Free Day!
Today I didn't have to work! I've spent the last week or so grading high school essay tests and I felt like I was losing my mind. I mean, it's great to work from home, but you can only ready sophomore essays for so long before you start to lose it.
I am visiting my best friend's mom for a week, she lives where I used to teach high school. So today we went to the school to visit a few of my friends with the twins in tow. It was fun to see everyone, but really the best part was dropping into a senior English class and seeing my former students. Most of them had been my students either when we were doing the fertility treatments or during the twin pregnancy. So it is almost like they have been with me for so long. They also were freshmen the year my mom died. So they know me quite well. The high school where I taught is very small, in a rural town with one street and no stop light. So everyone knows each other and teaching is a lot like having a family at school. I don't know what is like to teach at a big school, but I loved teaching at this small school. It really made me miss my students.
Anyhow, the kids were excited to see the twins. Most students are Hispanic, from Mexico, and they love kids and family more than the white kids typically. So they had a lot of questions about what it was like to have two little ones. They wanted to know what I did when both kids were crying and wanting to be picked up. (Um, pick them both up.) It's funny the questions kids ask.
Next we drove into 'town' to see the grandparents. This is always fun because they love the babies and they are just funny. We have to go before 4:30pm because after that time Grandpa starts drinking...no joke. They are both in their late 80s and have been married forever. They have the funniest little rituals. For example, they only use one napkin per day. The napkin stays at their placemat on the table. After every meal it gets refold and set down to wait for the next meal.
Today the kids were toddling around, trying to touch everything they shouldn't. Willy went straight for the coffee table and started pulling Kleenex off the table. That would have been fine if it was unused Kleenex - but I believe they weren't. Apparently there is also a one-per-day Kleenex rule ...
We stopped for ice cream back in our little country town and a teacher friend stopped in when he saw us. It was great, he's a great friend and I was happy to have a minute to catch up. He and his wife have been having trouble getting pregnant. It is so hard to see that, because we tried for so many years and treatments before the twins arrived. So we talked about that again, and I recommended they both get acupuncture (sp?). I hope they will try it. I know it sounds crazy, but we did everything - and no babies. One round of fertility drugs (not IVF, just the shots to drop multiple eggs) and IA - and we got a set of boys. So I hope he'll consider it. Some of the private IVF clinic are even adding actupuncture to their treatment programs because it works.
This evening I ran into town for dinner with my dad and his 'new' family. It was fine. His new wife has this crazy backstory and baggage that I am too tired to write about tonight, but it is always entertaining. She's about 10 years older than me, so there's also a little nugget of information to start piecing together your visual. Whatever, thank god I don't live here anymore. Now I understand why people move away from their biological family members, especially when they all seem crazy. <grin>
I'm exausted and we have another full day of 'vacation.' I think next time I come to town, I am not going to tell anyone. <grin>
-- Sam
