You Never Know

I was going to do all Packers posts this week, but Mother Nature threw me a curveball, with some unintended consequences.

It's been in the teens the last couple nights here in the desert, uncharacteristically cold. Like most desert homes, we have a lot of exposed plumbing. We thought we'd adequately insulated the exposed pipes we have, but I came home yesterday to discover water pouring out of the pipes on the west side of the house. Lots of people had pipes burst, so plumbers are scrambling to get to everyone. Half the schools in town were closed today because they didn't have water, including the girls' school. My school managed to stay open (lucky me), and thankfully the in-laws were able to watch the girls. The girls love hanging out with them, so that was good thing. Regardless, I was in a foul mood when I left the house this morning. Then wouldn't you know it, life got all beautiful on me.

We had our student of the month breakfast this morning at school. Each teacher nominates one kid to be their student of the month, and we invite the kids and their families up to school for breakfast and a little award presentation. My student was the Quickwrite kid, and it was great to hang out with him and his mom. She's a single mother, and the love between Mother and Son was palpable. Watching them interact, it was impossible to be in a bad mood.

Any remaining angst and frustration was squashed first period. We had an assembly to say goodbye to the South Korean kids. One of the kids got things started by playing the piano. He wasn't very good, but our kids were a perfect audience, wildly cheering when he was done. There was a slide show after that, and then the South Korean kids brought the house down with a drumming performance-very cool. The assembly ended with each South Korean kid being called on stage to receive a parting gift from our student council. Our students went nuts for each kid. The whole thing was so cool, it just made me feel profoundly happy.

This was the kind of day that just goes to show, you never know.