I also went to the art store and got fabric paper to print family photos on. I’m hoping to make some wall art out of the photos. I have a lot of photos from women in my family; I have every grandmother for at least four generations. I’m lucky, and I think they are watching over me every day, so it’s fitting that my art room be decorated with their images.

Now, I just need a digital camera. Yes, not only is blogging new to me, but the entire technological world is new to me! I still use a film SLR camera. I love it, and am having difficulty giving it up. Photography was my first love–had my own black and white darkroom, etc., and as I look at the point and shoot digital cameras out there, I’m very disappointed in what they can do. I looked at a couple of really nice digital SLR cameras, but they are well over $700. On a teacher’s salary, with a kid leaving for college, that’s simply not doable, so I’m trying to decide how to handle this. But, for now, I’m tracking the progress of my new room with film, which I’ll upload later–just a lot of extra steps involved.

At the antique malls today, I found hundreds of family photos that were being sold. As an avid collector of my own family photos, I was so sad to see all of the unnamed photos in the boxes. I can’t imagine a family selling them at an auction or estate sale. I kept wondering if any of them belonged to my family members. Even though I have a lot of photos, there are still many I don’t have, and I’d love to know what their faces looked like. I looked at each one that was taken in Missouri, hoping something looked familiar in the way they smiled, or stood, but there was nothing. Names would be so helpful. So many don’t label their photos. If there is one thing I can say today it’s that you must label your photos. At the least write the first and last name of each person on the back of the photo. It’s so easy to think that we’ll remember them, and we might, but in a hundred years, how will they be identified? Name your photos just in case someone down the line sells them at an auction–a box full for a few dollars, and then someone like me comes across them, and sits for hours looking, hoping, and finds the one named, the one they’ve been looking for for years….

I’m entering a new phase in my life, and not only does Stacey “get it”, she’s supportive and helping me find my way through this new phase. She pointed me to blogging, and there are some incredible blogs to visit. I’ll be adding them to my blog roll over the next few weeks. On one sight, I found the book Where Women Create. Since college, I’ve been all about women having “A Room of Her Own”. I studied Virgina Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, etc. All of them symbolized the strong female creator–with a room of her own. So that day when Stacey showed me the book, she also looked at my back porch and said, “Oh, this would be so cute if you…” Bam! I was inspired. I got the book from Borders, began searching for decorations for my  back porch and all needed to help refocus my energy as my son leaves for college.

This new phase is going to be scary and I’m glad Stacey is there supporting and prodding me along.

I was staring at her blog yesterday thinking of  a quick-witted comment to leave, and I noticed her “JameeAndStacey… almost like one word”, and I immediately knew what she meant. My brother and I were that way. KellyAndBobby. We were two peas in a pod. My grandparents called us Pete and Repeat. When I got to kindergarten, I wrote my name at the top of the page, and I always added Bobby’s, too. Occasionally, I’d write: Kelly, Bobby, Mom and Bob (I called my dad Bob for years, until my mom started calling him dad!) at the top of my papers, too. My teacher hated that. I’d get in trouble. Worse, there were times, she’d hand back my papers and had scratched out my brother’s name. I was so sad. This in tandem with my very dysfunctional home life, led to a separation between my brother that is wide and deep.  A true chasm between two people.

I envy the relationship that Stacey had with Jamee. I should say still has with Jamee. I do not think that the love in their relationship changed when Jamee died. In fact, I think their love keeps growing and changing and adapting in the same way it would if Jamee were still living. Just the other day, Stacey asked if she should change the title of her blog. I thought NO! As I’ve thought about it, I still say no. Stacey is strong. Stacey is coping–just as my friend Tina coped when her sister died. What I’m learning about strength in the face of death isn’t coming from Stacey, really. I think Stacey is the conduit, and all of it is coming straight from Jamee. I think of the strength she had to face death. To face cancer and the treatments. I think of Stacey telling me about the Forth of July and Jamee couldn’t see, but was trying to enjoy the fireworks. That is strength. That is coping.

Stacey, do not change the blog. Keep prodding me along, and yes, I’ll call, and yes, I’ll wait while your children interrupt you a million times!

I’ve been back in my classroom, trying to get it set up. It’s a sauna in there. No air conditioning, and if you are familiar with August in Missouri, you know it’s hot and humid. The box and ceiling fans just circulate the hot air.

That being said, I still love being in my classroom. I love the smell of the clean building, the unloading of new school supplies, planning my first days of school, the anticipation of meeting the new kids and their parents at back-to-school night! I love it. Funny, though, I didn’t love it as a kid. I hated school. Now, as an adult, I can’t wait for it to start. Hmm. I may need counseling!

I met with our Communication Arts leadership team, which I am a part of, and we are planning the professional development for the year. Our lead principal said we are going to have a professional blog! I was so excited I nearly fell out of the chair. The ida is that we will all post how are implementation of the workshop models is going in our room, and be a support system for each other. This in tandem with the fact that I’m trying to figure out how to use blogging as a teaching tool presents the best research project.

I plan on applying for the graduate certificate in writing at our local university. I have my master’s in English Lit. and am awaiting results on National Boards, so the certificate in writing will round out my education. Plus, it gives me a reason to research writing. I’m thinking that blogging is a great research topic that will allow me to track interactions between teachers in other buildings, teachers and students, students and students, and since technology is a huge part of our school improvement plans and knowing that technology is at the forefront of the changes coming in education, blogs are perfect!

So, as I work myself in to a routine, I will allow myself these baby steps to learning how to blog, keeping track of all the options I have for creating, sharing and learning.