Balloons, dippers, and buckets

In cleaning up my blog, I found a draft of a posting I hadn't finished from August 2013!

I'm not exactly a fan of heights but still enjoyed the Sears Tower ( I will always call it that!! ) in Chicago a few years ago as well as the hot air balloon ride I did last month on July 29th...what awesome experiences those two were!  I absolutely hate flying, but will do it when needed.  2013 is shaping up to be a flying year with having conferences to attend in Santa Fe, San Antonio, and San Francisco...don't you love all the Saint beginnings to those cities!?   

I think that this blog posting was meant to be a posting about the hot air balloon experience one of my closest friends in NC and I rode in Asheville, NC a few summers ago.  For some reason, I didn't finish the posting so here it is a couple years later....!  Doris and I had tried all summer to go on our hot air balloon ride.  The first time we drove the 3.5 hours to Asheville we made a weekend out of it by staying at a bed and breakfast (my first time) and the second time we went we spent the night in a hotel.  Both times were disappointed to learn that the wind was too strong for a hot air balloon ride and drove back to the Triad area sad and hoping to get the ride the next time.  By the time the 3rd attempt rolled around we chose to drive to Asheville in the middle of the night, arriving by 5am, found out the ride was actually happening this time, and were up in the air by 7am!!  I wish I still had the videos I took that morning on this laptop so I could share the experience with you that way.  I'm not sure where my old movies are saved to so for now the pictures will hopefully do it justice.  Once we completed our ride, we drove back to Greensboro and I was back at the house by noon.  What a surreal and wild morning we had had!!

We didn't have much room in our basket!

So excited to finally do this!!

At this point I was slightly nervous as we realized we were not tethered to the ground anymore....!

We could hear the doggies barking below us but not the trucks driving by on the highway which was surprising!

Sooo, fast forward two summers to the present to when I have been spending a lot of time outside these days but this time with my feet firmly on the ground.  This is due in large part to the fact that we brought Hershey home 8 weeks ago.  I try to take him outside every hour on the hour throughout the day in an effort to teach him to "go outside".  I also have not slept through a night since we got him as I take him out throughout the night.  When he first came home, I was taking him out 4-6 times a night.  Now, we're down to just 1-2 times a night.  What I wouldn't give for a full night's sleep!!  We had a good stretch from Monday - Wednesday afternoon where he only messed in his crate late Mon. night when we stepped out for Adoration and dinner for two hours.  Then he had a completely accident-free day on Tuesday and a good morning on Wed. but did # 1 in the house twice in the afternoon which was so disheartening!  Today, on Friday, he almost made it all day but when we stepped out to run errands for a few hours he messed his crate.  Tomorrow's a new day.

The vet says that he is young, hyper, and he will learn eventually with patience on my end while a dog trainer I spoke with said to be consistent and patient since he is technically only now entering the age range when he should begin to understand housetraining.  I suppose I'm grateful for the extra time outside and with the two pups as I try to hang on to my sanity in working with the pup.  Hershey imitates Dusty in other ways but not in the area of going to the bathroom.  Each morning I wake up, I think to myself, "Maybe this will be the day it will all click for Hershey!"  Maybe tomorrow will be the day?!  So, the other night, while I was outside with Hershey and waiting for him to do something...anything...just a little something please...I sat back on the steps and breathed in the cool summer air.  The sky was very clear that night and the stars shone crisp and bright.  I didn't see any meteor showers but I did notice, for the first time that night, that one of the dippers was located directly to the left in the sky above our house.  It literally looked like it was pouring something into our yard/house.  While standing there looking up to the heavens trying to figure out which constellation was which, I was transported to all the nights I did this as a little girl.  One of my favorite books as a child was a constellation book I had bought with my own money through the Scholastic Book Club.  Remember those book order forms we had in our elementary school classrooms?  Oh, how fun they were to browse and to shop for the newest Babysitter's Club Book or to look at the educational posters that were for sale.  I remember my problem had always been that I wanted too many books and could only afford one or two at the time!

I used to get lost in the stars sitting on the top of our picnic table stroking our German Shepherd mix dog's head and dream about what the future might hold.  I wondered what it would be like to fly and to be up amidst the twinkling stars and felt so small in this big ol' universe.  The other night, as I glimpsed back to my childhood staring at the same stars now as a grown-up, I loved seeing the dipper stationed right above the house.  I imagined Adam sitting at his computer in the office and Dusty Shamrock laying on the doggie bed.  I thought of the tangible objects in our house and the memories they held for us.  I thought of the pictures hanging on the walls and wondered what the family members and loved ones in the pictures were doing right then at 10:38pm in their respective states/homes.  It was a quiet night with the clear sky ahead of me but the late night summer breeze made me feel like I was at the beach.  If I listened hard enough, I could almost imagine hearing the waves crashing against the shore at the beach.  Upon opening my eyes, I saw the dipper again and thought of how the support and love of so many others helped Adam and me get to this point.  Through their encouragement and by the grace of God we are here.  I thought of our loving parents on both sides, all of our siblings, and extended family.  All of the thoughts/energy/prayers/vibes from all of this filling up the dipper and pouring it on down into our little house on the hill.  Then I thought about how hard Adam works and how much he tends to the yard and snow removal in the winter.  I thought of the meals I've been preparing and other ways of maintaining the house.  Even the pups contribute to our household in their own ways.  I thought back to all the handiwork Susie and I put into the house trying to make it into a home and readying it for our marriage this summer. Then, I thought of the homily from our wedding mass and all the desires we have for our marriage, family, and lives.

All of these different thoughts swarmed around in my head as I stood outside and imagined it all being poured into our home via the dipper.  We have been so blessed and hope to act as vessels or dippers if you will as we pour forth and spread the blessings elsewhere in our own ways!  Can you just imagine a world where positivity poured out of the dippers rather than negativity and hate?  What a beautiful world that would be indeed!

This last thought reminds me of a short story I had taped in the back of my plan book for years.  I came across it during my second student teaching experience in Butler, Slippery Rock, and Grove City.  My cooperating teacher had it hanging on the wall of her preschool classroom and I just loved it.  I asked my cooperating teacher for a copy of it way back then in Fall 2002.  The picture below is of the actual poem that has been in my planbook for the last 13 years.  The last time I shared it was when I supervised early intervention student teachers in Summer 2011.  One of my students had read this children's book to her preschool class during one of my observations and it immediately reminded me of the story in my plan book!

 
I have shared it with many students when teaching school-age children and hope it was as inspiring to them as it was to me.  Perhaps I will show it to my college students this semester.  It's one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it too!

Last, but not least, this blog posting marks the 500th entry (!!!) since I set up this blog back in August 2010 (even thought I didn't start using it until the following year when I was required to for a class assignment when working on my PhD).  Part of me wonders what in the world did I talk about so much for 500  postings (right Jen??!  Haha)?!  It's fun to look back on those early entries that were completed for a grade back in Fall 2011 and then to see the blog turn into a journaling tool of sorts rather than a school assignment which was the original purpose of the blog.  I was just a single girl in Pennsylvania living with my dog and teaching in York when I set up the account then moved to North Carolina (with the dog) to go back to school, next I fell in love with a boy from California, married him, moved to Ohio to teach at a college, and am still just a girl living with her dog and new pup thankful for the release this little ol' blog provides me.  I'm so thankful for the folks I've met along the journey both in person and online.  Whether you've been here from the start, hopped on board somewhere along the way, or just joined me for the first time tonight, thank you!  Thanks for the comments, thoughts, and reading my ramblings.  Hope you stick around for the next 500!  Pax!