I can’t believe he will be in high school in a matter of months! He was at his last school for ten years ( pre-k and kindergarten), so while leaving may be bittersweet, I’m sure he is looking forward to a change of pace and new faces. Kudos to my baby!
Tuesday morning, right in front of my classroom, a student went into cardiac arrest. My room is in a pretty isolated part of the building. Luckily I was in the hall when he fell. I ran to get the nurse. The nurse and school police officer performed CPR on him until the paramedics arrived. I am trained in CPR and was next in line if either of them tired.
It was a very intense, scary scene for well over 30 minutes. He had to be shocked twice as well as receive other life-saving procedures. It was deja vu in a sense. I could not stop crying as I watched the paramedics work so hard to save his 19-year-old life. The school police officer was also equally shook up having lost his own 17-year-old son a few months prior.
He was finally rescuitated and transported to the hospital. Wednesday he had open heart surgery to repair faulty valves. If necessary, they may install a pacemaker.
I wondered why I had to bear witness to this trauma. It brought back so many painful memories. This was also the day I ran into my SIL’s husband. And of course, before I went to sleep that night, I saw a commerical on television and the man’s name was the same as my husband’s.
Yesterday on the way home for school Nicholas was telling me that their principal asked them to pray for one of the 8th grader’s brother who had a heart attack at school. I didn’t go into details but I told him that I was aware of what happened because it happened right in front of me. He seemed very surprised–and actually I was, too. What a small world we live in.
Neither one of us mentioned my husband, but I’m sure he was thinking about him as I was.
But it also made me appreciate first responders even more. They are so efficient, composed, and determined to save lives. I saw this firsthand with my husband as well as with the young man. I really have a lot of respect and admiration for what they do. They are as important, if not more so, than doctors.
Our principal announced that this story will be covered by the news. However, I don’t want to be in the limelight and will make sure I am unavailable when they do come.
Some say that there is a message in everything, but I have no idea of what it could be in this case.
I was reading end-of-the-year reflections written by my students and came across this gem. One line in partcular stood out in a paper written by Roberto, an ENL student, I don’t regret what I did, I regret what I didn’t do. How thought-provoking!
Today Kierra turns 15. She is such the little lady. I met Kierra about three months before she turned two. We have grown up together. I was a fresh 21 then. (Uh oh…I’m telling my age!) We connected immediately and I was fortunate to have met her at that stage in her life.
Last night we went out to eat at Famous Daves to celebrate. Mmmmmm…..they have the best cornbread muffins! Ian, Imani, Kierra, and Husband loved tasting the different sauces. Kierra and Husband got a kick out of the looks on Ian and Imani’s faces when they insisted on tasting the Devil’s Spit sauce. I tried to warn them that it was really hot. But these are the same kids that enjoy eating Flaming Hot Cheetos and Flaming Hot Funyuns. I guess the chips didn’t have a thing on the Devil’s Spit!
On our way home we stopped at Claires to get Kierra a tiara to wear to school today. She wanted me to help pick it out. When we got home we discussed possible outfits for her to wear. This year she is with Christine so we will not see her today. I told her to send me lots of pictures via her cell phone.
During spring break I scheduled a spa day with her. My mom and sister-in-law are going along as well. We are getting massages, manicures, and pedicures. The Spa we are going to has a resturant so we plan on eating lunch there. We couldn’t figured out what to get her so I came up with this idea. Hopefully she has a blast and we all can relax and enjoy being pampered.
Yesterday my son’s 5th grade class had lunch at Benihana’s. They won this privilege after donating the most pounds of pasta to Second Helpings. I asked Nicholas about his experience. He told me how much he loved seeing the cool tricks performed by the chef.
Upon entering the restaurant, he noticed an advertisement for a beverage, a Lemon Mojito to be exact. Used to seeing Trader Joe’s (non-alcoholic) Sparkling Mojito in our fridge, he simply thought it was a lemon version of this same drink.
When it was Nicholas’ turn to order his beverage, “I’ll have a Lemon Mojito, please” he said. Amused I asked what he teacher thought about his premature request. She said “Well, I don’t think your quite old enough for that drink,” as she explained to him that it contained alcohol!
At least he said “please!”
Today is another snow day for me, but not for Nicholas. Even with all the work we did yesterday shoveling snow, I still had a difficult time getting off of our street. However, I managed to get him to school safely. Good thing they are not marking tardies today!
We have about 9 inches of snow and are expected to receive more today! Snow is really pretty when you don’t have to be out in it! Later I plan to take Jazmine and Nicholas outside to play.
Yesterday I was dismayed to learn that a couple of guys were robbing children at gun point on bus stops for…lunch money!!! Is that not the craziest thing you’ve ever heard? One of the kids was even pistol whipped by the robbers! They also demanded cell phones, Ipods, and other things of value.
I don’t even care that we will have to make this day up at the end of the year! It was such a sweet and unexpected surprise to hear the news anchor report that our school district had no school today! You have to understand that our superintendent must be vying for the No Snow Day Under My Watch award because he rarely closes down—no matter what the weather conditions are. But today it happened to be -27 below.
Luckily Nicholas had a snow day as well!
I was able to sleep in for some much needed rest. I have no idea how I will “seize” the rest of the day. No worries, I will find a way!
Morocco's Bazaar 