April Showers Bring May Flowers.
A power outage at school created chaos among my charges. The candle lit room was quite cozy, but it got too warm all too soon and no fans were to be had. The first class I had in was calm and the spelling words went off without a hitch. Enter fourth grade math class. The hooligans tried everything they could do out of the ordinary and their teacher was ready to send them outside to run off their energy. I have decided that I quite like order and schedule! Order and schedule create stability in the fourth grade children, or shall I say as much stability as is entirely possible!
A McDonald’s M&M McFlurry and a late night drive with the windows down is something I appreciate. How good it is to feel the breeze through your hair and listen to it whistle through the vehicle. It gets me excited for summertime! A few days later the temperature dropped below freezing and it snowed, IN APRIL! How nice it would be to live somewhere with weather that wasn’t as chaotic as ours.
Why is it so nice to sit around a dining room table with the youth group instead of sitting in a living room and balancing your plate of food in your lap? It is quite nice to sit around family style and what conversations you can have! I learned quite a few things. For instance, we have some world travelers in our midst if only they could afford to actually travel the world. Dimples are cute. That’s pretty universal. Some people like big noses while others who have big noses prefer smaller ones. Are Kansas and Ohio equally bad or is Kansas worse or is Ohio worse?
Wedding bells rang and the blustery sky threatened rain the morning of M&K’s big day. It had rained badly enough that roads were blocked due to floods. Getting around was interesting for sure. The volleyball games were sometimes intense and sometimes lowkey. The company that had come were friendly and it was an enjoyable time all around. The wedding itself was beautiful. The choir sang the good old faithful wedding songs and they were gorgeous. As the bridal party walked in, they all looked so young. The oldest person being the twenty-two year old best man whose birthday just happened to be on the wedding. Tears were shed, the couple was finally married, and the joy on their faces was evident. And then, the serving of the bridal table. Thankfully there were four of us serving as the table consisted of both of the couple’s families. We servers rushed to and fro and didn’t drop any dishes or spill anything on anyone. It was quite fun aside from the hurting feet. Pro tip if you ever serve a bride’s table: do NOT wear heels! You do a lot more back and forth then when you serve a regular table and, consider that you are always going as fast as you can. No slow stepping for us! The couple drove away in a very jacked up old Ford ranger. The bride had to jump to get up! As they drove out of the church yard, she was seen laying her head on his shoulder. That got cheers and yells from the people standing around. And just like that, another chapter in life has turned.
While on a little coffee shop date one evening, my friend surprised me with the news that she is getting married. It is safe to say that I gave a very good reaction. I knew there was one she liked but little did I know that her dream had come true. I valiantly held the tears at bay as she told me the story. As Jane Austen once said, “It is such a happiness when good people get together.” How overjoyed I am for her and this new journey of joy, but at the same time, it is sad to think how everyone seems to be moving on and away. Life went on, but it was never the same again. Another bridal shower to plan and more wedding shenanigans! This summer should prove to be a busy one since love seems to be wafting over my friends.
As the title of this blog states, April showers bring May flowers. Unless of course, it rains so hard that everything floods and then it freezes causing dangerous roads and the freshly sprouted flowers to droop and die. As I type this, rain streaks the windows and the sun is scared to show his face. It seems as though the sky is weeping. One student asked why it kept on raining and why the sun didn’t shine. I told her, “Oh it’s just spring in Ohio!”
One week brought us the joy of achievement tests. I helped the second graders with their tests and I will say it was quite different to working with fourth or sixth graders. The snacks at morning breaks were enjoyed by all and some thought we should do that everyday. It does seem that everyone was quite glad when the tests were done and we could get back to regular schedule!
As I have been rereading the Anne of Green Gables series, here is a quote that impressed me.
"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string."