in the office for her. I was fortunate enough to answer the phone call from the parent who called shortly after school was out, demanding to know why her child wasn't notified, what kind of office do we run, who should have taken care of this, she and her daughter were so disappointed, her daughter was crying, she was so disappointed in us, how could we fail to do such an important thing, she was extremely disappointed, etc. I was also fortunate enough to get a lecture from the girl's father the next morning when he brought her to pick up her flower and balloon. "I'm very sorry" just wasn't good enough for them. My advice is, celebrate Valentine's Day with your child at home, it has nothing to do with school.

A great big red stuffed dog with a Happy Birthday balloon and a Valentine balloon was also not picked up. I called the home of the child, fearing that he also had not received a note. His mom said, "He just walked in the door and said he forgot to pick it up. No big deal." I was so relieved. The student was absent the next day. His gift is still sitting in our conference room.

I did enjoy going out to dinner on Wednesday night with my husband and attending the Valentine's Banquet at church with him last night. Valentine's Day is not ALL bad.

And today - what a happy day. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine - and I went to the wedding of a friend who was on her deathbed a couple of years ago, with cancer in her bones and liver. She got better and has felt great for the past couple of years. Her doctors are mystified. God is amazing! I was her daycare provider for her youngest, and it was fun to reminisce with him about the good old days when he and Eric made action figure movies together!