Dot up for Thanksgiving!

My husband James is an 8th grade English teacher.  Every time I spend more than a weekend with him, I learn something new.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday we had long moments to catch up with family and friends.  One of the stories that was told, late into the Thanksgiving evening, centered around James and his classroom.  It seems as though James' students have a tendency to "drift" in their desks which results in a final period of the day where all of their desks are (if I can use a phrase from the word processor) "left aligned."  The daily exodus of the desks was causing the wall in his classroom to chip paint and become dirty and worn way before the end of the year when the custodial staff would once again paint.  Learning that this was a problem after years of experience, James methodically measured each desk's space in the classroom.  He took the time to architecturally plan where each desk should begin and END each class day.  He got down on the floor and drew a permanent black dot with a sharpie marker in the exact spot where the upper left desk leg should be.  At the end of each class hour, James announces the homework for that day, lists anyone with outstanding assignments, and gives the clearly followed command "dot up people" and dismisses them to get on with their day.  Its a way of not only straightening up the room but a gesture that indicates their presence long after they have left that spot.

Every Thanksgiving for many years now, we begin our holiday in Illinois with my mom and the cast of characters that go along with  that side of my history, and conclude in Iowa with my dad and aunt where we participate in our own traditions "Hawkeye" style.  During each Thanksgiving in Illinois, we spend a small bit of our time "dotting up" for a picture taken by my step father.  We are all positioned at the foot of the stairs and he takes a picture using his camera, tri-pod and trusty timer.  (My sister Molly recently posted this year's picture of our "dotting up" exercise on facebook in case you want to take a look at what I'm talking about.)  This year, as every year, I silently gave thanks for being able to "dot up" with the rest of that side of the family.  It seems that every year, we gain a few players (this year it was Dave's fiance Pat and Brookie's boyfriend Reese) and lose a few KEY members (gone but never forgotten are Brad and aunt Karen) but a few of us remain to gaze upon the annual picture that is a reminder of our presence at that event long after the sights, sounds and smells of Thanksgiving have been forgotten.




In Iowa, we "dotted up" for an annual family bowling tournament (complete with tee shirts this year thanks to aunt Polly) where we had an unforgettable family experience that provided me yet another reason to truly be thankful. 


I love my family and everyone in it.  I am grateful for everyone I am related to in one way or another as they have ALL helped me to become who I am today.  I am THANKFUL for another year of coming together to "dot up" in Illinois and Iowa.  I would not trade my family holidays and their traditions for all of the money in the world.  Someday, when James' students have grown up and begun family traditions of their own, perhaps they too will understand an alternate meaning to Mr. Hendler's "Dot up people!"  Perhaps then, they too will be grateful!  Happy Thanksgiving!

The blogging begins!

So I was flying back to Chicago (Where I do NOT live BTW) from San Diego (Where it would be nice to live) and I was reflecting on everyone I saw at ASHA and the number of people who asked to be on the Christmas letter mailing list.  I thought to myself that it would be nice to include everyone on the letter list but REALLY, that is just an abbreviated version of what happens in any given year of my life.  It would be way more fun (and timely) to blog about the day to day events as they occur whenever I get a chance.  Thus:  the blog! Turns out naming the blog is one of the most difficult parts of beginning to be a blogger.  I chose midlife Melissa because if you know me at all you know my memory is failing me at an alarming rate.  My husband recently called me from home to ask why I put the full mustard bottle in the dishwasher and I had absolutely NO IDEA what he was talking about.  Maybe if I blog I can remember what happened in any given month versus my current reality which is to wander around the halls at work and home and try and guess at what needs doing in that moment.  I have no idea how this will end up looking because when I began to set up the site I had to answer questions about things like textile and gravatar which sound more like names of fashion items and video games than web based blogging sites.  It may take a while for me to get all of the kinks ironed out but, if you choose to, you can follow my attempts at sharing what happens in my sometimes surprisingly hilarious and sometimes gratefully mundane world.  Don't expect an update until after Thanksgiving as I am in touch with reality enough to know that if I do not do laundry and pay some bills in the next few days, I will have naked and homeless children.  (Which BTW, I would still be thankful for but my husband would frown upon as I am the self-proclaimed CEO of the family).  Welcome to my world!