Animals Fighting

Yesterday Sarah and I went to get a pedicure. We only budget this in once and a while but it is a lot of fun and it is nice to have pretty toes seeing as though all we wear are sandals. There are many, many places to go in Yuma but we have our favorite at the mall. This is not that convenient because the mall is always packed and we inevitably see kids there but the people there are great and they know us so we go there.

Back to yesterday, we go in, choose our colors and sit down. Ready to relax from a long day of studying and homework from Sarah's online course. Just as my feet get wet the yelling starts. I am used to not understanding what is being said by the family. Everyone that works at the nail place is related, I have known them since they opened the shop. All of a sudden three people are screaming at each other and it just kept getting louder and louder. They didn't take it outside or in the back, they were standing right in front of us! Sarah later described the sound like animals fighting in the forest or something. It was awful. The women working on our feet just kept going like nothing was happening. Apparently they thought if we couldn't understand them it was OK.

Then this one girl starts crying and another has red marks on her arms. I recognize these marks because I have seen them when girls fight at school. There was obviously some kind of physical encounter before we arrived. The screaming lasted a couple of minutes and then it was very awkwardly quiet for a few minutes.

All the while a new person to the shop is sitting out in the waiting area. I have never seen him before but it is obvious he belongs to the family as he is Vietnamese and doesn't appear to speak English. The weird thing was that he started talking very quickly and didn't stop for about 20 minutes. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular. At first I thought maybe he was on a phone or ear piece. But no, he was staring into space speaking very loudly and the women helping us kept laughing at him. Although it is not clear at this point, since my Vietnamese is limited to a student we have a school that I have heard speak on two occasions and my time in the nail salons, I am led to believe he is a crazy cousin they have been forced to take in. This could be where the fight stemmed from.

It was a very surreal moment and we got out in a hurry. I felt like I was watching a "story" on Telemundo but at least there I can understand the plot because I can pick up some of what is being said.

Homesick

Today I found myself feeling a little homesick. This doesn't happen much since Sarah moved here because whenever I need a lift she's right there to be sarcastic in person:-) But today we went to lunch at Julies and had a great afternoon with her, her husband and her two kids. Now, I know this does not seem connected but it is. Some of my best memories are of sitting at my parent's or my grandparent's or a friends or relatives home and sharing a meal, conversation, laughter and checking in.

That old saying of when it rains it pours is really true. There has been so much going on lately and now to hear of a friend who has been going through a terrible couple of months on top of everything else, sometimes I really ask why?

It seems like the bad is never ending, there is always something worse coming our way. Someone else is sick, someone else has died. Someone has been fired, is moving, is is is....But then today on a quiet Sunday afternoon with friends. Sharing a simple meal and good conversation I was reminded that no matter how much bad is thrown at us it will never be more than the good because there is always someone to make you feel at home.

My homesickness will go away, it is only 8 weeks before I get to see everyone so that is helping. But beside that I know that God is taking care of things.

I know that was a bit rambly but it is what came out of my brain tonight. Have a great week!

A Monday to be remembered

This is a Monday that will not soon be forgotten. We have too many days like that now. Too many days that people do unspeakable things to other people for a bad, wrong, or no reason at all. The people who were sitting in class today didn't ask to be remembered but they will be. By cell phone cameras and recordings, by eyewitness accounts. By pictures we will undoubtedly see on television in the days that follow. These people will be remembered because one person wanted to be seen and heard. How sad. That the many should suffer at the hands of one.

We have become such a desensitized society that numbers don't haunt us like they should. The number of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan the last few years alone should be enough to incite riots and protests to bring those left standing home safely to their families. But those numbers are too big. We are used to the big numbers. Strange how it is the smaller numbers that get us. When the death toll kept rising today people got more and more upset and outraged and wanted action against the university. The fact is the university couldn't have stopped what had happened. It was tragic and it happened. I don't think placing blame and pointing fingers will help. The families need to feel love and support and to know that their child will be remembered however tragic this incident.

I thought back today to the night of the fire in my dorm in college and how we stood outside and watched it burn through the windows. We knew fear that night. But not life and death fear like the students today. That night, at 2 a.m. I called my parents collect to tell them what had happened and that I was OK. I have never heard more relief in my mother's voice than I did that night when I had made it to my aunt's safely. I kept thinking today how horrible it must have been for every single person who knew someone at Virginia Tech University today to have that moment, minutes, hour or hours of not knowing that relief.

My prayer tonight is that the families know where their children are and that this violence that seems to sweep across our world and desensitize us to horrible things will end. That it will become so intolerable that people won't stand for it anymore.

Summoned

I have been summoned to appear before the Superior Court Clerk because I did not return my jury selection form. I did. They say it must have gotten lost in the mail so I have to go on April 26th and fill out the paper work again. The good that came out of this was that I was forced to call the courthouse and ask them about postponing our month of service and they were very flexible. So now we can go home and then go to Texas to see the baby Brick #3 and the others Bricks of course! Now we are getting really excited, 8 weeks to go!

Wednesday

Today is a big day, the most important day of 7th grade for the students. We started the AIMS test. Today they are writing an essay to prove their writing skills. This is a challenge for many of them as they are second language learners and they have to sit still for 2 and a half hours to do it. But I was optimistic. Emphasize the WAS.

Because of new security regulations we have to have the students sign in each morning and I explained this and showed them where to sign in on the sheet next to their name. Then I passed around the paper. When I got it back every single student, all 21 of them had signed next to their name, under the right column the word Wednesday. I am no longer optimistic. I am sure one day I will look back and laugh. But today as I sit quietly pondering wether or not to return to this job in August I am not amused.

:-)

Vacation ended well, in fact so well I have been devising ways to not have to go back to work. I know it is inevitable but maybe just a few more days of fun... I finally got the insurance mess straightened out and they sent me my medicine, thank God! Grandpa's sickness has a name. We are all a little frightened about the future but I know God is taking care of him and I am remaining positive that the treatment will progress well.

We started taking Yoga and I sprained my wrist, not my fault really. It is the same one I broke last year when my bicycle was hit by a car. The urgent care Dr. said it is not broke and needs rest so I have a brace and it will be fine. Other than that I loved yoga and I only fell once. The instructor said I was flexible! I even bought a yoga mat to take with me. It has extra padding so my knees won't be so angry with me now.

Not alot of other news to share. AIMS test is this week so the kids will be on edge but lots of planning time for me! I hope everyone has a good week and those of you having bad weather, take solace in this. We are supposed to have a sand storm during golf practice Wednesday which is when we are supposed to take the team picture, see our weather isn't perfect either!

So you've had a bad day

I had a bad day. Yep, even on vacation it happens. Things have been going well but today I had to do real world stuff like deal with the insurance company and the fact that my right arm was going numb and hurting really bad all at the same time and other various unpleasant things like going to the post office for the second day in a row ( we all now how fun this is for me).

I got into my massage therapist who is recommending yoga and whatever else I can do to relax because she is afraid I am going to explode or something soon. Then I had to go to Walgreen's for a prescription that my insurance company is holding hostage. All the while I am calling the insurance company's special injection service to get my injections sent out that they are saying I can't have. This is all very stressful and before you know it I am in tears yelling obscenities at the Walgreen's pharmacist who doesn't speak English very well. Let's add that to the list of places I should no longer go without Sarah.

I know this all underlying stress because we are waiting, something we are not good at for my parents to call. They had a meeting with my grandpa's Dr. today to find out about the biopsy and the bone cancer and all that. I guess maybe I should take up yoga.

So now I am going to scrapbook some pictures that I have had since I moved to Yuma, that always de-stresses me. Love to all, keep the prayers going up.

What's New With You?

There is all kinds of news to share so I will share and then you share back!

- Palm Springs is perfect, I want to live there, as long as I can live at the Calla Lily Resort and be pampered everyday!

- Always take cold weather clothes on vacation. I know this from living in Michigan my whole life but I forgot. The lapse in judgement meant no trip up the tram in Palm Springs because they had 4 inches of snow at the top and it was 20 degrees.

- I ran over a sink with Sarah's car, thank goodness only the sink was damaged. Had we taken my car a very different outcome would have been likely. The guy was actually mad because the sink flew out of his truck and I ran it over instead of swerving into the other lane where there was traffic.

- There are way better malls in California than Arizona

- California also cares more about the environment than we do here in Arizona. In Palm Springs there is a large wind energy project that is a pretty cool and they have sun buses.

- We are cat sitting for our boss and we don't know when he is coming home and his pool has turned green. I am pretty sure this has something to do with the bad windstorm we had last week but I am choosing to ignore it and say my job was just to keep the cats alive. If they don't come home soon that could be in jeopardy as well. This is day 11 that they have been gone with no word.

- My massage therapist has found damaged nerves in my right arm and shoulder and if I don't do something I may end up with permanent damage. The Dr. has upped the anti-depressants and the anxiety meds and gotten me into the best Dr. around in Yuma (which isn't saying much) the appointment isn't until May though.

- We still have one week of vacation! Tomorrow I am getting a cavity filled and having golf team practice. The hot weather has started so there will be a lot of laying by the pool and sleeping.

- The insurance company is holding my injections hostage just because they can. Tomorrow I have to use my wiles to get them back:-) Or maybe just yell a lot at someone on the phone.

- We went to Trinity United Methodist Church this morning and it was a nice Palm Sunday service with good, old fashioned communion. It was nice to have a familiar service even if we were the youngest people there by 40 years. It was the 8:0 service and I am guessing it is not real popular with the young crowd.

- My grandpa is in the hospital with a blood infection caused by pneumonia and in diagnosing this found a tumor on his rib that appears to be bone cancer. We would appreciate any prayers you want to send up for him and our family.