Memories

I Interviewed at Park Elementary today...
I didn't get to talk with the principal because she was busy addressing a behavior problem with a victim and his parent in her office.

The secretaries were kind, and excited that I told them I had attended Park for a year. They informed me that my kindergarten teacher was still there, teaching first grade.

As the door to the principal's office swung open, I could catch part of the conversation. "Who bit you? Was it Joseph with white skin and blonde hair, or was it YOseph?"

It must've been the later because a chubby Mexican boy walked in to sulk in the corner. I glanced at the kid and gave him the smallest of sympathetic smiles because it was all too familiar of a situation...

"Who bit you? Was it Grace with white skin and curly hair, or was it Graciella?"
...only in my case, it was the former

Trade Secrets

While visiting my family the other day, I mentioned to my mother that perhaps twelve hours was too few. She said,

"Well, Tim's going to be really busy, and when your husband is busier, you get busier so you just have to..."

Joel walked into the room and remarked, "Oooh! letting me in on the trade secrets, eh?!"



Speaking of trade secrets, I've been reading a book lately. It isn't a fun read, but I'm glad I'm doing it. It covers a subject I've been trying to figure out on my own for the past year or so. I feel that it's put my thoughts into words, and has given me more situations and opportunities to apply it to.

The book is called Love and Respect and it does a fairly good job of summing up the main problem in male/female communication (while admitting it probably isn't the ONLY problem).



It states that women need to feel loved most of all, an obvious need that's no surprise. It says that men need to feel respected above all else. I feel I would have to disagree with the choice of the word "respect" but the author is right. Men feel loved by feeling valued as a person, and trusted to do the right thing in a situation.

Most problems are centered around men doing things that women percieve as unloving, and women doing things that men percieve as disrespectful. Basically, each gender needs to think about what they are doing that could be offensive, and work it out with two big scoops of understanding!

End-O-Summer Thoughts and Quotes

Heat, ma'am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones. ~Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir

• The wedding was great! I was very pleased with how everything turned out. One guest is said to have remarked, "This feels just like a movie! And you know what? We're all in it!"

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. ~Bern Williams

• I gained some cool new silver-soldering skills working at Mathew's Gallery in Wichita! It's been great to work alongside new Christian friends.


• Actually visiting parents and inlaws is a new experience for me! It's a little strange, but I like it!


• Tim must be a family man now because he "...traded in his Mustang for a minivan (actually a Volkswagon Jetta with 4 doors)" I'd like to point out that it was Tim's idea originally. We both are happy with its practicality... and the fact that it could kick the Mustang's butt in a race anyday!

Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving--HOW NOT TO DO IT.

~Dickens, Little Dorrit

• I've been fighting my way through the bureaucracy of name-changing in 100 degree weather. After driving all the way downtown and parking in a 75 cent parking garage (I'd like to mention that since it was my third time there, I finally figured out where to park!) ...and after getting through the Wichita Courthouse's metal detectors (this time without my pocketknife) I was told that the social security department isn't in the courthouse, but in an office back on the other side of town... When I finally got there, after driving a few loops, (first missing the street, then the building) I was told to take a number and sit down. I sat down, dazed, among a 50-person crowded waiting room. Needless to say, it was a 50 minute wait.

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~Russel Baker

• School is about to start! Tim is returning to Butler to get a degree, while I am transfering to WSU. Things will be a little crazy for a while. Tim is currently working 2nd shift while I work first. When school starts, he'll be a full time student and work full time (tee-hee! I accidentally typed "Wok full time" ...man, I wish!) In October, we'll switch things up a bit when Tim has to work 3rd shift. We're praying that that will work out okay with minimal stress!

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscapeLay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow