Family.

It is so sad to me that the family dinners have gone.
That I am holding new traditions with my children and my once huge family has shrunk to minuscule size?
It is sad. So sad.

Grandma and Grandpa were the center of our family. They were the bond that held us together. Just what would my life have been like without them? Where would I have gone to cry out my woes of teenage-hood.
Who else would have given me a pall mall non filter to smoke and a cup of joe to sip, if not for my grandma?

I remember the excitement that I used to get when My aunt and cousins would come up to stay. Uncle Errol would wake earlier then us all and go off to fish.

Grandma and Aunty Lois would be in the kitchen, when i woke, frying up some deliciously bad for you breakfast and grandpa would have his cribbage board on the ready....shining and whistling...ready for the next grandchild that would be his willing (or unwilling) opponent.

My cousins and I would play in the game room and make up dances to old songs. We would color or watch tv. We rarely bothered the adults..we were too busy teasing our hair or giggeling about crushes.

It was my grandmother who taught me to sew. It was my aunt who patiently bathed Shane and instructed me on the cleaning of a newborn...There on grandmas round table by the fireplace.

My nightly chat with Melanie caused us both sadness. Her grandparents were her rock as well.

Here I sit...with my teeny family. Wondering why there are no more family dinners.
My cousin and I try to keep in touch, but the family hasn't all gotten together since my fathers funeral.

Which...in itself is sad.

I find myself planning Holiday dinners with Melanie and her family, just to stretch my family arms a bit.

I watch large families together and jelousy arises inside of me.

That is what life is all about. Family. Dinners. Smiles. Laughter. Kids dancing. Kids fighting. Tears shed....only to do it again.

My family is small...but perfect. But I cannot help but want to reach my arms out and grab my sister, who i rarely talk to anymore, closer.

I want to visit my cousin and laugh with my aunt.

Ah...but time...How do we find the time?

We just do.

I will try my best, this Easter to hold a laughing, happy Easter feast. With egg hunts and all of my loved ones near. Dawn, Jesse, ma and Donald. Aunty lois and uncle Errol, Matthew and Jen. My babies. My sister. My nephew.

My normal family and my new crazy one.

As I get older. I yearn most...for family.

The single best part of my childhood.

WERK.

When I stopped working at Kinder care the one thing I missed the most was the friendship and camaraderie of my fellow teachers.

The quick chats when you can. The crazy looks through the window. The signs held up, proclaiming "I need CHOCOLATE NOW!"

We have the best teachers. Between all of us we can handle almost anything. Blood. Puke. Licensing.

It is always sad when one of our brood leaves us...but in our profession it happens. I find myself looking at my favorites and thinking "Dontleavemedontleavemedontleaveme!"

Twice a year we go to our 'professional training day' where we learn things we already know but don't have to have snot wiped on us that day, so we're cool with it.

I look around and try as I might, I cannot see any other school who has the amazing people with the FANTASTIC personalities that our center has.

We have the disciplinarian teacher. The one we threaten the naughty kids with. We also tend to think of her as the 'daddy' of the center. The male role model even though technically she has a vagina....I think. She can silence a room just by stepping in it...its sorta amazing.

We have the warmhearted cook, who sneaks sweets to the children and for the hell of it, makes pizza on Friday and buys soda for the oldest kids.

We have the jesus-y teacher, who coincidentally is my co-teacher. I can't believe how happy I am to see her everyday. I love working with her..She wears happy, strange clothes that she buys on sale everywhere, and i make her laugh and turn red at least 3 times daily.

We have the sweet, adorable preschool teacher who everyone loves to death. She has been there the longest and she is the best person to talk with when you are having a bad day. Her room always has cute things in it.

We have The way short, Ethiopian with foofy hair and a big smile. For a few weeks i would hide around corners and swipe her with my pen just to hear her get mad at me "Beeeeanie! what are you doing!" You're crazy!" Of course she has an Ethiopian accent..which..is odd but hilarious.
Sometimes she is confused about words and two weeks ago I described (in great detail) what douche was.

We have the deaf teacher who always tells the kids they are too loud. Which makes me giggle. Her heart is in her eyes and she never forgets anyone's birthday. I try to give her a hug every single day.

We have the amazingly cuckoo two's teacher, who in my opinion should be paid 25 dollars and hour. She was once my co-teacher and i love her so...altho lately her eyes have a strange glaze and i fear she is slowly losing her mind.

We have the skinny teacher who eats all of the time and always thinks the kids are sick. She is happy 99 percent of the time and we fight over who baby beanie loves most.

We have the infant teacher who can contort her face in the most strangest ways...That and she uses the word "shart" alot..which just makes everyone happy. Plus she's wicked cute.

There's the knocked up one, who people have a hard time liking...for reasons that seem sound.
I like her though, her heart is in the right place..at least twords me and she can contact like no other.

In the after noon there is the fast walking, im a teacher but ill cutcha one. She is the one teacher i can sit down with a be real. Real real...UGLY real. And she can relate. She has been there. Done that. We, as she puts it, bleed our hearts out to one another. (Thank god for her!)

There's the just married one, whose new husband (if you ask jody) shits rainbows out of his a-hole.)
crazy lady...she is sweet and she loves god...and belly button sniffers.

Then there are the office bitches...i mean bosses.
Boss number one has short hair, tattoo's that she hides under cute tops and fabulous boobs. She knows our center like no one else, and once during "circus clown" she stood on her head for my class, just to prove she could do it.
She is like a skittle. Smooshy on the inside, but harder on the out.
If you are her friend she will do most anything for you.

Boss number two is my bff.
She is tall and redheaded and happiness. She squeals with glee and orders cookie dough.
She makes sure that everyone has everything and that we have a good time coming to work each day.
She also walks around and asks the kids odd questions like "What is your take on the budget cuts?"

Together they are the power team.

And together we are the perfect center. I truly believe that. I love it. And when I have a bad day at work, GOD knows Judy will walk in and shove a chocolate bar down my apron.

Or Ginny will ask me "What ez thes dooosh?"

Or brandy will hold up a sign in her window "I lost my mind 5 minutes ago"

Or the schoolagers will be dancing to thriller

Or Deanna will say something wholesome and i will feel the need to dirty it up...just so she will blush and we will giggle.

Or Kelli will give me extra cheese in my burritos

Or Monica will take shomari from me.

Or Sherri will tell the kids they are hurting her deaf ears.

Or KB will tell an infant that she "loves her so much it makes her want to shart her pants right now"

Or Mindy will walk by eating a mountain of peas.

Or Sara will ask for the thermometer

Or Carrie will yell "I LOVE YOU BEANIE" out of the office for no apparent reason.

Or Dawn will hop across the dinosaur prints that i just put on the floor in my room.

It's just....amazing.

Belief

I love religions. I love the faith that people have in their own beliefs.
I myself cannot tell you what religion I am, or if I even have one.

I believe in God. I believe in prayer. But the tiny details...those chapters and books of the bible...I am uncertain.

I love this website because it allows you a peek into what other religions believe.
I love all of them.
I wish I could in some way be a small part of every single one.

I guess its the faith and the belief of it all that interests me.

How can any one religion be right for everyone? It cannot.
This website allows you to see how beautiful different beliefs are.

Click here to enlighten yourself.