Places I've Lived

So...my camera...sorry, no pics.

I wrote down a list of all the places I've lived. Some of them were just one timers, but some of them saw me coming back again and again (I think I've lived in Missoula like 6 times).

By "lived" I mean I slept there, received mail through the USPS while living there, unpacked, hung up a shower curtain...that sort of thing:

Charlotte, Michigan

Middleville, Michigan

Lincoln, Montana

Fairfield, Montana

North Palm Beach, Florida

Missoula, Montana

Old Greenwich, Connecticut

Darien, Connecticut

Greenwich, Connecticut

Provo, Utah

Miyazaki, Japan

Kagoshima, Japan

Kumamoto, Japan

Sasebo, Japan

Fukuoka, Japan

Naknek, Alaska

Goldfield, Nevada

Lanai'i, Hawai'i

Orem, Utah

Eagle Mountain, Utah

Pleasant Grove, Utah

Brigham City, Utah

Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Such a little vagabond! I'm still not sure what the Lord has in store for me, but He let me get married to a wonderful man, and he let me teach school, and become a National Park Ranger.

My 30th Year of Teaching Has Begun!

I'm sure photos would jazz this up, but I'm just going to write for a minute.

Each August for these last seven summers, has been a roller coaster of emotions. I adore living with my husband in Yellowstone. I adore teaching. I wish I could somehow live with him year round, but I haven't found a way to do that. And so I leave Yellowstone, with all the emotions, and then I prepare for a new school year, with all the emotions. It is exhausting.

I don't think I mention enough how blessed we are! All of our needs are met. We have a fairly peaceful life. We love our jobs and coworkers! We have been incredibly protected in our travels. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives! I'm sometimes reminded of a little song we used to sing at the preschool where I taught while working my way through college:

Oh, the Lord is good to me!

And so I thank the Lord!

For giving me

the things I need,

the sun and the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord is good to me!

Amen!

When I got back to the classroom, I was SO excited due to the anticipation of who might be on my class list. I knew some of the family names of some of the children, but I found myself filled with a great desire to do my best for them. Open House came and went and we already have two weeks finished! My first impression on the first day was BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL. They are so earnest and darling and hilarious, of course! I cannot believe it's my thirtieth year of teaching! Where does the time go? This is my calling, my life's work, and I am honored to have spent it among school children (many years to go still...I'm not that old yet).
This is my path. This is my jam. My part of the vineyard. This seems to be where the Lord has need of me.

I also want to mention the unique blessing of living seven summers in the world's first national park, a World Heritage Site. We have learned so many things which are part of our marriage adventure. We have many friends in the park service who are like family members. The rangers surprised my husband with a little card and he had me read all of the sincere and complimentary things that each person wrote about him and his leadership style. It made me cry that he was recognized because he's so quiet and never toots his own horn. I felt so peaceful just being in the same room with him this weekend. He is such a Gift to me. It's understandable that we never get used to living apart. How do the military families do it?

This is not the life I had conjured for myself. I thought our home would have children. I thought I would form close friendships with other women. I thought I would be doing "all the things" that I see my friends doing with their children and their girlfriends. I don't know why I've been such an oddity and late bloomer, but I am glad for all the experiences I've had because I have grown in many ways. I have spent almost thirty years willingly locked in a school with elementary students. Throw in a little volunteering, recreation, and travel...and those nine summers as a National Park Ranger, and that about sums up my existence. I marvel at all the people who are dear gems to me, who have tolerated my quirks and flaws, supporting me along the way. It's going to be a good year with some challenges. This little post is all over the place, but I needed to count my blessings and reflect on all that I've been given. The Lord is good to me!

You Know, a Strumpet

The Ranger heard on the park radio the other day that there was a bear on an elk carcass at Isa Lake 5 yards from the road. All visitors stopping were 5 yards from the bear. No bueno. So some bear management folks were going to head up there to check it out, but first they had to get a vehicle with a winch to hoist the carcass up into the truck. Please note that rangers would normally let nature play out, but when it's a carcass and bear so close to the road, they simply have to remove it to protect the predators and scavengers...and humans.

As all of this was being related to me, the ranger said it this way, "Yeah, they have to get a wench to hoist the elk." I laughed. I said as politely as I could, "Honey, there's a big difference between a winch and a wench. A wench is a hussy, a prostitute...you know, a strumpet."

Ranger shakes head at me with scrunched up eyes and walks off.

Forgot a Piece of Clothing

Good Morning from Choteau, Montana! We drove 7 hours (327 miles) from Fishing Bridge, YNP, WY after The Ranger got off work yesterday to visit my dad. But first, Sacrament Meeting in the Choteau Ward. But wait! It seems I did NOT pack my black skirt. Instead I have a black t-shirt. Elder Holland’s recent conference address where he mentions “Sunday Best” is burning in my ears. I woke Ken up to tell him. He said, “It’s okay. Just wear pants.” Then he asked what kind of pants I have (I wore denim capris yesterday). I told him I have some beige pants. He said, “It’s okay, we’ll match.” I know the Lord lookers upon the heart and all that, but this still feels weird.

I've Wanted to Post SO Many Times!

Six months! My life has been a blur! The stress! The sorrow! Here's a quick summary of what's been going on: two new killer curricula (math and language arts),acting as power of attorney for a family member (sort of like becoming that family member), the somewhat sudden death of my sister (sob!), released from stake Primary and called to ward Young Women (teenage girls), lots of snowstorms, a new principal, a few medical things to deal with, and some wonderful quality time with the spouse (Montana, Arizona, Iowa, Wicked, snowshoeing, NCAA's in SLC, and falling asleep in our side by side recliners). I have had so many stories to tell and I have missed documenting too many important things, but my life is not my own to the point that I've even mostly stopped reading. That's how busy it's been. I'm exhausted.

I Attempt Technology All the Time with Little Success

A teacher was in the workroom this afternoon and mentioned test scores from last year for current students. I have been WAITING for this kind of data so I asked, "Where? How?" I was shown the website. So I went to the website and it turns out you have to log in. So I tried that. My password didn't work. So I clicked on "forgot password." Got a message that my account may have been locked or deleted. Or...I never had an account. So...I tried to register...got another message that I may already have an account. And don't even get me started on reCAPTCHA. I clicked on the crosswalk pictures. I checked every traffic light photo I could find. I spent way too much time on the reCAPTCHA portion of this process. No success. So I called the 1-800 number. They are closed, of course, because who works teacher hours? So I left a message. So frustrating.

So then I tried to set up my parent teacher conferences online as instructed. You know what? We only do this twice a year and it is not memorable. Last time we had conferences, the school secretary came to my classroom to personally thank me for being just one of two teachers in the whole building who did it correctly. That's not my usual...in case you were wondering. I don't even know how I did it correctly. I think I followed the tutorial. But the whole rest of the faculty got it wrong and she was not happy! So now I'm terrified! I'm going to get this wrong. And I looked at the tutorial and...my heart is fluttering inside my chest. I don't think I can follow it. I don't believe that I ever successfully followed it. I don't even want to attempt this. And do you know how much time this is taking? I have Cub Scouts and presidency meeting tonight and I haven't had dinner yet. I am angsty.

I don't like it when people say, "Just watch the tutorial." Or how 'bout this one, "It's on the drive." Or..."It's all right there online." All of this stuff takes time, People! Time I don't have. I made a brave attempt tonight in the quiet of my classroom, but I am backing down for now. Perhaps tomorrow I will find my way. I can't mess this up! The secretary!

I'm super dreading the Teacher Self-Evaluation thing I have to do, because you know what? Without FAIL! Every stinkin' year I do it and cross my t's and dot my i's and triple check and it all looks good and then I talk to my administrator and ask them to check pretty please on their end of things to make sure it looks okay and that I accomplished the task and...no exaggeration! EVERY. STINKIN'. YEAR. The administrators say, "Yes! We've got yours! It looks good! You did it right!" And every stinkin' year I breathe a sigh of relief because I finally jumped that hurdle and then...every. stinkin. year. My administrators send me an email and say, "You haven't completed your self-evaluation yet. Please get on that."

And I cry. Because there are no points for best effort. There are no points for painstaking attention to details. There is no credit for watching the tutorial or taking notes on the tutorial or even printing the tutorial out ahead of time and, ahem, highlighting it. There are just other faculty members who flippantly comment, "Oh, I did that already." Or, "Yeah, that didn't take me long." Or even, "Don't you remember from last time?"

No, no. I DON'T remember!!!

Summer Vacation is...Poof! Gone!

Well, we had fun, but summer vacation is absolutely 100% over for me. We camped and hiked and spent time with family and just each other. We saw HAMILTON in Las Vegas and swam in the beautiful pool at our hotel. We also swam in natural hot springs in Wyoming. So many dirt and gravel roads. Miles and miles of dirt roads which allowed me to nap sometimes while The Ranger drove on in his glory of exploration, five or six maps at the ready for consultation. I lost track of the number of new Forest Service maps he bought this summer. He just can't get enough maps. We took lots of photos. We lived off bologna sandwiches on the weekends. I lost weight as I do every summer and slept very well. Just as I do every August, I wonder if I would continue to lose weight if I could hang on to this summer vacation lifestyle instead of returning to the universe of stress and work. Don't get me wrong, I love the children I teach...it's just that...it's hard to keep a healthy balance of things while teaching.

Also, my return from Yellowstone signals the beginning of ten weeks of hell where we do this living apart thing. It never gets easier.

I can't tell you how many times I've entered and exited the states of Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (we also went to Arizona and Nevada). The RAV4 is over 283,000 miles and when I came home in July for a quick second, I discovered a stow away rodent who endured me singing at the top of my lungs to the entire Hamilton soundtrack three times all the way through, back to back. At least it had AC for the ride. We live in the woods, what can I say? Some marmot decided to use our back porch as a pooping place. Marmot poop is exceptionally sticky--you can't just sweep it off the porch even after it's dry. TMI, I know.

Here's to trading my bear spray for a lanyard and whistle. Instead of wearing an orange safety vest for bison jams and elk jams, I'll be wearing one for recess duty and bus duty. Instead of answering the incessant query, "What is there to do in this area of the park?" I'll be answering the incessant comment from fifth graders, "I don't get it." And instead of wending my way through park traffic, I'll be back on my daily I-15 commute.

Instead of looking at Facebook at 4:00 a.m. in the morning while most of the park was sleeping and I could get at least a little access to it, I am currently Facebook Fasting for at least a week. And you know what? It's not hard to leave it alone at all. I thought it would be more of a struggle for me. Facebook does keep emailing me to tell me how many messages and posts I'm missing. Apparently, THEY are rather addicted to ME and it worries them that I haven't logged in for several days.