Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

In January 2010 I was halfway through my second year of teaching. I was grading haiku written by my eighth grade students and struggling to meet yearbook deadlines. I was constantly rejoicing that my second year of teaching was exponentially easier and better than my first. It seemed like my students were better and that I as a teacher had improved by at least %100 from my first year. I'd show you pictures of January, but apparently I didn't take any. I did, however, keep plugging away at skateboarding, at which I was still frighteningly bad.

In February my roommates worshiped the Olympics for 2 weeks straight. After sixteen days of watching every event they could find, including curling, I had seen enough to begin to fall in love with the Olympics myself. In February Cuny turned 21, and, to celebrate the occasion, Di and I took him to the Tavernacle, where we made him dance on the piano.

And I finished the best and largest and hardest thing I ever crocheted. It was a birthday present for Cuny, and I made it extra long so there would be at least one blanket in this world that wouldn't leave his feet out in the cold.

March brought with it the news that I would be losing my position at Lehi Jr. Luckily, I would be transferred to another junior high in the district and would still have a job. The rest of the year was filled with nostalgia and a healthy dose of anxiety about my future.

April began with a whirlwind of stuff. Allie and I moved into our new apartment on a Friday, I abandoned unpacking and spent Saturday skateboarding and going to shows with some of Cuny's friends, that morning I also got my new laptop in the mail, then morning Cuny and I left for Tucson and spring break. We drove out of the cold and snow that was Utah that morning and headed for the warmth and glory that was the Sonoran desert in the spring. We hung out down town, toured art museums, skateboarded, and hiked in the desert. And I discovered that I may not be such I die hard fan of cold after all.

May brought the much anticipated end of school, but also meant I needed to clean out my classroom and turn in my keys and say goodbye to Lehi.

This blog already sums up my summer. I took trips to Island Park and Yellowstone, Tucson, Cleveland, Bloomington, Indiana; Blackfoot, Park City, Yellowstone again, Alturas Lake, and Payson. I backpacked, skateboarded, drove, camped, flew, walked, hung out with nieces and nephews and Cuny and generally celebrated summer. And I learned to drop in. And I died my hair from brown to blonde to red to purple and back to brown.

What I didn't do was get ready for school. My classroom was still under construction the week before school started. It was still under construction the weekend before school started. Finally, two days before school started, I got to move in. I started the school year and jumped into teaching three subjects: 7th grade English, 8th grade English, and creative writing.

In September one of my best friends ever got married. And I got to go. And I was happy for her. And I kept skateboarding. In fact, you could pretty much call 2010 "The Year of the Skateboard" if you wanted.

October meant the school year was already 1 quarter over. October meant that we celebrated Halloween.

October meant that we celebrated my birthday with a ninja-themed birthday party that included two kinds or curry and twister with weapons.

November was...interesting. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad. Cuny and I broke up after a year and a half and that pretty well sucked. But I also got to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I got to meet a new nephew and see my niece get baptized.

Which brings us to the last month, December. In the first week, my sister/former roommate/friend moved to Montana. Since then we have used up a lot of cell phone minutes.

Allie and I had a blast decorating our apartment for Christmas with all the homemade decorations we could think up. And we slept under the Christmas tree at least 3 times.

In December my students completed a record-breaking number of letters to Santa. These were taken to Macy's, who every Christmas donates $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation for every letter received. My students donated $1746.

This Christmas I've spent time in the cold and the snow. I've gone cross country skiing and snowshoeing and made food for kids and wrestled with nephews and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I spent the last night of 2010 hanging out at my house with my family. Then, I went to bed at 9:30. Really. I did. But this morning I got up early and took a walk in the freezing cold to watch the first sunrise of the year. I was up, the geese were waking up and flying out of the riverbottoms, birds began to wake up, and the sky gradually lightened in a pale winter sunrise. It was cold, really really cold. It was snow-squeaking, nose-hair-stiffening cold. And it was beautiful. For those of you who missed it, this is what the first light of 2011 looked like in rural Idaho. The moon was barely visible though the light clouds, and one star kept shining brightly for several minutes before it faded into the day. Happy New Year.