Still on Strike

Greetings,  

Today is the fourth day members of the Seattle Education Association have been on strike. This is to my benefit, you know. It is giving me more time to take it easy, relax, build my stamina and strength and get better! I am doing that step by step, day by day. Initially I was very greedy wanting this strike as I knew it would benefit me. Now I have to let that go. There are too many people in the city struggling with childcare (though many great people and organizations have stepped up to help) and too many people who don’t make enough money in this organization and do not know when their next pay check will be or how much it will be. So, I can no longer hope for this strike to continue…I just have to put that out there into the world.

Last week I joined my fellow Pathfinder staff folk a little bit each day. I went up to school to walk the line for some time on Wednesday and Thursday. We have tons of parent support and the energy was good. On Friday the SEA directed us, in honor of 9/11 to do service projects instead of marching. My staff decided to clean up some of the public stairwells and streets that we use around our school neighborhood. There are 2 especially long stairwells from Delridge up to school that get used frequently for walking field trips or when we walk down to Delridge to catch the city bus. Staff cut back blackberry and other shrubberies and cleaned up trash along the way. I can take no direct credit for any of that work! Friday afternoon the teachers and families joined a “read-in” at Alki beach. That was awesome and something I was definitely up for…more my speed. We all sat around on the 80 degree afternoon reading to the kids and chatting with each other. It was a lovely sea of red t-shirts on the grass near the beach.

Because of the strike I was able to get a jump start on my cardio rehab. I had my first 2 appointments scheduled for this week. I was able to get them in on Thursday and Friday of last week. The first appointment was about an hour, with a nurse, going over lots of information and gathering up some medical information and data. The second one was with a personal trainer type, Cara. She took me through the paces of what will be my cardio workout class. Because I was able to get those completed last week I was able to start my class this morning. I went from 9:30-10:30 along with our old friend Jim Black! Small world!

First they take your weight and hook you up to a 3 point lead. Then you sit for a few minutes and they take a resting blood pressure. At that point you get to select from a wide variety of machines to do a warm up, to work out according to your own individual goals and then a cool down. This is followed by the entire group, (maybe 8 altogether) led by one of the staff, doing some work with hand held weights and then stretches. The whole bit lasts about a hour. While on the machines, Cara would check in with me asking about shortness of breath and exertion level. She would report to me my heart rate that is monitored in the back of the room because of the leads that I wear the whole time. It is a great program and I feel really fortunate to have this level of support to bring my heart back up to speed. I’ll be able to stay in the class as long as we are on strike or as long as I am 1/2 time. Once I’m back to work full time I’ll have to do this work on my own…yikes! I’m savoring this support and time to heal!

My liver is also healing. I can still feel stress, inflammation and pain in my liver, though it is definitely getting better. After the hospital I only took pain pills at night to help me sleep through the pain, I’ve been off those about a week now. So, it is definitely better. That procedure was 4 weeks ago today. I was warned there would be pain…but man! I did not think it would last this long! I look forward to the day I am not aware of my liver! Seems like a simple request!

This weekend Eva’s mom and dad, Betsy and Bob, were in town. I think I’ve only met them once before at Eva’s graduation. We had a great day together yesterday with breakfast followed by a thorough trip to the Locks (which suits me just fine…I love the Locks) and a stroll through the Ballard Sunday Market. If you are one of my out of town friends, next time you are here, we shall go to the Locks! You can goggle Hiram Chittenden Locks if you can’t wait for a visit to Seattle. And some time in Ballard has something for everyone, that is for sure! What a great neighborhood!

A few posts ago I mentioned a book about a woman with 2 young children who was battling breast cancer at the same time her dad was battling cancer. The book is The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. I enjoyed it quite a bit as I especially enjoy sad stories…books or movies…I always have.

There was a line from the author’s note that I wanted to share. She is talking about when her book was first published and she was driving up and down the East Coast selling her book and doing readings here and there. At the end of every reading, she says, people would pull her aside, share their own story and at times ask for advice…here is what she said:

If they asked for advice, I’d try to sell them on sharing the whole thing—the anxiety, the pain, the work—with people around them. Because that’s what made being very sick something I’m glad to have experienced. That lean-and-catch thing people do, that’s the good part, and you owe it to yourself to get the good part.

I’m crying just typing that up. And, I’m not sure I’m at a point where I can say I am glad to have experienced this, but, she is right, all of you who have caught us so many times in this last year…you are the good part and I thank you!

I am ready to go back to school tomorrow if that is in the cards and I’m certainly ready to march the line with my peers and hold out for a decent contract if that is what the future brings. I’m feeling stronger and healthier each day. 

I hope this post finds you well…

Love, light and laughter to you all

Janet

Here is a random picture of me and my little June-bug next door neighbor....they are in Austin for awhile and we are missing them! How cute is she? This was from our going away pizza party.