What Was I Thinking?

We are all looking forward to the Memorial Day holiday. We need some time off from school work and being cooped up in classrooms on these warm spring days. The teachers need a break from their students and the students need a break from their teacher and each other. Spring brings up the sap in plants and trees and it brings up the sap in people too, especially young people. They have more energy and you know - you just know - that once summer comes, that sap is going to convert itself into a growth spurt. It has already begun. Boys whose trousers were the right length when school began are now sporting the high water pants look and their bony wrists extend beyond their long sleeves. I remember sitting in my classroom in Maine with the windows open and the gentle, warm breezes embracing me in my desk, beckoning me to come outside to stretch my legs running and scream the pent-up energy out of my lungs on the playground. Glorious sunny days with clear blue skies enticed my mind to dr...

A few days ago I wrote a letter to the parents of next year's senior class and to the seniors themselves. I think it says something important that I want people to read, something that I believe personally, something we stand for as a school. I think that we, as parents and concerned adults who may have grown up without the benefits of certain experiences and material things, perhaps believe that our young people should not have to go without those things we did, and give them too much stuff and try to push them to do things we may not have done in order to spare them some of the hardships we faced growing up. We want the best for them. We want them to have it better than we did. But did we really have it all that bad? Didn't hardship and struggle form Christ in us and make us the believers we are today? Is life really about having a house and a car and other materials things and security? Is that what the Gospel is all about? Did Jesus say that if we were his disciples our ...

What a day! I just finished eating some pasta for my dinner and my tummy is happy for now. Before eating, I mowed my lawn, an activity that I decided had to be done today, since rain is forecast for the foreseeable future and my brother Tim is coming in to town for a visit. You may be wondering, "What does Tim have to do with mowing the lawn?" Well, Tim is one of those guys who is really handy, in my opinion, and I felt that I ought to mow my lawn in case he saw it during his visit. I was afraid he would look at its wildness and feel compelled to go mow it himself. That's the kind of guy he is. He is handy and helpful. I wish I were more like him. If I were, there would be stain or paint on my steps, there would be hostas planted along the perimeter of my patio, black eyed Susans and echinacea would be bedded down out front, and my siding would have been power washed long ago. He likes projects and being outdoors and I admire his gumption; he gets things done and does the...