Just in case you need a reason

Cameron Tuttle wrote a book called "The Bad Girl's Guide To The Open Road". Full of fun facts and interesting tips, tongue in cheek advice, and useful information it is a must read before any road trip. At the bottom of most pages she has a running list of reasons why a person should go on a road trip. These are some of my favourites:


It’s time to hit the road when....
-you’re afraid to leave the house without makeup
-you have no idea what to do when you’re not at work
-you hate your job so much that you go to the bathroom just to pass the time
-you can’t go more than 2 hours without checking your voice mail
-you feel too fat to go to the gym
-you add things to your ‘to do’ list just so you can cross them off
-you have an overpowering need to sleep in a tepee
-another of your friends is getting married and you have to buy a butt ugly/expensive bridesmaid dress,
-you realize that the money you save by bringing your lunch isn’t enough to justify eating soggy sandwiches
-you’re about to have a birthday hat will require you to lie about your age forever
-you just miss qualifying for the witness protection program
-another person calls you ma’am
-you find your first gray hair
-you clean the house for exercise
you’ve alphabetized all the books on your bookshelves
-your clothes and pajamas are interchangeable
-you still have to sit at the kid’s table at family functions because you’re single
-your only exercise is running to get the phone
-you have to get the car out if city limits or risk it being booted for unpaid parking tickets



And my final and most important reason to go on a road trip: a chance to visit family that you haven't seen in awhile and bond with you sisters along the way :)

8 days to go!!! So excited!

What happens when I have spare time on my hands

In organizing and packing I found my box of beading materials. Always dangerous as I am likely to be easily distracted, naturally I was. 2 new necklaces, a pair of earrings, and a repaired necklace later I realized that I had to stop as it was after midnight. That rush of creativity when the colours just start to flow and work together is such a peaceful feeling. Plus there is the added bonus of always having something sparkly to wear. These are just a few of my projects lately.

Test drive

Ok, the need to do a pre-road trip may be seen as a bit anal retentive for some but here was my logic: while I am very comfortable with highway driving, even prefer it in most cases, my sisters are all fairly new drivers and though they have done some hwy driving with their instructor they haven't had mush experience. So I decided that we needed to do a bit of a trial run just for my peace of mind and to give them a bit of confidence as well. Decided that driving from Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie would give them a good taste of what hwy driving is really like; what the wind feels like when you are driving in the wake of a semi-trailer, high speed lane changes and passing, dealing with road construction and small town slow down. Result: I am so glad we did it, they feel so much more confident. And as for me, a few white hairs and stressed muscles later, I feel more comfortable too. The road to the Sault is fairly winding at some point, merging from divided to double lane, but the girls handled it with growing skill. Sometimes as a seasoned driver you forget how strange, difficult, and nerve wracking it is as a new hwy driver to maintain speed and get a feel for the road. I know that mom and dad are feeling a bit better with the idea of their babies driving all over the USA highways, though they will still worry about us (and we would expect nothing else). So the plan is set for me to drive the 400 series down in TO but once we hit the wide open stretches in the USA the girls are taking over. Count down is t-minus 10 days till departure. So excited :)

Graduation

Well, it is official. I am the proud owner of another expensive piece of paper. True to form we behaved just like the students that we will teach. As Junior/Intermediates we were excited to the point of antsy, our enthusiasm was not kept quiet either. Lined up with our section mates; people we had grown close to, worked with, partied with, and even cried with. People who were virtual strangers in September, thrown together randomly and told that these would be the people we would work with for the rest of the year. As sections go, J/I 2 rocked! I am not saying that everyone got along with everyone, however, for the most part we got along and had a great time while we were at it.

We were marched out of the school and around to the side of the gym where we could be piped in to receive our degrees. Marching in, past our friends and family, hoods draped over our arms to be hooded by the faculty during the ceremony, grins as wide as you can imagine. We witnessed an honorary degree being conferred on an artist/teacher nearing the twilight of his career. He spoke of challenges and memories from his time in the field, in a way reminding many of us why we have decided to make teaching out career. Then it was time to be hooded and received into the faculty of education. Watching the section before us was just a prelude, I couldn't stop smiling. As a section we decided to out cheer the other sections. The first grad from our section and the rest of us that followed, it was fun watching the reactions of our professors as we cheered our section on. I asked our prof who was reading out our names if she had expected anything less of her J/I 2's, and smiling she said that she would expect nothing less. The sections that followed tried to out cheer us, and while at time they may have cheered louder for a specific person but in terms of consistency we were definitely the loudest. We lined up in groups of 10 or so, according to our last names, and after our name was read we marched across the stage where the Dean would take the hood and drape it around our shoulders, signalling our official entrance to the faculty. It was kinda a fun moment, they try their best to slip on the hood, smile for pictures with you as you make small talk on the stage. Then you move down the line to shake hands with everyone (Dean, president, the honorary degree recipient etc), pausing with each to allow the parents to snap their photos, and make your way off stage to head back to your seat. Mom was up taking pics of it all but as she was struggling a bit with my camera, kinda cute to watch.
Then came the waiting part, as in waiting for the end. The J/I division is a big one, 7 sections, and when you account for the number of graduates, and the number of people we have to shake hands with, it takes a while and like the adolescents we will teach we got restless. While the majority of us were at least half paying attention to the other sections, watching for friends, a few people went to pick up their actual degrees from the holding room, some went to Tim Horton's, while others snuck cookies from the reception hall. It was such a party atmosphere. The last guy to get hooded received a huge cheer from all the sections (everyone was glad to see the final graduate). Then came the last of the speeches, including the valedictorian who had a ton of inside jokes (that we all got but our parents didn't)

Anticipation

My head is abuzz with thoughts of the trip and everything that needs to be accomplished before we leave. It seems as if time has sped up, barely giving me the thought that the day has passed. I often find myself looking back to see if I actually accomplished anything. At the same time I know that time will only start to speed faster as departure day approaches, three weeks till we leave for CA to meet Amy and Eldon, and I can hardly wait. But at the same time I wish that time would slow down just a little. The week after we get back I will be leaving again, this time to a new teaching position. I feel woefully unprepared despite my best efforts to get a handle on what I am in for. All the feelings of excitement, fear, delight, self-doubt, happiness, and sadness are being tied together as I count down the days to the departures.