Thursday, August 27, 2009

Thoughts on "10"

***Please bear with me :)***
I have been mulling in my head (when I have time) ten.
You see there are two milestones occuring this year
revolving around the number ten.
1) Ken and I will celebrate our ten year anniversary!!
2) At the end of this school year I will celebrate ten
years at school!
As I reflect back over the last ten years many things
have occured in mine and Ken's lives. We've gone on
some wonderful vacations to St. Louis--they have a
beautiful garden there, Minneapolis--we went to the
Mall of America a MUST see place, they also have
beautiful gardens, especially The Sculpture Garden
One year we went up to Omaha--we got to go to
a Omaha Royals game (our farm team), The Omaha
Zoo is really nice-not too small, not too big. We
took a two week adventure to the Southwest via
Colorado-then on to Sante Fe, Albuquerque,
Phoenix, Amarillo and Oklahoma. (2004) One of
the things we did in Albuquerque was take a HOT
AIR BALLOONRIDE at the crack of dawn.! We helped
set up the balloon and then off we went over the city.
The sunrise was BEAUTIFUL!
In 2007 we went the other way--to the
Southeast. Memphis--GRACELAND, Nashville--THE
GRAND OLD OPRY, while in Nashville we drove up
to Kentucky and went to MAMMOTH CAVE PARK,
on the way back to Nashville we stopped at THE
CORVETTE MUSEUM--pretty interesting. From
there we went over to Pigeon Forge and stayed in
a CABIN up in the mountains! I wasn't too sure
about this but after staying in a tiny hotel room
and running into the TV at night this was WAY
better. We went all over Pigeon Forge and THE
SMOKEY MOUNTAINS. No DOLLYWOOD for us
I don't ride many rides and we used the money
for a HELICOPTER RIDE--we decided to do this
since we took the balloon ride in the southeast.
Very cool ride-not much into flying but this was
too much to pass up! We continued this trip
in Asheville, North Carolina We spent one glorious
day at THE BILTMORE ESTATE!!! What a grand
house and talk about BEAUTIFUL gardens, they've
got them there! If you haven't been there you must
go it is fabulous. Most of our recent trips have been
here in the city--those long trips take it out of us!
As you see we have traveled a lot, we've reconnected
with people we haven't seen for a while, we've worked
on the house. As we were planning our wedding and
moving me over from the Missouri side Mr. Ken gets a
bee in his bonnet that we should paint the house (as if
we didn't have enough to do). Now in Ken's mind it was
ONLY going to take two weeks to prime AND paint the
house! It took two weeks to paint the back of the house!
Needless to say many weekends you could find us paint-
ing clear up to October and yes wedding plans were still
going on for that December.
We've had fun and also our share of sorrow--Ken lost his
Mom three years ago and I lost mine two years ago this
December. We miss these wonderful women--without
them we would not be the people we are today. I also
lost one of the bestest friends I've had ten years ago.
Joy was a character--loved her dearly.
Time ticks on and the years go by so fast--I thought it
would take forever to get to five years, well that time
flew by fast As we were settling into marriage I was
starting a new phase in my career in Education-I went
from Preschool Special Ed. to Elementary Special Ed.
Two different worlds let me tell you! As time has ticked
by the Special Ed world has changed too. We are seeing
more children diagnosed with Autism and more lower
functioning children. We've had children functioning as
low as an infant to almost their chronological age with
mild issues. In these past ten years I can really think
of four students that I was happy to pass on.
One was just down right mean, one had a period on time
when he could be aggressive, one screamed ALL the time
it seemed and one was a "runner"--a lot of door watching
with him. I do love seeing a student come in and watch
them grow over the school year!!
The last ten years can be summed up as:
I live, laugh and love each and every day. Some days are
better that others but we go on. I'm looking forward to
ten more with Ken and ten more after that. He is a
wonderful husband and friend and I wouldn't trade him
for NOTHING! As far as work goes we'll see what happens
at the end of this school year.
I told you I've done some mulling! If you made it through
this THANKS!
~Keep on Dreaming~

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like some great vacations!

    We love to travel to the southeast, specifically Gulf Shores, AL. (We are ocean people, although Chris is a huge fan of the mountains.) BK (before kids) we would do a summer trip to the Gulf and a winter trip to the Rockies. Miss those days, but love my kiddos!

    I quit teaching one year shy of my 10th anniversary...since I like even numbers I'm kind of bummed about that, but I'll eventually returen and teach 10+ more! LOL

    House painting...yuck! Ours is in desperate need, but no motivation (or money!). Our house is white so you wouldn't think it would fade, but indeed it has.

    Take care and have a great Friday!!!

    Valerie

    P.S. Thanks for the kind birthday wishes!

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  2. Hi! Thanks for visiting That Old House today - and congrats on ten years with your hubby. It sounds as if you two are very happy. Those are some great vacations you described. My only helicopter ride was 'way back when I was a radio reporter and got to go up in a chopper with the New York environmental commissioner to look at an oil spill in the ocean. I was TERRIFIED. The pilot and the commissioner were wearing helmets -- but they didn't have one for me! Eeek.

    I think the work you do is amazing -- a true calling. As for house painting, That Old House needs paint -- bad!-- and we'd hoped to do that this past spring but it's just too expensive this year. Oh well. I don't take closeup pictures of the house!

    All the best -- Cass

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  3. What wonderful memories you are making. In today's terms a ten years is a milestone. Yes, we have all had THOSE students, no guilt necessary. Our class was Middle School SE and today it does my heart good to know some are living productive lives. An autistic student is in his second year of college and made the deans list. Others hold full time jobs and have families. You never know how important the seeds you plant are. You are makin' a difference. Enjoy your 10's and have a restful week-end.

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  4. Happy 10 yr anniversary!. Time does fly by, especially when you sit back and ponder the years.
    I have been married 33yrs and really I don't know where the time went. Life is always so busy.
    Sounds like you two have really enjoyed your last ten years. Cheers to you both for another 10 happy ones.
    Have a wonderful weekend,
    Elizabeth

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  5. Congratulations on your anniversary -- lots of great trips --

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  6. Ten years is quite a milestone. COngrats! :) Your philosophy mirrors mine quite a bit. Life is too short-enjoy! :) It is easier some days than others though. Hope your weekend is crazee awesome.

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