Aaaahhhh, A Nice Evening Out

Today I went to work in my classroom and get things ready for the upcoming year. I have a sense of not really wanting to go back to work. I can't believe it has already been a year since the start of last school year. I feel refreshed and ready to go back; I am going to miss being with Adelaide every day, ALL DAY! I am doing a complete overhaul on my room and I moved furniture all afternoon and vacuumed the floor. I am not sure 2 of the book cases have ever been moved...there was an inch of dust behind them! (Hmmm....wonder how they cleaned the carpets????) I am in a "pitching" mood, but I just hope that doesn't come to bite me in my butt later. Teachers have a natural ability to pack-rat everything!!! Hey, you never know when you might need that ;) and if you got rid of it now, 15 years down the road you will be wishing you had it! Well, whatever, I need to start fresh!
My classroom is Cheryl's old classroom. Cheryl was my cooperating teacher from when I student taught. I ended up long-term subbing for her when I was finished with ST. Cheryl had fought a battle with breast cancer the year before and was going in for reconstructive surgery. However, she had not been feeling well and the MRI showed the breast cancer was in her brain. She instead underwent surgery to remove the tumor at the base of her skull. Things were looking up, but when we started the school year, she was in excruciating pain. Her cancer was in her spine and she knew she had stage 4 cancer. Cheryl passed away 6 weeks after the start of the new school year. After that year, I asked to move to Cheryl's classroom. I wanted to be in her room and be the kind of teacher she was. So, that brings me to my find today. I have never thoroughly cleaned her desk until today. I found a notebook in the very back of the drawer under some things. It was a record of some of Cheryl's notes from the doctors appointments and most importantly, the one from her diagnosis. There are also notes from what course of action they were taking to cure her to what she ate every day to gifts people bought/brought. I am glad I was alone and I did not have to share the initial moment with anyone. Next week, I will call her son or her husband to let them know I have it and if they would like, I would be happy to give it to them.

So, that brings me to the nice evening out!!! Matt came over to my room to get Adelaide and asked about dinner. Well, I had no plans because I wanted to get some things done in my room. When I came home, our friends Dave and Kerry called to see if we wanted to go out to dinner. Of course we do!!! We hadn't seen them since they came to see Adelaide in the hospital. It was a nice time and visited and visited and visited for hours. Adelaide finally gave up and went to sleep in her car seat! She was such a perfect baby while we ate and talked. It was really good to see them; we hope to catch a T-Bones game soon.