Last Weekend of Summer

Well, it's the last weekend of summer vacation. I know I shouldn't complain... I mean, how many professions allow a person to have two and a half months off every year? But I can honestly say that going into my fifth year of teaching it seems like each summer gets shorter and shorter. It's not that I don't want to go back to work; as I've mentioned, I do a lot more work related stuff during the summer than a lot of teachers do. I'm frequently getting calls at home and writing reports for the DOE... you get the idea. Actually, maybe that's why the summer seems shorter each year! Anyway, today we're going to Connersville for the afternoon so we can see Chris' family before we go back to work. Once we're back in our teaching schedule and in tennis season, we don't really have many opportunities to make the trip to see them. Last Wednesday Sheri, Jeff, and Claire came to visit us. It was fun, and I think it was really good for Jeff and Claire to escape the drama for a day. No real news on that front, but all I can say is that Jeff has dropped about 20 pounds from the stress. And Claire seemed to be in good spirits until it was time to go home. Then she begged to stay with Chris and I, which is something she never does. She's usually one of those kids that when you tell her it's time to go home she goes without complaint. So for us, it was telling that she didn't want to leave us.

I've only got one more funny thing to share, and it's about my adorable husband. For those of you that know him, you know that Chris is one of those naturally funny people. Oh, sure, sometimes he tries to be funny (which usually results in a laugh riot), but in general he's one of those people that is hilariously funny without having to put much effort into it. It's one of the things I love the most about him. Here's an example...

Chris works for the Blue River Special Education Cooperative, and earlier in the week they had in-service meetings all day to discuss the new legal changes, etc. But according to Chris, the director of the co-op decided to open the meeting with all faculty standing up and saying their name, what school they're placed in, and what their favorite movie is as a sort of ice breaker. Keep in mind that all of the big bosses for BRSEC were also there. There were 96 teachers present: only 4 of those were men (including Chris). Chris and AJ Martzall (whom some of you know... he graduated in 2001 from Shelbyville) were sitting in the very back and were the last two to go. As the meeting wore on, all those boys were hearing was "My favorite movie is the Notebook" or "I like Fried Green Tomatoes" or "I love Steel Magnolias"... so basically lots of girl movies. So it gets to AJ, who tries to be funny and says his favorite movie is some boy thing, like Die Hard or Rambo. Then my adorable husband, who was the last one to go, stands up and says, "Hi, my name's Chris Lakes, and I teach mild disabilities at Southwestern High School. It's kind of hard for me to pick a favorite movie, but if I have to pick just one, I'd have to say my favorite movie is Debbie Does Dallas". Well, laughter in the form of pandemonium broke out! Kathy, who is the director, had to go get tissues for those that were laughing so hard they cried. Apparently a few of the older women had to bolt to the bathroom for fear they'd wet themselves from laughter! And Chris just say there, smiling, and watching the mayhem. That's my hubby for you!