MOTIVATION FROM MY MOMs

Hi everyone,
Well people are reading this blog and obviously NOT reading recently since I haven`t written since October 8th.

A lot of you were not shy to tell me I was neglecting my blog and some of you even called me at home to tell me to get writing .
Thank you ! What a compliment. What a motivation to write.

Here `s what I`ll be talking about :
1- My excuse for not writing.
2- A project I`m working on that I KNOW you will love.
3- Literature stuff you`ll see in class.( sec.2 and sec.4)
Here goes : brace yourself, it`s a long one. Do you have 15 minutes ?

What IS my excuse anyway ?
A few reasons but I will explain the major one in a few lines .
Now normally when my students are absent from school, mom or dad have to sign the student`s agenda (page 8) to motivate their absence.
It`s a bit ironic how my absence is due to the fact that my mother or mothers are the reaons why I was absent .
I have two adopted moms : Let`s call them Mary and Susan for the sake of this blog.

Mary is a mom I met 8 years ago in a professional or school context. Circumstances made us grow closer and Mary became a mother figure, a mentor, a friend, a model , a confidant :
a close friend or associate to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed ( dictionary definition ).
She `s also so much more than that. She is my little voice inside my head - my internal mom. She`s the one telling me to slow down, take care of myself, validates what I do and think.
She`s also one of the few I LISTEN TO when it comes to advice !

In September I find out she has breast cancer.
I mentally went nuts. I do not believe it, I don`t want to believe it and I do not even want to think about it !
Then it hit me. It really affected me and was very sad for a long time.
Now, normally in a situation like this I would run to her but I couldn`t. She was the one needing help this time. But how do I help someone with something you know nothing about : breast cancer ?
Well you do what you can .
You encourage them, you pray for them ( I do that a lot lately for her ) .

I also have a second mom : I `ve known Susan for 15 years.
She was the school nurse at school for many years. She now works in a CLSC.
She was also unavailable lately because she was fulfilling her longtime dream : being a nurse in the northern part of Québec ( Natashquan ).
We called and e-mailed each other but nothing is better than actually talking to someone in person. So my 2 moms were unavailable and I was abit saddened by the whole thing.

Susan is back now ! We are actually having coffee together tonight. I can`t wait to hear her stories from her experience way up north.

Do my 2 moms know each other you ask ? Yes they do .

So now you know why I was absent : mentally absent from my blog : the plate was full .
I try as much as possible to be positive in my blog because if you want negative stuff just turn on the news .... and I couldn`t be positive in my blog lately. I needed to step back for a while.

BUT I AM BACK AND WITH A VENGEANCE !!

I have been told I am nuts or crazy ( in a positive way here people !) since I can remember. I accept it. Life is good in Annie`s world and you are welcome in it if you are nice, but I can actually confirm it : Life IS good when you`re a bit bananas.

Here`s the thing : I was working on a personal project when I suddenly thought about my students ( my students have a way of finding their way in my personal life sometimes ) and how they would enjoy the fruits of my personal investigation !!

As I was working on my project I was thinking : What are you thinking, you`re nuts? !
But I continued working on my project anyway thinking I won`t take NO for an answer and will go all the way with this.
And I did and It`s working! I can`t say what it is yet because there are still some details to settle but the bottom line is I got a YES from certain people and I just went nuts.
I don`t know why Pierre didn`t have a heart attack when I got the positive reply.

Here`s how it went down people :
I send an e-mail to some very friendly people on a certain Sunday thinking : I`ll get a negative response but what the heck .
I send them an e-mail on a certain Sunday .
I get a positive response the very NEXT day,Monday.
Are these people nice or what ?
The thing is, I checked my e- mails upstairs Monday night at 10:45 and what I did NOT know is that Pierre is sleeping downstairs on the sofa.
When I read the e-mail and read the positive response I screamed and ran downstairs!
Pierre woke up.
He thought I was having a heart attack !
So when I finally got downstairs yelling OH MY GOD OH MY GOD Pierre thinks I`m having an attack but cannot quite understand why I`m smiling ear to ear at the same time .
I had to wait a few minutes for Pierre to get his blood circulation come back to his head and those were the longest minutes.
Pierre had no idea that I had sent an e-mail and had no clue about my personal investigation.
I wanted to see the reply before talking to him about it.
When I finally could tell Pierre, he was suprised,happy but still mad at me for almost killing him with my reaction .
Now it`s still a top secret thing because like I said, things need to be confirmed .
No the Pope, Céline Dion, Mr.Harper are not coming to school !
They are very inspiring people who I KNOW for a fact will inspire a lot of you : an AHAAAAA moment. Their story is so great and inspiring you won`t want them to leave.
You`ll meet people who were DESTINED to do what they do .
You won`t be disapppointed.

Final point for today. Literature stuff. No no don`t go, it is interesting.
I was almost late for work Friday after lunch because of a short story !
Didn`t eat lunch because of the short story either .
Let me explain :
Friday 12:05, I go home for lunch. Pierre is busy with the school radio so I have the house to myself.
Prepare lunch but before attacking my sandwich I decide to check my e-mails.
And for a reason I don`t remember I end up on one of my favorite websites : an archive of short stories.
One of my favorite short story author is Dorothy Parker. She writes the kind of short stories you read in bed: They`re light , funny and funny.
Anyway, I start reading and really lost track of time. Why ? Because obviously it was good and it was so darn funny.
Next thing I know, it`s 1:05 !
I haven`t eaten but I had one heck of a good read and laughed.
I grab 2 oatmeal cookies and jump ( literally ) in my truck.
What is the title of the short story ?
You`ll have to come and see me.
I will print the story and we will read it in class.
Throughout the story I had one of my sec.4 kids in mind.
When we`ll read it, you`ll surely recognize him. I know he will ! And yes it is a HE.

Here are my new projects :
1- Read the book Double Dutch from an American author I had the pleasure to meet in Montreal a week ago.
This is for my sec.2 kids.
If it`s good, we`ll read it.

2- Truman Capote: American author.
Breakfast At Tiffany`s is a book composed of : a novella ( short novel ) and 2 or 3 short stories.
Mr. Capote was a weird and original man. His biography is really interesting.
Gotta read his stuff, he has a very unique style of writing. Asked Santa Claus for his other books-including the one he never finished because he died before he could . Am I a masochist or what ?

3- I ordered new grammar books ( do want cheese with your WHINE ?) for my sec.4 because they have a BIG ministery exam in January and I want new stuff to prep you guys.
One is titled : Grammar Naturally. Can`t wait to check that one out !

Before I go, I`d like to thank:
Patrick at school for reminding me to write my blog and helping me out with very technical and multimedia stuff. I love you too.

Paul: for personally delivering me a latté in a bowl and panettone in class Friday while I was teaching. You really DID like my caramel. I`ll bring some more when I make some.

Katherine for rubbing her face in my classroom door window just to make me laugh.
Works every time.

Caroline : for being just as excited as I was when I shared my new project with her Tuesday morning in her office. She`s taking care of some stuff for me too.

And finally but not least for 2 special people I can not name: for being nice enough to say yes and giving my kids in class the opportunity to be inspired by real living people.
It will be worth the trip I promise you.

And to Pierre for not divorcing me after the Monday night incident.
I swear I wasn`t trying to kill you !

MUSTANG MOMENT - A MINUTE OF SILENCE PLEASE
Pierre and I can`t wait for April. You guessed it, my 1973 Mustang is in hibernation till then. We get to see her everyday ( it`s so cruel ) but we only get to SEE her .
I miss the sound of the motor, the smell of the leather seats, the wind in my hair, the sound of ACDC playing while I`m driving,the feeling of of driving a REAL car. I know, I know, I need to take my medication.It`s an illness. We bought her new accessories . Too cool.

On that I say TATA, I will be back soon, promised .

Although I love it when you verbally comment my blog, I do like it when you leave a comment.
Come on, leave a comment.

Annie Fröhlich