Saturday, August 29, 2009

My Constant Companion

Every day of my life I can count on with the utmost certainty, my constant companion pain. I go to bed with pain and I wake in the morning with pain. Most days my hands feel like a hammer has hit my knuckles, my neck is stiff, my foot tingles with a numbing feeling that borders pain and tingling and my back, the crown jewel of my chronic pain. Pain as we know is our bodies way of alerting us that something is wrong with our body. It helps us remember where that bedpost is in the dark. Some of us learn at an early age just what electricity is and where it comes from. I have had my share of mishaps in my life and have been able to experience all sorts of pain. From the cement of a driveway to baseballs hitting me in the head, the usual assortment of cuts and bruises, to a couple of broken bones, even a broken heart, pain has always found its way to be with me as a nurturer and foe. I'm not trying to make this a woe me post but to raise awareness that people live with pain everyday, many I'm sure worse off than I. I live in its shadow, I carry its weight, day after day. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I do not see the light but I am continue moving through the tunnel we call our lives. Maybe the light will appear, around the next bend perhaps. Maybe.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Teachers To Remember

My first grade teacher was a grey haired Mrs. Smith. She was a very typical old school first grade teacher for the 1960's. Second grade belonged to Mrs. Krause, younger and a quite a bit rounder than Mrs. Smith. In third grade my teacher was again a Mrs. Smith. She was definitley an old school teacher and much stricter than either of the previous two. Ms. Turner ran the fourth grade class and I remember her as the prettiest of them all. Yes I was starting to notice these things even in fourth grade. But it was fifth grade that my teacher, again a Mrs. Smith, oldest of them all as she was at least 72 from her own admissions, fostered an enviroment that encouraged us to learn and to take control of our learning. I can recognize now her depth of wisdom that obviously was kindled by her passion to teach. She allowed us to control a couple of hours every week based on what we as a group and individually accomplished through the week. She like all the teachers taught all the required subjects, Math, English, History and Reading. But it was her creative spirit that allowed us as young students to explore beyond what the state of Texas required of fifth grade students in 1970. We started a chess club in her class and you could earn extra playing time by scoring well on quizzes or turning in extra work. Our classroom became a darkroom as she taught us how black and white photos came to life. By the end of the year we published a small humble school paper. The Principle allowed us to use a staff restroom for our darkroom and Mrs. Smith provided us with a twin lens camera. We were junior journalists. It is now almost forty years later and I still remember her blues eyes always lit up behind her glasses, her crooked nose and her stacked up bluish grey hair. This was what made up Mrs. Smith. She taught for the love of teaching long after earning her teachers pension. Thank you Mrs. Smith.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Championship Day

Today marks the day my son's YMCA youth basketball team will play for the East Championship. Last night they played in the semi-finals and won by about eighteen points. Nick played for about thirty seconds at the end of the game. Nick missed practices and this coach holds players back from playing when they miss practices. But I write this today not to gripe about the coach but to recognize my son's steadfastness as a team member while on the bench. I saw him cheering his teammates on and leaping to his feet when they made exceptional plays. I'm proud of him for supporting the team and his willingness to go into the game at the very end. I played some sports when I was younger but was never a gifted athlete and my Dad never saw me play anything. As a father it is important to me to be there supporting Nick in all he does even sitting on the bench. I know and he knows that he is capable of playing at a high level. Today will be a new game and I believe Nick will again be a valuable player for the team. As a father who is a much better arm chair athlete than he was a real athlete, re-lives some of my own youth through his actions on the court. As a father I couldn't have been more proud of him last night.