Last week was crazy, this week is quiet.  Quiet is good.  Very good.

Project 1:  The Tower Garden

We are enjoying all the lettuce from our garden and I have a few string beans to harvest.  I’m the only one that has had the joy of eating the strawberries.  Each time I see a ripe one I grab it and keep it for myself.  Sharing has never been one of my strong suits. 

Tower Garden: Week 7 (I think)

Tower 2 remains plantless.  My efforts at starting seedlings went well and then moved right in to epic FAIL.  I have ordered some strawberry plants for the first 4 rings and will make a new attempt at “hatching” watermelon, cucumber and canteloupe seeds for the lower rings.

We have had 2 slight complications with tower 1.  Both involving zucchini.  Problem #1… something was munching on or messing up the leaves.  I have been using Organicide for bugs and some other organic remedy for the powdery mildew that plagues squash/cucumbers/etc.  But I don’t think I kept up with the schedule right.  So I removed the munched on leaves and things seem well now.

Problem #2 is that we get little zucchinis forming and then they disappear.  Nothing has eaten them, they just fade away.  After a few weeks of this, Dana and I have come to the conclusion that we lack a basic understanding of the mating practices of zucchini.  I’ll head out to the Living Towers place tomorrow and ask why my zucchini aren’t…. ahem….. doin’ the deed.

Project #2:  Cloud Chaser

I am really enjoying this knit.  It takes some concentration on my part but not as much as lace.  So I can actually knit and watch a little t.v. etc.  Love the pattern and so far, I’m still okay with the yarn.

Cloud Chaser (Back)

All is well with the footies that I’m knitting but those are basically my project for waiting in the car rider line at Anna Grace’s school.  And since this week is spring break….. no progress. 

Project #3:  Being a Grown Up

I didn’t have the kind of childhood or high school experience that I look back on and say “those were the good ol’ days”.  Not even close.  I wouldn’t go back for anything.  Heck, most friends can’t even get me  to agree to drive across that county line.

One issue in high school was a teacher who determined what your value was based on whether you were on one of his athletic teams or if you were from one of the town’s wealthy families.  I had to be in this guy’s classes for three years and didn’t fall (by a long shot) into either one of those categories.  Life was hell.

To top it off, this guy taught physics, chemistry, subjects I would have to work hours and hours on to just make a C.  But.. I did.  Entire family disappointed that I only made a C but I knew I had worked as hard as humanly possible.  After three years I was thoroughly convinced that I was the dumbest person on the planet.

During my junior year (I think) I became quite ill with the flu and missed a lot of school.  Mr. Wonderful Teacher would not let me return to class until I completed a lab experiment that I had missed.  He announced this in front of the class, removed me from the class and sent me to the hill in front of the library.

With an egg.

A raw egg.

I spent an enormous amount of time rolling an egg, a raw egg, down a concrete hill, timing how long it took and trying to calculate the velocity of the egg or some such foolishness that I didn’t understand.  Each time the egg broke, I had to go back in front of my entire class and ask for another egg.

I broke 4 eggs.

After my 4th failed attempt, Mr. Wonderful Teacher stood me in front of the class, patted me on the head and said “Don’t worry sweetheart.  Pregnant housewives don’t need to know this”.    I was humiliated, my mother (who never got involved in school things) was irate and I just wanted to disappear.  A meeting was held with Mr. Wonderful Teacher and he looked at me and my mother and said that he had only spoken the truth because girls from my neighborhood would only become pregnant housewives or end up in prison.  He walked out of the room, nothing was done about the whole thing, I wanted to disappear.  Three months later, Mr. Wonderful Teacher was voted teacher of the year. (Nope, not kidding!)

I never forgot what happened and each time I struggled in college, had a set back, I wondered if Mr. Wonderful Teacher was actually right about me.  Then one day I realized it wasn’t kids from my neighborhood, kids like me, who didn’t have value.  The only thing that didn’t have value was the assessments of people like Mr. Wonderful Teacher.   I can do all things through Christ…. even overcome the negative prophecies of the outwardly arrogant snooty snoots from that-county-which-will-not-be-named. 

Fast forward 26 years….

Today I sat down to read the paper and saw an interesting headline.  About a teacher.  A suspended teacher.  Seems someone decided to slap a student.  Paper claims they never acted that way before but I had seen them act that way… in 1984….and 1985…..and 1986…..

Seems life finally caught up to Mr. Wonderful Teacher.  And if I were a grown up and had truly moved on, I would not let it affect me for the good or for the bad.   And if I were a grown up, I would not find pleasure in the downfall of others.  And if I were a grown up, I wouldn’t have emailed the info to every human being I know.  And if I were a grown up and had been able to really leave the past behind, I wouldn’t have blogged about it.  And if I were a grown up I wouldn’t have been giggling myself silly and doing the happy dance all day.

I still have a lot of work to do if I ever want to be a grown up. 

I’ll start working on that.

Tomorrow.