Reflections on the Teche

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Every week when I sit down to write this Celebration post, I am amazed at all there is to celebrate, even with the stress of the season settling in. My stress started when I slept a whole hour late on Tuesday morning. I managed to get where I was going in time, but it set a hurried tone to my day that was uncomfortable.

Yet, there is much to celebrate.

On Monday, my students performed their play at the Shadows. They were so wiggly and full of nervous energy, but they all did a wonderful job. After our performances (Each scene occurs multiple times for different sets of first graders), we walked downtown to Bouligny Plaza. I told the students that the plaza was named for the founder of New Iberia. I allowed them to play a healthy game of hide-and-seek but said there would be a quiz at the end about the plaques in the plaza. Here a student photo bombs Bouligny.

On Tuesday, Glenae spoke! If you follow my blog posts, you know Glenae was seriously injured in a car accident. She has had a ventilator then a tracheotomy, so speech was not possible. A new smaller trache allowed her to say, “Hi Momma.” What joy and celebration! She has now been transferred to a rehab hospital. Today I received a praise text that she has had the valve shut off to see how she can tolerate it. She is on her way to a full recovery.

On Wednesday, Jeff and I learned the Western Two-Step at our dancing lessons. We have found a Texas swing band that we enjoy, so we asked Lou to teach us some new steps. It’s keeping us young.

On Thursday, my writing group welcomed a new member. She is a good writer and a willing participant. Also, Maggie made dinner. She is an imaginative cook. She used the abundance of satsumas to make a delicious sauce for salmon.

On Friday night, I attended a faculty Christmas party at a local restaurant. It is always fun to relax and talk to colleagues about non-school things.

Today, I started this post but had to hurry off to our Solomon House Christmas party. Without Ellen, Glenae’s mom, to organize the whole thing, I think we did a pretty good job. St. Nicholas came and my husband showed up with chicken fingers galore. Not to mention all the church members who donated time and gifts. Our clients are going to have a better Christmas due to their generosity.

Solomon House volunteer, Betty, holds precious Melachi.