Wordless Weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You

5k Run For the Children of Sandy Hook

I am a mother of two children ages 7 & 9 and a School Counselor.  To say Friday hit me hard was an understatement. We let the boys sleep with us on Friday night we were so happy to have them.  Yesterday I wrote an e-mail to my boy’s school because I thought they deserved Thanks. 

Hello,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being a part of my children’s lives. Words cannot describe how we all have been feeling since Friday afternoon.  As I heard the news on Friday morning from my Assistant Principal I could not help but picture XXXXX School and the classrooms that my boys have been in. The first picture I saw on the internet had  a tall skinny boy with glasses in the middle of the line and it looked like my Mikey. It really hit me.   But at the end of that line I could see a teacher, someone those kids can count on when everything did not make sense. The teachers that brought them to safety.    

My entire career as an educator has taken place post Columbine.  At the high school level I have unfortunately run the scenarios in my mind countless times. Knowing there is always the possibility that a crisis might arise and a split second decision would have to be made.  I have thought about how many kids I could squeeze into my office and even under my desk.  Never have I thought about it happening in an elementary school.  I am a member of my school CERT team.  I have prepared and taken part of lock down, lock out, hold in place and emergency evacuation drills.  Most of the time I am annoyed that the young adults in this building don’t take them seriously enough. When my husband and I spoke to the boys this weekend, there were so many things that we worried about.   I was happy to hear that my boys knew what to do in a lock down and a number of other scenarios that have been practiced.  Xxxxx has been a wonderful place for Michael and Brendan. It means a great deal to me that my children feel safe while they are at school, and they do.  You are all to thank for that. 

Thank You for the teaching them to read and learn math.  Thank you for your call and emails of concern when they seem a bit off.  Thank You for the calls when erasers “fall” into someone’s ear.   Thank you for listening to a mom’s concerns.   But mostly Thank YOU for keeping my boys safe every day. 

I know so many teachers, administrators, nurses and aides that deserve the same thanks.  This could have happened anywhere. 

Knight of Columbus Holiday Run

After some dismally low miles in November I was determined to start December off and running again. 

ON December 1st, for the third year in a row I signed myself up for the Knights of Columbus holiday run.  It starts off just a mile away and is one of my regular routes.  The one I call "Five mile race the school bus" .   

This year the boys decided that they would like to run the kids race and I couldn’t be happier.  Mikey had recruited his BFF Dom to run with him and Brenny was going to be running his first one mile run ever. 

Pete placed a little wager in front of B.  He challenged him to beat his older brother and his friend.  The Prize was $5 from Daddy.   

Brenny in the Red, Mikey a Blur in Black out ahead early.

 

 

 The boys took off in a flash and headed through the neighborhood streets.  I handed off my jacket to Pete and took a loop to warm up and to meet up with the boys as they came into the finish.  Mikey’s friend was struggling a bit and they had slowed to a walk.  As soon as B saw me he ran to meet me and I knew he was determined to win the five dollars his father promised him.  He finished in less than 9 minutes!  First in his age group too. 

 

 

I had a nice run too. It was a nice cool day.  Perfect for running and I felt good despite very few miles in the past month.  Its always amazing how fast you can be in a race.  No PR but I did improve my time from the Turkey Trot by two minutes!  And then there is this picture of me flying along the creek.  It might be the socks.  I don't know.  Just sayin.
 

Photo credit Charlotte Kopp