Night and Day

Night and day. That how we would describe the difference between last year's first week of teaching, and this year's first week of teaching. Let me elaborate:

Last year, we were: stressed, anxious, nervous, sweaty, unsure, overworked, high-strung.

This year, we were: confident, stern, in control, proactive, funny (all our jokes landed), and generally happy.

Last year, we used to hear the 2nd year teachers go on about how much easier teaching is the second time around. As they would say these words, we would watch on with wanton faces and wishful hearts like Martin Short and Steve Martin in The Three Amigos, when Chevy Chase empties his canteen onto the desert floor. We so desperately wanted to feel the sweet relief so many 2nd years spoke of.

This week, we did. We attribute our early success to the fact that we've had a year to build up reputations as taskmasters, and also the fact that we're simply more confident. When you're not confident, your students leverage that against you. This year, students kept their mouths shut when we spoke, and didn't dare to test our mettle. Darn tootin'.

Now, we're not under any grand illusions that the entire year will be this way. The bashful nature of our students will begin to wear thin, and before long, they'll put us to the test. But there's no question that our days will be easier, that we're stronger teachers than we were a year ago, and that life is generally a little better.

Year 2: commence.

New England Welcomes You!

Jackson and I have just spent the past week experiencing New England. When we moved to North Carolina we decided that we needed to take advantage of our proximity to the East and see all that we could. With a few weeks before school starts, we took off on our last adventure for the summer.

I woke up on my birthday to a wonderful breakfast and a nice spread of gifts from my adoring husband. Afterwards we picked up our suitcases and headed out the door off to Boston, a fun, historical town close (enough) to family and the beautiful New England coastline.

In Boston we walked around Boston Common, went to the JFK library and went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It's always nice to visit a new city and to learn the history and culture of it that makes the town come alive.

In front of the Massachusetts Capital Building

Jackson at the JFK Library

The Red Sox lost 1-9 to the Cleveland Indians... Ouch!

We then drove to Highland NY to visit my wonderful Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Dan and their family. It had been a while since we've been able to be with the Coopers, and it was so great to see them!

Jackson and I with the Coopers - Dan, Jeanne and Nate over the Hudson River

While in Highland I thought that I was going to die. Seriously. Dan showed me how to drive an old Ford tractor. I had the gears and stearing down fine... but he forgot to show me where the brakes were (an easy thing to do because they are obviously placed right under the right leg, but I guess I needed him to point them out to me). I went down the driveway (and a hill) and got a little out of control. I was going way too fast and the driveway was curving. I was overcorrecting at every turn and was not slowing down. I started yelling for help (maybe it was more like screaming) and Jackson and Dan came running after me. Luckily I got the tractor under control and brought it to a standstill. Needless to say I was a little shaken, for a few seconds there I thought that I would for sure be trapped between a tractor and a tree!

Dan teaching me how to run the tractor

Leaving NY was hard (I always have a tough time saying goodbye to family), but we were back on the road to spend our anniversary in Maine. We spent the night in Portland and spent the next day exploring the port town and traveling down the coast to New Hampshire. It was so beautiful!

The Portland Head Light

Jackson enjoying some fresh Haddock

Yesterday we arrived back home. Now it's really time to get back to business. Teacher work days begin in just a few short days and the students won't be far behind.

Bragg and the Burbanks

Several months ago, my parents came to visit us in North Carolina. I had the pleasure of picking them up from the airport and bringing them back to our cozy 2-bedroom apartment in Oxford. As we casually chit-chatted our way home, my mother mentioned to me that Jarom Burbank, a family friend who had graduated around the same time as a couple of my older siblings, and his wife and kids were now living in North Carolina. Jarom had joined the Army, and was serving as a military dentist on Fort Bragg. I was pleased to hear of a few fellow Aggies being so nearby, and made a mental note to contact Jarom in the near future.

Fast forward 1 week.

While at a church function on the night before my parents left for Utah, we just happened to run into the very same Jarom Burbank in Raleigh, NC, about an hour from both of our houses! What are the odds?!

Jarom wasted no time in inviting Celeste and I down to Fort Bragg to visit, and Celeste and I wasted no time in taking him up on his offer. As soon as we got back from our travels in Europe and Utah, we were Bragg-bound.


It was a great little getaway, and it gave us a chance to make some new friends, see a stunning military facility, and to participate in one of my favorite pastimes: bashing BYU (Jarom and Desi, his wife, were both Ambassadors for Utah State, and both bleed Aggie Blue). It had been at least 10 year since I last saw Jarom, and had not at that point met his wife and kids: Anna, 3, a tornado, and Nia, 1, a tornado aggravater/playmate.


Fort Bragg was pretty incredible. There are 50,000 soldiers there, not including wives and families, which more than double that figure. It’s the home of the Airborne division of the Army, and is where many of the paratroopers of D-Day came to be trained, including the group in the HBO series Band of Brothers. It’s a very historic military base, and we were grateful to see it with the help of some very knowledgeable tour guides.

The trip was short, but sweet. And it had to be short, because in just another two days Celeste and I are heading to Boston, New York, and Maine to celebrate our anniversary and as a final hoorah before school starts back up. Now no one can say we didn't make the most out of this summer.