Hopping Along

I am learning how to navigate the challenges of life after having ACL surgery. I won't share the pictures of the inside of my knee, but I know healing is hard work from the inside out. Here are the top ten things that I learned so far.

1.  Learning something new is exhausting work. Need I say more? 

2.  Being dependent on others isn't easy. I am lucky to have amazing help. My husband has time off from work. My aunt has come down to help and my nine year old steps up as well. It isn't easy, but it is necessary. I try to make sure I have everything I need in my spot, but it doesn't always happen. Right now, I am avoiding needing anything while they are still sleeping.

3.  Navigating your first curb is like overcoming a mountain. A good friend told me how to navigate stairs. His advice made sense at the time, but as the curb grew before me, I couldn't figure it out. I just looked at it for awhile.  I did go over it and have since endured stairs, a hill, and grass. I am still thankful that I am in a one story space and someone invented elevators.

4. Ice is my best friend. In less than 24 hours I weened myself off pain meds. Icing is the key. I am not muscling through the pain, I haven't had much. I know I was in more pain after having a c-section. Nothing like ice can soothe the dull ache that creeps in the joints as the swelling increases. Twenty minutes on ice cures that.

5. I enjoy being a sloth. People think I will go stir crazy, because I am so active. I have many indoor pursuits aside from the reading to engage in such as writing, scanning old family pictures and watching movies to occupy my time. These activities are ones that I don't normally sit still long enough for, but will now. In fact, the day flew by watching 13 episodes of Mako Mermaids with my daughter. 

6. It is good to have the help of family and friends. My mom sent a Barnes and Novel gift card, my sister, an Amazon package, Paula, Lee Ann, & Mary, meals. Others have shared the gift of their time allowing my husband a break. All of these are thoughtful gifts that make the days go by smoother and faster. Thank you! 

7. The directions from the doctor never tell you everything you need to know. I read directions. I follow directions. I have questions. As a T1, I know doctors can never tell me all I need to know. Could you have it written in the follow-up that you won't be in a walking brace until your leg fits in the brace?  Not the 10-14 days that the post-op directions say.  False expectations! Surprises. Yes, I want to heal well, but I need to craft a timeline to make this work.

8. A frozen bag of spinach will do in a pinch. Work-arounds! In this world we need them. You have to craft them. You have to help your students and children problem solve. No ice! No peas! What do you have? Spinach! No way to elevate your leg while sitting, invert your crutch. Problem solved.

9. Never underestimate the power of dehydration. The day after my surgery I struggled bringing my blood sugars down. I had eaten low carb. I checked. I treated. I checked again. Finally it dawned on me that I hadn't had much water in the past 24 hours due to fasting. I started drinking and the sugars came down. 

10. This work is a temporary part of the healing process. My good friend lost her leg five years ago. In a month I should be walking fine. In six months I will be back to ultimate frisbee. I will be preparing for my next half marathon. I will resume Camp Gladiator. For me, the changes and challenges are temporary. Her challenges are permanent. I am lucky.

Brave the Wild: Rainbow Springs & River

Although I won't go back to work for weeks, my last summer adventure was Thursday, floating and snorkeling down the Rainbow River and a dip into Rainbow Springs. I have been sidelined much of this summer with a torn ACL. It has kept me closer to home and away from the mountains and woods that I normally hike. I have, however, been lucky to swim for the most of my summer although the next three weeks of my vacay and the next six months will be spent rehabbing from the ACL surgery I had yesterday. Part of my post-op directions are no water for two weeks. My mermaid brain is cringing as I write this. But this slice celebrates my last opportunity to brave the wild.

    Rainbow Springs is my favorite place to spring hop.  The spring head is at Rainbow River State Park. It is at the bottom of basin. The swimming area of the spring is deep and wide. If you have small children, they need a life jacket or noodle to take into the water.  The water is too deep for most adults to touch the bottom, but the water is clear, cold, and sparked and leaves your skin tingling for hours afterward. We always end our day of tubing here with a picnic and a dip.
  You can also rent kayaks from this area to venture downstream enjoying the Rainbow River, one of the most clear rivers you will find in Florida. Most rivers are tannic, but Rainbow river cuts a glass-like swath allowing for snorkeling as well as tubing, boating, paddleboarding, or kayaking. If you kayak from the spring head down, you will glimpse the spring plant life rehab project.

  We started our day tubing the lower part of the river. K.P Hole and the state park system rent tubes and provide shuttle service, both of which can get filled up pretty early on summer weekends. If you can, try to steal away on a summer weekday. We tried the state park system for the first time and floated our way down the river for two hours. Again it was a day of laughter with friends. 

  Braving the wild has been my intent this July. I chose it as a reminder to disconnect and enjoy the world. Hopefully you will get that opportunity before you go back to school.

Brave the Wild: Scalloping

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Each summer I  disconnect by braving the wild! My forays into nature reset my brain to ready me for the upcoming year. This year it happened to be the sea. I don't have a bucket list per say and I also believe there are many treasures to be discovered in my backyard that don't include theme parks.   With a torn ACL and the surgery to repair it looming in my future, water adventure are the most feasible. I have blogged about spring-hopping, but I wanted to do another uniquely Florida adventure- scalloping.

Eight people gathered this bucket of about 8 gallons
of scallops which yielded a little less than 4 pounds.

What I imagined and how the day turned out were two entirely different visions. I love it when a day in your life turns out that way.  I couldn't have imagined a more magical summer day than the one we spent floating in the Big Bend Seagrass Preserve. The beginning seemed ominous as we headed out to sea via the Steinhatchee River in the midst of a storm in which raindrops felt like hail, but the seas was flat which was a good sign. Fortunately, the sun peeped out just as we arrived at our destination.


You need the right equipment for the day most importantly a friend with a boat and their knowledge of the area and process. We packed light- snorkel gear, nets, and sunscreen. If you haven't been scalloping before, you might think that it is a simple process, just snorkel and scoop them out with a net. There is, however, more seeking involved, a "Where's Waldo?" scallop-style. When you see one, you know it, but to find them you must look closely, pay attention to the details.  There are a host of distractions from the task including an abundance of fish, a occasional octopus, even the way the sunlight plays upon the undersea world.

Aside from the adventure, what made it magical was my daughter's response. She's nine. She loved it. Already a strong swimmer, she didn't let fear stop her from engaging in the day. It can be unnerving for some to swim "in the weeds" where you don't see the bottom. She braved the wild. She became adept at swimming from the boat and searching for scallops on her own. What helped my parenting comfort level was the life jacket that she wore built for snorkeling. Also the water was about 4-5 feet deep so she could stand if needed. We spent at least four hours in the water, a real laboratory.

Both Hope and I have many more questions about scalloping and sea life.  I've spent my entire life in Florida and there is so much to learn about the sunshine state.  I will confess that I didn't "shuck" my scallops.  I wanted to, but that will be for my next adventure.  The eight of us gathered about 8 gallons of scallops which yielded a little less than four pounds.  In the end it wasn't about the meal garnered, it was about the journey, a day of light and laughter among friends and a better understanding of the environment.  As my friend Lee Ann blogs about, a pink-stone day.

Tired Yet?

Note:  I took a two month hiatus from the SOLC, but am back and ready to write. 

MY PROCTORING SHOES
On the positive note, on the days that I proctoredexams my pedometer clocked between 4-5 miles walked
versus my normal 2-3 miles covered during my workday.

Last Tuesday, I finished my final day of proctoring tests. Like any educator currently in the field of K-12 public education, I am not alone this week succumbing to the proctoring fatigue and the giddy excitement of summer overtaking me.  As the reading coach at a high school, I spent 7 of the last 10 weeks proctoring tests.  Proctoring translates into a minimum of 3-6 hours per day or ½ or all of a teacher’s work day.  If a teacher wanted to use a computer lab or the media center during the fourth nine weeks, their students were out of luck as were all the students in any classes that were computer-based.  Most 21^st century technologies were displaced as our high school became a testing center. 

What does testing mania look like at a high school?  With End-of Course (EOC) exams in Biology, US History, Algebra I, and Geometry , Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB)  exams and the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Tests (FCAT 2.0) in reading and math, it looks different from testing at an elementary or middle school.  With a student population of 3200, it looks different from many high schools across America. With over 7,319 tests administered over the last 7 weeks at our school, not including IB tests, it looks like most public high schools in Florida. 

Fortunately we have a testing coordinator to handle the demands of testing season formerly known as “ the 4th nine weeks” and all of the other tests during the rest of the year that make this position full-time.  To our principal’s credit, we have an amazing testing coordinator, who came to school every day around 5 am to make sure the computers were up and ready to go.  She walked the eerily silent halls making sure that computers in the media center, throughout our 6 business education classrooms and in our computer lab were working.  She along with our tech coordinator handled any computer issues that literally popped up overnight.  She made sure that they were fans in rooms when AC wasn’t working.  (Did you know there is an optimal learning temperature according to some research?) She made administering the 4,152 FCAT tests for all ninth and tenth graders as well as the juniors and seniors retaking the exam, the 2,287 EOC exams, and 880 AP tests over the course of 7 weeks look easy.

It also took a team to administer these tests.  With over 180 instructional staff at our school, 140 teachers administered these tests and our team of guidance counselors helped every morning. No group was immune from making sure testing ran smoothly. Support staff including the media clerks and ESOL paraprofessionals as well as custodial staff were also involved.  Teachers provided the main support by proctoring tests, but they also made sure the right students made it to the right spot and modified their curriculum when half of their class was missing due to testing.  Also 133 substitutes were also used to cover classes while certified teachers were proctoring tests.  Does instruction stop when testing season begins? No, but it agonizingly slows down. 

As I think about the countless hours spent proctoring tests this year and know that I have neglected to include numbers about the instructional time that was lost during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd nine weeks due to mandatory progress-monitoring tests and teaching students how to navigate the computer-based testing system, I continue to think about the actual cost of high-stakes testing. I am reminded of my mentor's favorite quote attributed to Albert Einstein, "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Camping in Yurt

A rare site, a scenic river bluff in Florida

Heading to Florida for vacay?  Planning that trip often includes a trip to Disney and the beaches.  If you have lived here long enough, you know there are secret places---brilliant pools of blue encircled by moss-covered live oaks.  I spent the last weekend of spring break in Northwest Florida. Our three day adventure including meals, gas, park visits and lodging cost less than a one day family visit to Disney would cost.

One side of the 360 degree yurt.

We stayed in a yurt at  Torreya State Park. It was gorgeous and not so primitive for people who don't like to camp. We normally bunker down on the ground in our tent, so this site was a treat. We then spring-hopped by heading to 6 of the over 500 natural springs found in Florida.  We leaped into Wakulla Springs from a 33 foot platform in to the 155 deep spring.  We went spelunking in the Florida Caverns, then plunged into the fountain of youth at Ponce De Leon Springs and took a short trip to check our Morrison Springs.  We also enjoyed a unusual site in Florida, a 73 foot waterfall at Falling Waters State Park.  

Wakulla Springs

When I came home today, I cracked up because that area, Florida's panhandle and places to eat there  were featured in The New York Times Travel section, yet the all of the places I traveled  except for one restaurant weren't secrets shared with the New Yorkers.

It was a full weekend to close spring break with brilliant swimming weather and no distractions, but the splash of the blue water and the chimes of laughter.

Fears

Fears
We all have them.
Fear of my A1C.
Fear of losing my sight.
Fear of heights.
To name a few of mine.

I try not to let fear consume me. Sometimes you have a physiological reaction like the one I experienced on Friday when I jumped from a 33 foot platform into a 150 foot deep spring. I jumped despite my racing heart. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath surfacing, perhaps the shock of the cold 64 degree water or my fear.

Fear constricts us. I climbed the platform and jumped again. Facing fear releases you from it's grip. Name your fear. Face it. Say it aloud to someone and hold their hand to face it together. 1.2.3 Jump!

Road Trip

In 1994 I took my first serious road trip, 11,000 miles, six weeks, 28 states, a tent, a map, and a friend. I had traveled the length of the eastern coast with my family from top to bottom, but had never ventured past the Mississippi River. This trip was about what lay west.

I've not done such a lengthy trip since, but spent much of my late twenties and thirties road tripping to ultimate tournaments. Those trips were more about the drive than the destination. Once there we spent ninety percent of our time on the fields. I've been to Savannah at least twenty times for ultimate yet never stayed long enough to enjoy more than the fields at Forsyth Park and breakfast at Clary's. Ultimate memories such as the 8 hour trip to Atlanta with Nami, a Japanese exchange student whom we showered with Broadway show tunes or the 8 hour drive to Pensacola where I unknowing kicked a friend's wallet onto the interstate and someone found and returned it, are all layered in laughter.

My company on the road changed once I married. He and I would travel to tournaments. He, a new designated driver. Our most memorable trip was a week driving around the peninsula of Washington state where we marveled at mountainous terrain, lush rain forest, cliff-lined beaches, and deep blue glacier-filled lakes. After my daughter's birth, we did shorter trips to the Keys and the mountains. I am planning a summer when we do our own version of a Westward Ho, but for now I'll be content with our small trips like our one today.

We are off heading north to Torreya State Park, but we will make several stops such as hopping into Wakulla Springs, Defuniak Springs, and Ponce De Leon Springs, checking out Falling Waters, and spelunking in the Florida Caverns. We will bunk down for the night in a yurt. We don't have a schedule. As long as we have gas in our car and a few day left in our break, we will make some new road trip memories together.