GRRRR!

I was in the hallway walking to my last class of the day. The commotion in the classroom seemed a little louder and boisterous than normal. As I walked through the door I was reminded that there would be a sub today. I looked over to see a familiar face.

Flashback...about two months ago.

I was sitting in my normal chair that was in the sight line of my student and where the teacher normally stood. The sub seemed busy so the opportunity to introduce myself slipped away. I saw her walking my way and was ready to finally introduce myself when she sternly said "YOU KNOW YOUNG LADY THAT YOU SHOULD NOT BE SITTING THERE, YOU GET TO YOUR SEAT RIGHT NOW" One by one the students chimed in before I could get a word in edge wise..."that's not a student! That's Miss Bowlyay!" I informed her that I was the interpreter and I introduced the student who I worked with to her. She apologized (she probably felt embarrassed about how snippy she was with me).

Present day

Surely that last encounter was etched in her memory forever, I thought to myself...no need to introduce myself once again, she already knows who I am. I sat in my normal chair in the front of the classroom facing the students. I scolded the students for being so dang disrespectful to the sub. I was interpreting everything the sub said. The students asked me questions about the work and I helped them (because that is the relationship we established...I help when I can). The sub gave me the attendance roster to see if all the kids were there...I thought that she thought that the kids could not be trusted so she just had me (a staff member) do her the favor of taking attendance.

My student worked diligently the entire class period. She works at a pretty slow pace but she was doing a great job. The sub came up to me and said could you two do me a favor...could you hurry up and get the work in? You only have about a half an hour left til the bell rings, right?!?
I responded...well actually we leave twenty minutes earlier than the rest of the kids.
WELL YOU TWO GIRLS BETTER GET YOUR WORKED TURNED IN!
All the students busted out laughing. I did everything I could not to roll my eyes and in the nicest way possible explained to her that I was staff and that this had happened before (where she mistook me as a student). She said that she didn't remember. I refreshed her memory and she realized her mistake.

So much for learning from your mistakes! I guess what I don't understand is that
I was dressed in nice work clothes...I was signing, helping some students and scolding others...how is it not super obvious that I am a staff member?!? And furthermore why would a sub yell at a special ed student for not turning their work in a half hour before the class is over? The entire time the kids were rudely commenting on how ancient the sub was..saying that her teeth were going to fall out of her head...I scolded them...she ignored them...and out of all the people to get snooty with she decided to get snooty with me. FOR THE SECOND TIME...grrrrr!

Sad Stuff

When I got back from Christmas break I overheard the teacher telling the students that something sad had happened while we were all away on our vacations. She said that one of the students (we'll call her K) had been in an accident and that she was "gone". One sentence later she was introducing the new student as if the new student had replaced the one who died. It seemed as though it hardly phased anyone. The whole day I was thinking about K and all the conversations we had. I thought how sad it was that her life was cut short. But, for me, what was even more sad was that people just moved on with their lives or so it seemed. Maybe it wasn't the right setting for everyone to sadly reminisce about K's life or maybe people just don't know how to react to death but I just felt this extreme sadness and I wished I knew if others were experiencing the same.

Fast Forward: Two Weeks Later

My cousin's wife Heather had been struggling with cancer for a while. I was supposed to see her at Christmas Eve but I had a bad cold and would have made it worse if I visited her in that condition. She was supposed to come to my wedding as well but she was too weak to come.

On Monday I just had one of those bad days. My friend had told me something in the morning before work that caused me to be on the verge of tears for the entire day. After work I had to pick up Joel at the tire store. I couldn't keep the tears in anylonger so with teary eyes we continued to look for tires for Joel. We had gone to three more stores and couldn't find what he was looking for. When we finally found the tires we needed we realized that we couldn 't afford them unless we used a bunch of gift certificates that we had gotten from our wedding plus money that I didn't really have. I was clearly having a rough day.

Some time in the middle of running all our errands I noticed that I had a voice mail. It was my mom informing me that Heather had passed away. I was thinking of what a crappy and frustrating day I had and then I thought of my cousin Scott who just lost his wife at the age of thirty-four. I can't even imagine what he is going through. I wish I could understand death. I wish I could just say that K and Heather are in a better place now and be satisfied with that. I will never understand why some people have long full lives while other lives are cut short, but what I have learned for sure is that life (short or long) is an amazing gift from God. It's easy to get consumed by the frustration of life and the rough days but I have to remember how blessed I am to have life now and even after I die.

Woot Woot There are Deaf People in Gulfport!

Last Saturday I was invited to go an RID meeting (Yes...they have RID down here...who knew?!?). I met some other interpreters. They seemed super nice and I look forward to getting to know them more. I haven't met any nationally certified interpreters yet but the ones I did meet were state certified. After the meeting we went out to dinner and I got to hang out with a bunch of terps and two Deaf ladies. Then we all went back to the "Dynamic Bro Duo" performance. They are two Deaf brothers who do a comedy show! It was amazing how many Deaf people were there...I didn't think that many lived in Mississippi. I am excited now...Mississippi isn't a Deaf desert like I thought! Woot Woot!

Monday Morning

Just got back from a great three day honeymoon. I forced myself to go to bed early so I could wake up at the butt crack of dawn to go to work. Get dressed...drive 45 mins to work. I think to my self...boy it looks pretty empty. Sign in. The teacher says.."oh you don't have to be here it's a staff development day and the student's arent here".

DOH!

Rewind...three months ago.

Joel: Honey I really want to go on a four day cruise for our honeymoon. Can you get that Monday after New Year's off?
Sarah: No way...I already took all these days off for other weddings I can't take another day off.
Joel: Are you sure? Come on just see if you can get it off.
Sarah: NO..I AM NOT TAKING IT OFF...let's just go somewhere for three days.

Back to present day.
Doh...could have taken a four day cruise. But it actually worked out better because he didn't have to take more leave days...and now we can save those for our real honeymoon in the summer.

Cold Hard Evidence

Exhibit A. Pin Curls!

Exhibit B. My guests were cold.

Worry Wart

You would think that now that the wedding and all the planning is over the worrying would cease as well. Not so much, when you are worry wart like me. I can't stop worrying...thoughts keep cycling in my head like..."all the guests at my wedding were freezing and wearing scarves"..."now that I've seen pics I realized that the back of my head looked like an old lady wearing curlers"...and then I think I am going to look like an old lady in all my wedding pics. I am driving myself crazy. I think I am driving Joel crazy too! Grrr! Is this normal? I try to focus on all my cool friends who came to share the special day and the fact that I am married to a wonderful man...in the end old lady hair and cold guests don't really matter I guess! :)