Wednesday was full of laughter, as I shared amusing moments from California with Henry, like my biking adventures(slipping around on sand, but falling in love with cycling) and when Ashley told me, "Henry probably just takes you to movies so you'll shut up." Wait, what? Henry laughed very hard, which made me giggle, since he has an infectious laugh. I also had to send one of my most gifted students outside this week because he persisted in asking me, "Pourquoi?" (why) However, leading up to that point and even after, the class and I shared lots of good natured hilarity. It's difficult to explain the chemistry a teacher can have with certain classes and students, but 3rd period is loaded with quirky, creative and challenging(in a positive way) kids. Many of them immediately bonded with my off the wall teaching style, unlike 4th period where I rarely feel like I can be myself. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?
On the genealogical front, my late mother-in-law's biological mother (pictured above) Beatrice Davidson Millar had a son, Jack who is 88, and living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He would like me to call him, according to his niece, but I have no idea how to do that without paying 50 cents per minute. Thus, I sent him a long letter after I returned from California. Honestly, I'm working up the courage to even talk to him since I didn't want him contacted in the first place. I just wanted to find him! This has been a good lesson to me to be careful about which closets to open. sigh On the bad news front, Henry's mom is failing, and will probably need to move into an assisted living facility or in with him. He doesn't think she would do well in assisted living, so that will mean a lot of changes for him (and his girls)...and us. That's the issue with meeting and caring about a good man. He truly is a wonderful person, and I am pretty sure(never 100%) that he wants to be with me, and plans on a future together, whatever that means. But who ever knows? And I dread seeing him even less than I already do. :(
I found a bunch of pictures of Huntington Gardens on my actual camera and realized again that the beauty of moments can never be captured in a photo. Last night, my parents' long time neighbor and wonderful friend of the family brought them gorgeous flowers, and told them that she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Pat has been at every one of our family events: weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and even Patt's memorial, although she had lost her own husband to mesothelioma(a type of lung cancer) at age 65. Sometimes the unfairness of circumstances makes me absolutely furious and despairing. But I try to honor the message of these wise words from one of my favorite books:
To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life. To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to. -The Art of Racing in the Rain
