Counting Down the Days

Counting down the days to holidays.

It's already been a long, trying, wearying year with blessings mixed in to make it bearable: A classroom of students who I enjoy teaching and having fun with, friends who make me laugh (and cry), a husband who loves me and learning/study that in another 12 months time I will say, "Yay! I'm done!" to. 

Watching Milly, my lab, walk faithfully behind Andy is so cute and she waits at the door for him while he is putting rubbish in the bin. We've also noticed that she loves to listen to me sing but cowers when Andy begins. When I start singing, she cocks/sways her head from side to side, comes up close, puts her paws on my legs and looks intently at me. She is so cute! The other day I was using photos as an aid for my students to write a descriptive paragraph. One of the photos I used was Milly swimming in a dam (lake-sized) with a tennis ball beside her, jet skis in the background and a gravelly 'beach'. When they were adding in adjectives, the students used 'black' and 'fluffy' but none of them used gorgeous or cute. Yet she is. 

I handed in my last assignment for this subject, one hour and thirty-eight minutes early and was very glad for my friend Sharyn's help as well as for the good mark I got on the last one so that I should finish with a pass. My next subject begins in a month's time from now (after our holiday).

Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated and keep going when you're tired and feeling overwhelmed with the hurts that you're going through. I know that I become super-sensitive and sometimes a simple hug or smile makes me melt. Hearing sad news makes me cry and being far away from people I wish I could be with, is difficult and that in no way, diminishes the love and support I am blessed to receive by my friends here. Tomorrow is Father's Day in the States but not here in Australia. I think of Dave's dad and wish I could go and visit with him. I think of the kids that Dave has 'left behind' and who no longer have the dad who loved them unconditionally and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.

Yesterday being Saturday and me not having any study to do, I decided some retail therapy was needed. Unlike some of my women friends, I don't go clothes, shoes or handbag (purse) shopping. My first stop was Saddleworld, my next stop was Rhonda's Refits (Wrangler, Montana and other 'western gear'), then on to Officeworks where I found a very pretty mouse for my computer - bright pink! I didn't get to Australia Geographic store but all in all, with the purchases I made, I got great bargains. I couldn't choose between two pairs of earrings, so I had the girl behind the check out, hide them behind her back and I chose a hand. I took the earrings home and found out that the back doesn't catch so I will need to take them back and exchange them for the other pair. The bracelet I got from Saddleworld, matches the other 2 I bought a year or so ago. 

     My creative juices were flowing the other night when I was trying to sleep, so I am looking forward to this next week with my students. As well as working them hard, we will also have some end of semester fun. I am hoping they will be successful in arranging a teacher versus students' touch football game with a cheer squad organised for both sides. It should be fun and in this case, it's really not about who will win but how much fun we can have together.

It is really important for me to find and do things that I enjoy when I am finding life tough. It is important to count the days down to 'better' things and to wake up each day knowing that today is going to be a good day. There is a man at squash and he said his philosophy is to not care, that way he doesn't have a bad day and no one can make it bad for him. I can't imagine not caring and I think that caring and loving is what keeps me going. I love coming home from work. I love it that Andy is here and I love it that when I go to Milly, she wags her tail and raises her paw as though to greet me. I love that our neighbourhood is quiet and that there is a small mountain that's within walking distance. I love it that despite the hard times, there are still many things to be thankful for!

P.S. When I go to the dentist during the holidays, I'm going to warn him, "I know I need to floss my teeth more, I know I should have been here sooner, but it's been a tough six months so please use your most reassuring voice and encourage me to come back again in another six months time."