Loss is Unfair

About two minutes ago my husband called and asked me if I was sitting down. He had some bad news. I didn't quite believe him, as he can be a bit of a prankster. Oh how I wish I could go back to that moment in time where I thought it was a joke. There was no prank.

A friend, a colleague of mine passed away unexpectedly this morning. As I've said before, I'm a school counselor. I work with our career tech school, and she was an employee there. She worked with many of my at-risk students as they prepared to start their journeys into career-technical education. This past year she went into the classroom and while their full-time students benefited from her wry sense of humor, her demand for focus, and her big heart, I missed her tremendously. I still saw her on occasion, just not as often as I liked.

After learning of her passing, I honestly didn't know what to do. I paced the floor in tears. My four year-old asked what was wrong. I gave him an honest answer. He gave me a hug, kiss, said he was sorry, and went back to Kai-Lan. After thinking, weeping more, I turned here. My readers and the blogger community I so love is the place I knew I could come to. Loss is never easy. Be it someone who has been ill for months or years and in pain, someone who has lived a full life and goes in their sleep, a young person in a tragic accident, or like my friend who I last saw when I was selling prom tickets and joked she could be my date and now is gone. My heart aches for my own loss, but more for her husband, her son, her family. For her tightly-knit work family I get to be a satellite of. If you are reading this, please send a prayer out into the universe for Edwina today. For her family and friends. That they may find some comfort and healing. Because loss never makes sense and it is never fair.

The Hover Pee

Ladies, this is directed at, or directly for you.  


Have you ever gone into a public restroom only to discover that the seat you are about to place yourself on has been, well, substantially dampened?  I am calling for an end to this.  It is a direct result of a phenomenon that I like to call the Hover Pee.  


We all know exactly what I'm talking about.  (well, all of us who are females do)  It is when you "hover" over the public toilet to relieve yourself, rather than to actually sit on the seat.  I know, I've heard all sorts of arguments in favor of the hover pee.  Most center around other hover peeing individuals. 


"I don't want to sit in someone else's urine." (Whatever, you are just part of the problem)


"I don't want to get a disease."  (Really, have we not taken health in the past 50 years girls?!)


"It is just gross."  (Let's not be specific, or anything)




Here is my suggestion.  We (the women against hover peeing) can ban together and campaign against such practices in public restrooms.  Once it stops there will be no need for it.  (Well, except in bars.  Those will be gross no matter if we eliminate hover peeing or not, so they're exempt)  There shall be a stall in each public restroom for hover peeing individuals.  The rest of us may feel free to utilize other stalls at our leisure.  Fully aware that there won't be, um, excess dampness on the seats.


Ladies of the world, you can thank me.  Anyone with logo suggestions, feel free to email them to me.  

Girl Time

Yesterday was a dreary day all around here.  But this girl had big plans.  My work girlfriends had booked pedicures for four of us at a local salon/spa to celebrate a birthday (not mine).  Take just one minute to imagine this...four women who giggle, laugh, talk over each other, and are loud and bawdy getting pedicures all at the same time.  


It was just as you are thinking.  


I don't know who enjoyed it more...us or the lovely women laughing as they exfoliated, moisturized, massaged, and painted our toes.  I do know that there is a part of me that needs that girl time more than I realize, and I got plenty of it yesterday.  It was a blast.  We sat in those chairs (which massage your back as your feet sit in the most delicious pool of water) sipping water and lemonade just laughing our heads off.  I could have cared less what it looked like outside.  There could have been a blizzard for all I knew.  When all was said and done, the four of us had on flimsy salon flip-flops and headed out into the rain for dinner & drinks.  


While we ate, laughed, gabbed, and gossiped like a bunch of junior high girls we took regular toe breaks to look at our pretty feet in those awful flip-flops.  I'm certain our waiter thought we were crazy, but I really don't care.  Sometimes a girl just needs girl time.  I have a husband I adore, a son who fills my momma heart to the tippy-top, but once in a while I just need to hang with my besties-be it my mom besties, work besties, or others I've collected along the way.  I'm sure you know just what I mean.

I tried to take a picture of my toes, but they looked weird. 

What would I do without them?

I work in a school.  So this time of year I am gearing up to return to work.  For me, this consists of restless nights of sleep, days filled with a mixture of excitement and sadness, ears straining to hear the sounds of football coaches whistles during two-a-days, promising that tomorrow will be the morning I'll start practicing the 5:30am wake-up call, staring into my closet at work clothes that haven't seen the light of day in 10 weeks, and trying to brush up on teen pop culture.  It also is time to catch up with by besties at work. At the end of the school year we are filled with ideas for summer get-togethers, what we want to do with our families and kids, and then we are facing August, not having seen each other since we walked out into the hot sun back in June.  Yet, it feels as though no time has passed between the three of us.  I know these awesome ladies have busy lives, what with families and non-work friends.  Summertime is when we play catch-up on everything that work consumes during the school year.  I don't worry that there will be strangeness after a few months of not seeing each other.  I am giddy to see them tomorrow at lunch.  I feel the exact same way I used to in grade school before the first day of school.  We will hug, giggle, probably eat Mexican food, exchange stories about "what I did for my summer vacation", talk about our kids and spouses, our crazy lovable families, and then settle into a new school year.  I don't know how I would survive one without them.