Family Update

Michael had to spend 3 or 4 days in Hawaii for work and got out of there just before the storms. From there he headed to the Bay Area to spend time with Eva and her family. He came in last night after nine, spent about half an hour visiting us, then drove back to Portland! That is a hard working boy on the move.

In the meantime our Maggie is home! She is slowly recovering from her jet lag but has not missed a beat in picking up some of the pieces around here. This weekend Maggie helped out with many of the chores and extra stuff around but most importantly she started an Etsy site for Mike’s bowls! So far there are only 4 bowls posted, but there are many more to come! Here is the link… (to be posted…everyone else is in bed and i’m not so sure about the link…) Maggie also came in to work with me today and helped get Jessica started arranging the classroom.. 

Goodnight Moon

Walking out of the classroom was not easy. I'm not planning on going back and I spent as much time and energy as I could getting rid of stuff and getting things ready for Jessica. Leaving the room at 5pm today, as Jennifer was encouraging me to let it go I had Goodnight Moon in my head. Good night blue rug, good night easel, good night wooden blocks... She encouraged my to think about saying good night to the less desirable aspects of our job.... Good night nose pickers, good night kids who sneeze and snot dangles down 3 inches from their nostrils, good night to kids who have to go potty as soon as we get out side and we'd just all gone potty....you get it! We laughed and headed out the door.

Head Update

White-ass-white…that is the color of my bald head! Oh and a little pink racing stripe where my part was. White-ass-white with a pink stripe! My new look.

I am officially apologizing to all the little boys who have entered my classroom with freshly shaved heads. Who can resist running their hands over those cute little heads??? Well, not me! I’ve rubbed my hands back and forth liberally! I am sorry!  It feels weird and I  may never do it again (maybe…they are so very cute!). So, if you see me, please do not rub my head! Thanks! 

What do you call a shaved head with little stubbles? That is what I have. I really do not want to take a razor to it. So I’ll be loosing little stubbles right and left for a while. Oh well.

So it went better than I thought it would, with fewer tears than I thought I might cry. First, Jennifer and Maggie made 3 small braids and cut them off for me to save. Then they cut some major chunks to get them out of the way. We were out on the deck and I was NOT watching. Jennifer had borrowed her sisters professional clippers, had watched many a you tube video and got to work. She was a rock star and Mike and Maggie watched and cheered me and Jennifer on, giving us both positive feedback as she went. In the end I had to just sit for a minute before I could go have a look but it did not take long for me to do a hat fashion show. Jennifer has brought me 3 so far that she embellished tastefully with appliqué. Carrie dropped one off that matches a skirt of mine. Eva sent up a big black straw hat. Anita loaned me some of the scarves she just recently had to wear. I have the lovely, soft green hat from Missa.  And there is more… I have many head cover options! I ended the day with the lovely scarf Carrie had given me from Italy wrapped in an oh-so-clever way by Jennifer.

So, I’m going to be ok. I don’t like it. I prefer hair. But I’m alive and I’m fighting cancer and healing my parts.

Tomorrow I’m off to chemo; more ammo for the fight. I’m packing healthy snacks; more good stuff for the healing.

Good night!

Lots of love,

Janet