MIA

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seacrhing-for-cluesWhere have I gone you ask? Let me see how to briefly answer 😉 without sacrificing the most relevant points while still making sense.

As the school year drew to an end and closed for the summer June 6th, I fully expected to have the free time to comfortably and earnestly blog. I was looking forward to completing about 2-3 posts per month! I have about eight posts started and outlined a dozen more topics I’m excited to get posted… in all of my categories.

But as I settled in my summer home in the Hill Country, my own wishes and plans went quickly out the window. Unless you’re an island unto yourself… life, family, and career sometimes have little regard for one’s petty personal desires. HAH!

Life

If I choose to keep writing my blog-posts, I will have only short 30-60 minute windows early early in the mornings when no one else is up. This is honestly a welcomed peaceful quite-time ritual:  a wave of the flower garden’s watering-wand brings showers to Black-chinned hummingbirds, infrequently the Ruby-throated or Rufous hummingbirds, buzzing down darting in and out of the spray… often no more than 3-feet away from my nose. Four out of five of these mornings have the cool southerly or southwesterly breezes blowing through our hilltop oasis. As I’m writing this (and not outside) I notice our nearby roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) family trots from one end of the yard to the other. This is the prelude of a day in nature’s front-row that is never the same from previous A.M. shows. This is the “life” I would give up if I were to focus on my blogging and all of you. Hmmm, the quandaries. 😉

Family

For two weeks I’ve had my 14-year old son with me. It has been great and rejuvenating rekindling our relationship, again. I haven’t seen him since Xmas 2014 and then before that Spring Break 2014. We talk on the phone biweekly, sometimes more. It isn’t the same though; touching, seeing each other’s expressions, hugging, mean so much more with more lasting impressions. But the landmass of Texas is more than huge — which did allow he and I to talk the drive back, and talk, and talk, and talk five hours, the entire return trip. However, despite that immeasurable profit, traveling expenses are higher when hotel rooms must be included with food and fuel costs. For the last 13-years I’m the one that must and has foot the entire bill if I want to see my children which has made visitations difficult.

The time with my son is precious and highly needed, if not at least for my sake and sanity. And my newly married 21-year old daughter and her husband came to visit last weekend for 2-nights, 3-days! You couldn’t chisel the smiles off my face I was so thrilled! As I wrote a couple of months ago in my post And It Begins, my relationship with my daughter was put on hold 13-years ago when she, her brother, mother and step-father moved from the DFW area to Houston. My face-to-face time with my kids becomes, has become even more priceless. This is the current positive side of “Family.”

I was not told that my sister — an addict, recovering & relapsing the last 35+ years NEEDING to be either in a halfway house or inpatient dual-diagnosis hospital — moved into my mother’s home last December. I am not going to go into the many problems this lumps onto my widowed mother of 76-years living in her 3,000 sq. ft. ranchita on 13-acres and all the daily weekly chores, tasks, and projects a property that size requires… FROM RELIABLE helpers/workers/family members!!! I guess I did go into it a little detail, huh? This is why my Mom never told me she moved in. Instead of being upset and irate last winter, now I’m even more upset and irate when upon my arrival I assessed and determined how horribly behind all the chores, tasks, and projects have fallen and some not even started the last 7-months! Yet, that’s not all of it!

She wants to put on the market and sell the house and property by the end of August… of 2015! *large exhale*

Wonderful, beautiful, fun, responsible family! 🙂

Unreliable, unpredictable, over-weight & smoking, clinically depressed family in dire need of professional help, not resort accommodations! 😦

Family.

Career

The last two years the Texas Board of Education along with their conservative legislative constituents in Austin, will have their specialized curriculums implemented this 2015-16 school year. The most significant changes in the state-wide curriculum will be in the science and social studies/history textbooks and standards (visit New Texas Curriculum Standards and New BOE Chairman for more info).

The circus will return!

The Professor’s circus will return!

These social conservative changes force me to reevaluate my personal conviction of “let the PARENTS aid their children in deciding religious and political debates.” My job responsibility is to offer the various perspectives, that information and data, monitoring student’s performance and proper objectivity. Unfortunately, now that the Texas GOP remains in office with more conservatives seated in our state Congress along with continued conservatives appointed on the Board of Education, as a Freethinking Humanist my convictions and conscience are increasingly challenged putting my performance-reviews further under the microscope by my supervisors and superiors. It doesn’t help either that I’m only a 5-year experienced teacher… easily replaced by a biased Christian-conservative teacher with 10-15 years experience. This past spring I’ve begun considering a career change, more like a career return to the psych/A&D field of therapy, crisis management, and guidance. In 1989-91 I was in the field and doing exceptionally well.

Hence, the tedious, enormous task of job-searching begins simultaneously with everything mentioned above. HAH!

What It All Means

It means simply my enjoyment of writing and blogging will be suspended, or very infrequent until further notice. It has taken me almost 2-weeks just to finish this post! I know all of you are crying and mourning my absence and thought-provoking posts. It is hard, I know. I’m sorry. But this shall one day pass. 😉

Meanwhile, please feel free to read and/or visit my other posts, both old and recent. Comment if you’d like. I will log-in two or three times a week to check for new comments and suggestions for my Us and Them page.

Until then…

(paragraph break)
Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

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19 thoughts on “MIA”

  1. Professor,

    I think I can speak for all of us when I say go live life instead of writing about it. At least for now. Most of us will still be here once you get back to some semblance of stability again. I am so happy you are getting to reconnect with your children even if it has made finances tight. Knowing how happy it has made you is enough to make me grin from ear to ear. 🙂

    Cheers,
    Swarn

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    • Swarn, thank you for the kind sentiments.

      Yes, my children and my new son-in-law have been the highlight of my summer so far! And get this… when I take my son back to Houston, I will get to have dinner with an old “flame” from 26-years ago, followed by a visit (to the Texas Hill Country) by my first wife (who’s now divorced), of only 5-months, from 22-years ago! LOL 😛

      Talk about a time-warp in a circus fun-house, eh? I crack myself up. So the summer won’t be all bad. 😈

      Hope you are doing well Sir. Forgive me for falling way behind on all your recent fine posts on What Makes A Good Human? :/

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  2. Mississippi sucks. It really does, but Mississippi can’t hold a candle to Texas. I think I read somewhere, maybe it was FB, that you won’t be returning to the DFW area? Does that mean you’ve already been replaced?

    Great to see you, Professor. Happy to read that you’ve had some bonding time with your children, the birds and the breeze.

    Until next time — *poke*

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    • As you know Victoria, I spent 14-years in Mississippi, so I won’t argue with you. You win that one. 😉

      Regarding my return to DFW you’re correct. I am open to just about ANY “good/great” job opportunity within a 300-mile radius of Houston, which fortunately keeps me far away from barren west Texas. LOL Replaced? Likely. Usually school districts, principals, asst. principals, etc, make their hiring choices in July & August; June if they already know who they really want. 🙂

      The time with my son has been exceptional! As always he has shown a fond interest in history, particularly military history like his Dad. But this visit he has shown a keen and greater interest in science! SCIENCE Victoria!!! The strangeness of this life cannot be measured sometimes! LOL 😮 😉

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  3. I am so happy to see your blog here and I completely understand the time dilemma, being a victim of it myself. I am also very happy to see that you’ve had this special time with your kiddos… that is more valuable than all the money or other time variables in the world. Kudos to you!

    I also wish you great success in your career change. I have no doubt you will exceed even your own expectations. Keep it up, my dear, old friend… (I mean old as in “long time”, not years) 😉

    In the meanwhile, I am still researching and learning more about our discussions via email. I hope to have time to bounce that off of you in the near future. 😉

    Until then… you keep doing as you’re doing. We’ll all be here when you get back in the saddle. 🙂

    TTYL!

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    • “…I am still researching and learning more about our discussions via email. I hope to have time to bounce that off of you in the near future.”

      Thank you Dana for taking the time to stop by! If you don’t mind waiting a day or two (or many days) for my response to your curiosities, confusion, & questions, fire away! I’ll do my best. Very happy you are STILL learning & researching! 😀

      Yes, TTYL. ❤

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    • Thank you very much Madalyn for coming by! Yes, as you can well imagine I am the ONLY “sturdy” reliable family-help my Mom has at the moment. The projects & daily tasks require — and easily do — at least 8-10 hours per day that given my other priorities & concerns I don’t have! This does not include what breaks or falls apart. LOL :/ 😛

      I really appreciate your understanding & patience! Hope YOU “home teacher” are enjoying your summer like I am!

      Liked by 1 person

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  5. Good to see you, and thrilled you’re having a great time with your kids. Congratulations on your daughter’s nuptials! And all the best to you in the career departments. Look forward to seeing you when you’re able. BTW, I like the new header image. 🙂

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    • Hey hey Victoria! The time with my kids was FABULOUS, especially when my daughter & her husband stayed over one of those weekends! Definitely some lifelong memories.

      Thank you on the header image. Did you know there are a total of 12… rotating randomly? 🙂

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  7. And I’ve barely arrived! *laughs* You sound happy despite the troubled side, and when life holds out it’s hands you definitely should grab them and swing with all your might – blog in the background, on the warming plate. It will all still be here when you can get back. Enjoy your family good sir *smiles*.

    – sonmi upon the Cloud

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      • Fair to middling would be the answer thank you Professor. The summer is yielding a reasonable amount of vegetables from the allotment, and warm evenings are to be savoured round these parts. *grins*

        – sonmi upon the Cloud

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    • Hi Lisa!

      Apologies I haven’t made it over to your recent blogs. Indeed the energetic bathing hummingbirds have become so accustom to me, they almost come jittering the minute I turn the wand on holding it in the air. Amazing! Welcome relief from the ‘drama’ an addict creates… perpetually it seems. :/

      Thank you for your understanding Ma’am! 🙂

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