Summer 2006

So far, I would characterize this summer as taking place at the shelter. I've been working so much that I'm starting to feel like I should just move in. I'm at a point with it, though, that I'm stressed out and have told my supervisor to cut my shifts back before I go looney.

Last week, Kelly and I went camping with Radley. It was our first official family camping trip. We camped in Stanley in the Sawtooth Mountains. It turns out that the night we were up there, Stanley recorded the coldest temperature for the entire nation. I suppose that's why the night was more about staying warm than sleeping and why our little shivering puppy climbed up between us to sleep. And why we let him.

I'm currently taking a class with teachers from across the state learning how to be better teachers. I'm the youngest person in the class, which is bizarre for me because I'm seldom the youngest anywhere I go. I'm usually in the same age group or I'm older. I grew up as the oldest sibling. I work with teenagers. In this class, the next oldest person is at least ten years older than me, and some people are 30 to 40 years older than me. It sort of makes me feel awkward, like they're all looking at me as though I'm one of their students, or at least in the same age group. I feel like they don't take me seriously and don't expect that I have anything to add to a conversation about teaching. Kelly says it's good for me to be out of my comfort zone a bit. I just want to learn and have the class be over.