Missed another day. [EDIT: fell right asleep in the middle of writing last night, so I will finish Sunday and Monday this morning.] I was visited by an occupational therapy student who was learning about pediatric cancer. Might be a topic with which I have a bit of familiarity. I referred her to our blogs, of course, and I also tried to talk to her about how things went down with the cancer challenge, in the order in which events occurred.
Harder than expected when my mother was interrupting. I can't get upset, though. She was so involved in the process, and, important to yesterday's meeting, she had 2 of my children asleep on her lap.
I think that before The Boy has his next oncology follow up, I'm going to go through some of the photos of him going through treatment and let him know why he has to go. He has not yet begun to ask us too much about why he does all of this extra medical stuff. Ender goes plenty himself because that's the schedule for a newborn, so maybe The Boy still sees it as normal. Meatball pretty much never goes to the doctor at this point. Thank goodness, and may it stay that way. He goes for check ups. At age 2 and beyond, they go once a year.
Anyhow, I was able to talk to the interviewer and keep pretty cool. Later
on, after she had gone and I was alone upstairs for a bit, I realized that my body was carrying excessive tension.
I don't think that I repress my emotions in an unhealthy fashion; I'm just not such an emotionally demonstrative person. When interacting with my children and husband, there is an exception of course--they get hugs and kisses and are constantly told how I love them and how wonderful they are. However, I'm not usually the one to initiate the friend hugs. That said I'm glad to get them and am happy to reciprocate.
I am thankful for the constitution to soldier on for the well-being of my children. What a blessing that our biggest problems now are underemployment, out-of-control housework, and the occasional attitude problem. I need to show my kids that it's okay to feel emotions and react to them safely, but also that Mom is strong and reliable and can make them feel better by keeping the calm.
The school board public hearing happened last night. This is a forum where city residents can speak before the school board and superintendent. Speakers get 3 minutes. Press the mic button, start talking, and it shuts right off after 3 minutes.
I spoke in defense of my alma mater, a highly successful performing arts program within the city schools. My speech is posted as well. They wanted to do away with adjunct-taught private lessons for music and musical theater students, in the interest of saving money and filling classes. Private lessons are a pull-out, though, and students get them at this school as a part of the curriculum so that everyone is performing at a high enough level to be more than just high school performers. The school district receives a lot of recognition for this school and keeps a lot of families in-district who have the means to go elsewhere. One of the advantages of this big city school district is the ability for different schools to house different career programs and for students to choose based on interest and ability.
I am thankful for having had the opportunity to speak at this forum. I am pleased that there is such decorum and receptiveness. My mother spoke as well; she received thunderous applause for her ending quote: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
Also of note: the neighborhood school where my children will attend, should we stay right here in this neighborhood, had a LOT of representatives discussing their issues. I'm glad to see that the school has so many interested families.
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