Pure Mchigan Joy!

I know I've been doing a semi-cathartic look back on each year of my teaching career, but it is time to put a halt on that for the time being. One reason is, I've come to the point where I am at my current work location and I am more or less content there. Second, I have better things to discuss for the summer!

It has been a long time coming, but I finally got to go home after 26 years! No, not the psychiatric hospital, that may happen next year. I got to take my family back to the state where I was born...good old Michigan! However, this being a Moore vacay, it wasn't a simple point A to point B thing, we always have a few surprises coming our way.

Our new buddy Vanessa took us early to McCarran, we got checked in at Spirit and deposited our 1 bag. Simple, right? We waited until it was time to board, we boarded, and we took off for a 4 hour flight. How easy is that, right?

We land, get to the gate, wait an undue amount of time to get out, then head to the baggage claim...only to learn that our bag DIDN'T MAKE IT!! Not that this hasn't happened before, but this time ALL of our clothes were in it! After making the proper complaints, we headed to the rental car agency we'd procured.

Now, for all of you fellow space travelers who want to save money on car rentals, avoid companies that have words like DOLLAR or LESS in their titles, there ARE hitches! In this case, we'd arranged for a $343 fare and had saved for it. When we got to the desk, they wanted double that for a deposit! The luggage thing already had us stressed, now it seemed like we'd be carless. Luckily, the agent was quite sympathetic and helped us get a rental with a company with a Federation ship name. The key here was having a return ticket home, apparently that's a problem in Detroit rental-wise! What was even better was that we got the car for a flat $314, $30 less than at the "economical" company!

We got into our SUV and headed north. It was already 7p.m. and we were starved, so we got off I 275 and had a much needed quick bite at Arby's. What makes this one so neat is that the Arby's was a brick structure, a rarity in the desert. We then proceeded north until 275 ended, then took a series of local roads via Aunt Bonnie's directions and got to their house in Davisburg  a little after 9:30pm. An interesting thing about Michigan summers: it stays light until after 9! We finally got a bigger meal at Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Chris's home, chatted a bit, then headed to bed.

The next morning, we got up and had a pancake breakfast, followed by a trip to the Detroit Zoo. During this day, we finally got to meet little Riley, my cousin Chris's 3 year old jewel. At the zoo, we saw penguins and all sorts of animal fare. Happily, the zoo was better protected than Cincinnati! Afterward, Bonnie took us into Royal Oak so I could take pics of both my grandparent-sets' homes, a mere 5 minute walk from each other. It had been 26 years since I'd seen either house, so it felt a bit strange.

As we drove back to Davisburg, we also passed my hospital of birth, William Beaumont. That place also holds a sad memory, as my mom's dad had spent a lot of time there for cancer treatments 28 years ago. We came home to pork roast and mashed potatoes!

The next day, we headed to Marquette to visit with my cousin Craig and his family. Marquette is in the U.P., which means Upper Peninsula, which means a LONG-ASS DRIVE FOR ANYONE IN THE GREATER DETROIT AREA! However, I was excited for this adventure. I had only been up I 75 as far as just north of Bay City, so I was about to see unexplored territory! It was quite a day. 75 heads NNW to Flint, Saginaw (with a nice high bridge over the not-so-nice Saginaw River), and Bay City. It then gets pretty rural for 170 miles, although services were pretty common and the freeway went through some beautiful country that I could only imagine gets more gorgeous in September! The rest stops were also quite nice, the desert rest stop builders could use an architecture lesson!

Our favorite town/county name: Cheboygan! Sounds like something Curly Howard would love to say.

We finally hit a major jewel: the Mackinac (pronounced MA-ki-naw) Bridge. For $4, you get to cross right between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, 2 VERY blue bodies of water. There was construction, but that was ok, it just extended our wonderful time above the water!

Right after the toll booth, we departed 75 and got on to U.S. 2, which followed the Lake Michigan shore for 40 miles. There were quite a few great views!

The great lake views gave way to a tree-lined straight stretch. We got onto M77, then M 28 for another long straightaway before we finally got views of Lake Superior! This was the bluest lake I'd ever seen!

After about 40 miles of this wonder, we finally arrived in Marquette. In this town it stayed light even later than in Davisburg, almost 10! Cousin Craig is a big happy guy with Maggie, a sweet professor wife and 3 quite active boys....and they had plans for us! The next day, after a hearty breakfast, we headed to Sugarloaf Mountain (actually a tall hill) and hiked to the top. My knee was slightly gouty due to 3 sodas the previous day, so Craig led Vickie and I up the easy trail with stairs while Maggie led Natalie and the boys up the harder trail. We were afforded a terrific view of Lake Superior from there.

From there we had lunch at a little Mexican place, then headed to Presque Isle where both Natalie and I got our feet wet in the 50 degree lake waters! The kids then played on some evil METAL playground equipment (in other words, a real playground). Craig then took me to his golf course and I helped him remove a large branch from the golf cart path. I was quite impressed and decided that golf course landscaping in Marquette is a great summer job for a teacher! It had started to storm with a slight tornado possibility, so we hightailed it home for dinner.

The next day, we said goodbye to the Marquette clan, raced across the U.P., had another great drive across the Mackinac Bridge, and headed to Grand Blanc where the rest of the family were gathered for cousin Lacey's birthday party for 2 of her girls. I also got to see cousin Michael there with his wife Carrie and  kids, as well as Lacey's husband Eddie. We had BBQ pork, slaw, and beans for food, and played yard yahtzee with large wooden dice! Quite an experience!

On Sunday we went with cousin Chris and Riley on a boat across Lake Fenton to their little island cottage. We also saw their house in Fenton afterward. For dinner, it was ribs, slaw, and mashed potatoes, my kind of dinner! It was a pretty fun day, mostly relaxing. After all the driving we'd done, this day was needed.

Monday was our last full day. Uncle Chris had to drive to Indianapolis, so we said goodbye to him that morning. Since Bonnie had to work, we took a little excursion through Pontiac (not the prettiest place), and into Royal Oak so I could drive the old streets myself. We raced back to Davisburg and took Bonnie out to lunch at good old Big Boy.

There's just something comforting about that restaurant. I miss the old comics they used to give to kids, and the menu's been streamlined a lot, but comfort food is comfort food. We came back home and I took a little nap while Bonnie and Natalie played a killer game of Monopoly. Shortly after, we had leftover BBQ and then went to Fenton for frozen custard with cousin Mike and his kids.

Tuesday was departure day, sadly. Bonnie hung with us as long as she could, then headed to work. We finished packing, then headed out, taking a detailed roundabout route to the airport to avoid construction. On the way we filled up in Ypsilanti (pretty easy to say!), where the cash price is also good for debit (hear that Nevada?), and then turned the car in. We grabbed lunch at a Coney Island eatery once checked in and anal-probed at security, then flew out on time.

As trips go, this is one of our best, ranking up there with Tennessee last year. It is making me realize there are better places to live and work than Las Vegas. Lots of people warn me about winters, and they know because they came from wintry homes. What they don't get is that SO DID I!! What they also don't get is that my move out west 24 years ago was involuntary as I was just 19, and I've been missing snowy cold Christmases for a very long time. So I will be looking out for opportunities quite doggedly from here on in....one thing is for sure: I can and will go home again more frequently!

14 Years of Good Morning and Class Dismissed, part 9

Well, I've finally arrived at what could be the most painful time in life I can remember. I think I've been avoiding this one deliberately, as I still have nightmares about it.

My time at Tom Williams had ended, and my time at Gilbert was beginning. Originally, Gilbert was a mere 3 miles from our apartment. That is, it was close until our apartment had a foreclosure notice stamped on the door on my checkout day at TW! In the 2-3 week August break, we had to pack and find a new place. At $100 less a month, we found a place 6 miles from Gilbert! That meant my commute had gone down by 1 mile total. It also meant I had NO time to go in and prep my new room.

Come back to school week for teachers,  I tried to focus on all the opening crap while trying to figure out how to organize my room, especially since the previous teacher had left so much crap in there! With little to go on, I started my year.

It went pretty well at first. I was now doing 4th grade and the class was pretty nice. I met some nice staff members as well. There was a period a few times a week called explorations where students went to another room and learned a craft or skill. I teamed with the resource teacher on a few of them, it was pretty fun. The fun lasted about 2 months.

When one is used to having a break in November for seven years straight, NOT having one suddenly creates an exhaustion. On top of that, my grandmother's health was getting worse, so we spent our anniversary weekend in San Diego to spend some time with her. Coming back, school was getting ready for a December showcase event so the focus was on that as well as academics. In December, our master bathroom was leaking water from above, so the plaster and plumbing had to be redone.

After Christmas, the principal was coming down on me for lack of proper classroom decoration as well as my teaching style and classroom management. I was already exhausted so why not extend that via stress? I moved desks around and made a bonehead move in terms of student placement...and classroom management went right out the window. It got so bad that the principal had me watch the literacy specialist teach for a while. If this didn't de-spirit any teacher, I don't know what would.

In February, Vickie finally found her father after years of searching. In April, we got a chance to go up and see him during spring break while my mom watched Natalie. That was the highlight of my school year, and that's saying a lot. In class, the kids knew quite well that I was no longer in charge. The principal and I agreed that I'd put in for voluntary transfer in May. However, the school's numbers were just right, so there were no eligible transfers for our school...I was stuck. The principal was on my back, the vice principal was joining in, and the literacy specialist was doing a good job giving me a guilt complex over her added duty of helping me. My therapist was earning her money for sure!

With all of the stress building on me, I had enough. The year wasn't ending well, so in early-mid May, thanks to a suggestion from the school counselor, I put in for family medical leave.  I was actually thinking of starting a new career as a cubicle-imprisoned accountant where all i had to do was work with numbers. However, after a couple of months, I was calming down. I was also under the effect of a powerful antidepressant that scrambled my brains a bit.

Fair to say, I can't end it there. In August, I was informed by the boss that I would be coming back as the literacy specialist and not a teacher. Interesting development. On return, we had a meeting over my actions in the previous year and I immediately detected her displeasure at me being there again. Easy to tell she didn't like me much.  I was the chink in her otherwise perfect school.

So, I was testing students to see their reading levels, doing morning bus duty, and lunch recess duty. Once I'd tested the students, I had to create a schedule to meet with small groups. After a few stumbles, I was finally coming up with a smooth groove that lasted about 2 weeks. Then count day came, the day when student populations are measured to determine teacher need. As it turned out, there was an extra teacher: me! As agreed from the previous spring, I was to be the volunteer. We parted somewhat amicably. The other cool thing was that we were moving again, this time to a more desirable place. We were there for the last 4 days of my time at Gilbert, making it a longer commute but that was ok, the end was near. I was to begin at Darnell Elementary on October 10, with an intro to my new 4th grade class on the 7th. Indeed, my 10th year of teaching was getting interesting.

Overall, I have to say that Gilbert is a good school and they do good things there. It was just a matter of external factors along with a personality clash with my boss that made the actual teaching part hell. Great school, great kids, under different circumstances, I think I would have had a greater time of it there.