I Rock Your Baby Son to Sleep

When you announced that you would be married instead of going to college, I felt giddy with joy. Not, mostly, for noble reasons: it was putting together a wedding at such a young age; I must have seen a hundred movies with weddings and flowers, and rings, and kisses. Part of me was sad, too: we had planned to be college roommates; we would have made friends and histories that entwined forever.

So what would our lives look like at this distance? Occasional visits, always something shared deep down: separating histories, but a wire that kept our hearts moving in the same direction. Praise God! I have not lost you, friend. And I have gained a whole family of friends because you chose so bravely:

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I rock your baby son to sleep
Slanted light from the hallway
A CD plays a lullaby
Mellow-sweet, a gentle moment.

Suddenly, a pang tells me
how blessed you are among women;
that even to endure a thousand
crying, up-and-down nights,
bottle-or-no-bottle nights,
is worth his trusting, sleepy heart,
his fingers twirling his cropped, blond hair.
He snuggles into my arm and my side.

If I remain single and childless,
tonight I felt I’d miss
half the stars in the sky.

Never one for greed, I hope,
I delight in seeing your faces as
the skies unfold new grandeur before you:
the word “dog,” learning to run,
then the rock-step, snapping fingers,
sharing toys with his new brother.

Geese and Work

I sat on the steps near the duck pond, reading J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. Friday was hot, you'll recall, but dry. It reminded me of Arizona, where the wind and the heat hug your body. Class was in session, so the campus was quiet. The benches around the pond were filled with students not earnestly doing work. Peace reigned in this liminal space that marked the start of class, but not the end of summer.

Then goose honking filled the air. Fast-approaching, an air raid of geese swarmed overhead, flying in three close, lopsided V's. They normally inhabit the surface of the pond and surround it with wispy white feathers, causing some commotion which fades into the background. They are the hosts of the pond, really. And yet, I did not even know they were missing until they touched down in the middle of the pond, fully exploiting their rights as both denizens and hosts of the pond.

At first, they clustered in their flying groups and faced each other, West Side Story style. Then they became one large flock once more and faced the fountain on the eastern side of the pond. Little by little, their honking ceased. They were paying obeisance to the great fountain, which kept their water from stagnating and smelling. I half expected the fountain to talk, for it seemed as though they were all waiting for something. The geese held their positions in the turning waters, for a breeze had kicked up, and their own flapping had caused the water to stir.

As slowly as their honking had stopped, they turned to their different poses of life, as if suddenly remembering this was their home and they had housekeeping, after all. They preened and squawked a little, and dived down, and pecked one another, and forgot the fountain and their warlike entrance.

I turned to work. I have two jobs right now: The Cove at Millersville, and College Corner Cafe (fondly known as The Bagel Shop) at Franklin and Marshall College. It will probably get a little complicated to work out my schedule if I keep both jobs all semester... and goodness knows what next semester will hold in the way of work, for I'll be student teaching. I'm praying now. Pray, too, for provision that I might not have to work so much.

Booklist

Hey everyone, if you have any of these books, and you'd like to give them to me, I'll reimburse you for postage! Also, this is what is in store for me for the next semester, holla!

21st Century Skills (Trilling)

Doing School (Pope)

On Being a Teacher: Human Dimension (Kottler)

What Every Teacher Should Know About Classroom Management (Levin)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz)

Herzog (Bellow)

Hours (Cunningham)

Let the Great World Spin (McCann)

Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf)

Nine Stories (Salinger)

On the Road (Kerouac)

Returning to the Earth (Harrison)

Song of Solomon (Morrison)

Surfacing (Atwood)

Differentiation (Wormeli)

Bridging English (Milner)

RateMyProfessor.com

seems to be a site where people go to complain that college is hard.

Suck. It. Up.





(Or blog about it...)

Of All the Times When I Ignore my Homework...

this weekend proved to be the most worthwhile substitution! Friday after Biology, I started for Houghton College, arriving in the evening, just in time for a lovely barbecue party. Friday evening was general outbursts of joy (especially from me!) at just being in the same room as my good friends. I've longed for them all fervently, and my cup is overflowing!

Christine, Sheri, Shulan, Ashley, Erin, Bethany, Lydia.

Saturday was a mixture of meetings with friends, most notably the surprise party at Bethany's townhouse which I almost missed, negligently planning a low-key, on-the-fly trip to Letchworth park. It didn't pan out to go to Letchworth due to some lucky eggs... but so much the better! (Thanks go to Kevin here!) I walked in to Bethany's living room to find most of my friends from freshmen year seated about, shouting "surprise!"! This is the very kind of moment we all dream about! (Thanks go to EVERYONE here!) Drs. Woolsey and Mills-Woolsey were even able to come and we discussed some interesting ideas for developing the London program.

Liesl, Ben, Eric, Kristen, Megan, Megan, Kristina, Lydia.

Following the party, Bethany, Ashley and I went to Letchworth. We even brought along books, with the mistaken idea that we would sit quietly on a sunlit patch of grass and wait for the sunset to tell us to leave. But it was waaay cold. So we walked around, talked about the future, the past, the present, and made for the car when we couldn't feel our arms anymore. Also Saturday: Chinese, bonfire, s'mores, dancing, laughter.

Brett, Ren, Debbie, Cecily, Sally, Olivia, Rachel, Rachel, Laura, Sarah, Emily.

Sunday was even colder. We went to the Salvation Army church in Wellsville. That was made especially memorable by the two new[born] members of the church: Graham and Chayse.

Pam, Hillary, Matt, Keith, Keith, Erica, Katrina, Laura, Susanna.

On Monday, I attended Dr. Woolsey's literature class called "Fantastic Truths" in which they pull foundational truths out of fantasy literature. Monday was The Fellowship of the Ring. Wow! So many students participated in the discussion--and not simply at a rudimentary level, but insightfully, I daresay prophetically! Monday I also met up with Eric, Olivia, Zan, Dara, Sheri, and several other people. It was a full day. In the evening I attended the lecture given by Stanley Hauerwas. I will devote time to describing that lecture at some other point.

Dara, Maddie, Ashley, Kristina, Amanda, Amy, Connie, Mark, Sophie.

These lists of happenings are not terribly interesting for someone not in the know of how influential each of the names mentioned has been in my life. My aim in acknowledging them here and now is to somehow not forget that we can come back together as if time and space had not separated us very far. We have already done it once.