Graduation

So, I did it!!! I graduated with a Master's of Science in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction. Sound like a mouthful? What if I told you I was overall outstanding graduate student in my graduate program? Yeah, they don't give awards for humbleness in grad school and if they did, I'd get zero. But I'm proud of myself I worked my ass off and made straight A's in all of my graduate classes. But the thing of it is, I probably wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been surrounded by such amazing people, some of whom are pictured below. This is the Social Studies cohort aka my current job competition :) I'm just kidding. They are lovely and they challenge me to be a better teacher.

Friday at the hooding ceremony I warned my friend Matt that I was about to scream loudly for Audrey whose name was about to be called . He asked me who she was and I responded "she's my soul-sister." I don't know how else to describe her but she is one of the best people I have ever been lucky enough to call a friend and one of a handful of people whom I call soulmates because God intended our souls to meet. She will make an amazing counselor one day, after she returns from being Jesus' hands and feet in Kenya for the next few years. She is an amazing gal, I tell ya.

 

 

And these two lovely ladies are "the Marys." We were the three girls in our cohort grad program so I, too, have answered to Mary for the last year or so just to make it easier for everyone. These are two of the smartest most driven women I have met and they have become 2 of my closest friends. They are cheering me on through Harry Potter and I can already tell you our summer book club is going to be epic!

My brother and sister were, likely, bored out of their minds through the graduate awards ceremony and then the hooding ceremony. They were also quite disappointed that the hooding ceremony didn't actually mean that I wore my hood on my head so they fixed that for me.

 

 

I've already bragged on the bearded man on facebook but I'll do it again here, what the hell. His birthday is tomorrow after all so I'll throw him a bone. :) Drew organized the best eva' grad weekend on the river and invited all of my family and friends there to celebrate. He has cheered louder and harder than anyone for me these last two years. The thing about me being done is, as our history suggests we take turns going back to school so the ball is in your court, dear.

 

Deno and Big Mommy as they are affectionately called by Ike. They got all sappy on me this weekend. The thing about being 3 hours away is they had no clue what I'd been doing all this time. (I think mostly they thought I'd just been backsliding). But I was so glad that they got a glimpse into all of the hard work I've put in over the last 2 years. They are my best ole' goody thangs and always will be.

These two gals came to my grad party on Saturday and dragged their loved ones along with them. When I say I've never had a choice in whether or not to be friends with them, I mean it. I was born with these 2 friends and they have never left my side. I am lucky to still have them be such a big part of my life 25 years later. (I have other lifelong friends too but they're busy doing thing like grad school at Columbia and chasing adorable little blue-eyed toddlers around).

 

This was the lovely view from our porch.

And this is Deno getting frustrated teaching me to fly fish...in the yard....with no fly. I so desperately wanted to be a natural at fly-fishing but that was not the case. I've been talking for months about learning to fly fish after graduation but I think it's safe to say I won't be winning any awards for my fly-fishing abilities.

 

These 2 were little angels all weekend but after the party we were all pooped.

 

I was so grateful to all of my family and friends who travelled to celebrate with me unfortunately the rain kept us from getting as many pictures as I would have liked with everyone but tt was an awesome weekend and I couldn't have asked for better! Now onto much more time spent doing this..... Cute, huh?

Thankfulness Recently

Lately, I'm grateful for:

Friends who can enjoy some trivia after a successful semester.

A good book that I can read for pleasure and still learn from.

A (discounted) membership at the YMCA to whip this butt into shape after the holidays (and hopefully help my cyber Monday jeans to fit a little better).

4 hour long car ride conversations with my husband.

Memories of past holidays with my mamaw and the ability to cling to them this year.

A snuggly puppy to be lazy with on my days off.

Time to reflect on the Christmas season before rushing all around during the holiday.

A Packer's comeback victory over the Cowboys.

Getting Christmas cards in the mail every day.

Pictures of this cutie patootie in her new hat.

And I'm thankful for a family who will still gather without our matriarch to honor and remember her this Christmas.

Hope you all are enjoying this holiday season and not feeling overwhelmed or rushed. Take a moment to breathe in the winter air and listen to this song, it will help remind you why this season is important.

 

Thankfulness Lately

I'm sorry for having been MIA these past few weeks. Adjusting to this new schedule with grad school and blocking has been a tough transition but I have a few moments today so I'll catch you up.

Lately I'm thankful for

• Famer's Market Saturdays and the meals that come from them.

 

• Having a group of teenagers I get to spend 3 days a week with, whom I can lovingly call "my kids" to Drew. They are everything I hoped they would be and I am so glad I ended up in this career.
• For Starbucks, which is how I get through my Wednesdays.
• 
   
• I'm thankful for a husband who does laundry and then puts my USB in rice because he accidentally washed it.
• I'm thankful for a dog who looks like this sometimes (and is recently on a diet per vet's orders)
• 
• Music. These are the songs I listen to on repeat everyday: Unclouded Day, Methamphetamine, Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue, People Turn Around, Take 'Em Away
• I'm thankful for the uncomfortableness blogger is telling me that's not a word but I don't care of visiting new churches
• I'm thankful for fantasy football. Man that was a good idea, even though I suck.

 

• I'm thankful for phone calls to NYC to talk to my very best friend.
• I'm thankful for a husband who looks like this:
• And who the very next day, on a dare, parted his hair in the middle and slicked it down for work. Looking much like Dwight Schrute. Oh that boy.
• I'm thankful for fall and all that comes with it. Namely: cider, sweaters, boots, soup, and pot pie.

 

• I'm thankful for chilly Friday nights in Blacksburg, talking about where the wind is blowing us next.
• 
   

I promise to be more present in the future. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to talk to you about my awesome kids on here, it's gonna be a bit difficult.

 



 

Feeling Small

I've been awake for about an hour, sitting at my desk finishing up summer class work. My desk looks out into our yard. Ike sits in the chair to my right and watches the happenings outside of the window. Every day we watch lots of birds. That's pretty standard.

But in the last twenty minutes we have seen  a mama deer pass through the yard, just taking her sweet time. Then we had our Mr. Cottontail, whom we love as long as he stays on this side of the house away from the garden. Ike followed the bunny rabbit watching him from 4 different windows in the house and I followed right behind him to make sure Mr. Cottontail crossed the street safely.

Here I sit consumed by the three papers that I have two days to write and God reminds me how small all of that is. There is a whole wide world happening around me. Animals who are taking advantage of this longest day of the year and are out and about while I sit here like a caged animal. They are free to roam, sure they have dangers (for Bambi's mom my husband is one of them) but they can go anywhere. They can feed off of plenty of gardens in these parts and as I ponder on it, why shouldn't they? as long as they leave a little for us

I get so consumed with this list:

and others like it that I sometimes become consumed with crossing things off of it and forget to do anything that hasn't been qualified as good enough to make that list.


Yesterday with these two was an excellent reminder of that:

Nothing like a day with old friends and new babies to bring things into perspective again.

I usually cringe when people go on and on about being blessed because it comes across as braggy. But in certain ways we truly are all blessed. To be able to be a minuscule part of this great big world and to have a small part in it for a short time. That is God's gift to us, don't waste it siting at a desk and forget what's important.

Happy Summer Solstice, try to get outside for a few hours today that is why God gave us this longest day of the year.

Life in the Fast Lane

Only not really, it's kind of like life on foot around here lately. I'm down to one more week of my tough summer classes and my formerly rising at 8:00 a.m. to work all day self is back to her old ways. In fact I just got a 96 on a paper I wrote on a book I didn't read. That's classic under-grad Meg peeps. I'm not proud of it but it's summertime and when there's an afternoon thunderstorm like there is today I don't want to be reading about the judicial process in Virginia. I want to either be napping, watching one of the multiple documentaries suggested to me by you fine people or re-runs of The Office on Netflix, or reading something I'm interested in like this little pretty:

Finding the balance of light and heavy content on this blog has been something I've struggled with since starting My Own Yellow Wallpaper. Do I want to pull the serious political crowd whose views of Christianity are evolving like mine? Or do I want to talk about books, birds, and weekend activities. Let's be honest in all reality I'm pulling only one crowd and they are all blood-relatives so they'll read it no matter what I say.

So in keeping with the trend, how about something serious for a while? One of my classes this summer is Multiculturalism and I am riveted by it. We talk about equality for all types of people in our classrooms and how to love. No, we don't call it that in class but that's what we're learning. We're learning how to love children of all races, religions, SES's, abilities, genders, and sexual preferences. Sure we're learning how to teach them as well but the common theme is that we must care about them first and give a crap about where they come from and respect it before they will give a rip about what we have to say.

For some it is easy. I came in knowing which groups I held biases toward and I was ready to face them and move on from them. But I see other people fighting it, I see people who want to hold onto ideals of over-generalizations and stereotypes because they are so deeply ingrained.

I think every person currently in a career and every student should be required to take a multi-cultural class. As teachers, we are not the only ones who come in contact with all different culture types.The content I have learned in this class is more valuable than anything I have learned in school so far and that's not an exaggeration. I just wish I could carry all of you to class with me each week. Your soul would be moved.

My definition of helping has changed.
My belief in the "culture of poverty" has been diminished.
My awareness about white privilege has been raised.
And most importantly I'm once again shown my purpose in this life, to:

Otherwise...

I can't string together thoughts today so here are some that have nothing to do with one another.

• Life now is busy. I started summer classes last week which has been like a job. I have 2 online classes and one class for 4 hours a night twice a week. Luckily, 2 of them are only 5 weeks long but they are brutal. Online classes pride themselves on having you do 10x more work than you would in-class. But, hakunah matata. It will be over soon.

• Our puppy is staying with my parents this week which makes Drew and I both pathetically sad. It is so quiet around the house and there's no one there to greet us when we return home. Sad sad.

• We are trying to make better choices food-wise ever since my run in with one piece bathing suits a couple of weeks ago. Nothing can humble a woman faster. Well maybe it can. The scales at the gyno. I've gained 20 pounds since this time 2 years ago when we got married.

• Although I love summer in Blacksburg it also comes with goodbyes. Next week four of our dear friends will be moving on from this college town. One to the army and his wife to Virginia Beach. And the other couple is heading to Ohio State for him to finish his PhD. We are so lucky to come in contact with so many awesome people here but goodbyes are hard. And they come every year. Next year will be even worse.

• Speaking of which we are beginning discussions about whether or not to move on from here. Most of the friends we have here will all be gone next year and I'm asking myself why we would stay....We will see...

Does this sound a bit depressing? That's because it is. I've been reading about white privilege for my multiculturalism class and man it is rough. That class is forcing me to be all kinds of aware. And I  pride myself on being self-aware but I'm learning about biases I didn't even know existed much less that I held them. But I love the class. I mean I'm kind of in love with it. Plus it sets up some good debates and you know I love that.

That's the haps with us lately. Maybe next time I won't be such a Debbie Downer. wah wah.

Survived!

Yesterday was my back to school day. My day started out with me feeling like the oldest person on the whole campus. I am stuck taking a couple of under-grad classes (Macroeconomics and Appalachian Geography) in order to meet the requirements to teach Social Studies. The Appalachian Geography I want to marry and have it's babies. The macro I want to murder and cut into pieces. Yes, I really do feel that strongly after just one day of each of those classes.

Being the oldest has it's advantages though. I'm no longer nervous to speak up and for the first time, school has my entire concentration. I spent my entire under grad wanting to be married. Now that I've gotten that pesky fever out of the way, I'm ready to do this school thing right. My night class last night was my first graduate level course. I went from feeling like everyone's mother to feeling like everyone's granddaughter. Not in age necessarily, though there was some of that. But in experience. I am the only person in the class with NO background in education. And this class in intense. I love the professor, he is an amazing man (yes, I can already tell) but he also scared the shit out of me when giving his expectations of us.

I'm excited though. I've been struggling with anxiety lately but something about being back in a classroom (even if it's for stupid econ) puts me at ease. I know the potential of what I can learn if I will just let myself. How dorky do I sound right now???? Okay, enough.

I'm off to come up with a research topic and 10 sources, read 3 chapters, take a quiz and write a quick page and a half paper. Welcome back to school Meghan! What were you thinking???

Oh and check out Radford's new college of Business and Economics, it's pretty impressive.     http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/home.html