Fadedwords

I had a riding lesson last night, and was pretty excited because we’d be jumping and because Jake was going to come and take pictures.  Both awesome things.  I could tell from the start of the lesson that something wasn’t right with Missy.  Usually as soon as we set foot in the jumping paddock she becomes speed racer and requires effort of epic proportions to keep controlled.  Not so much last night.  She required a lot of leg and wouldn’t bring her head down either.

We started jumping and she went over the first few fences well.  We switched directions and started trying to work over a cross rail, raised pole, and then a straight rail.  And she refused that last fence every single time we tried to go over it.  Even over the first two parts of the line, she felt… not right.  I couldn’t put my finger on just what.  She just did not jump like I’m used to her jumping.  After five or six refusals, Elizabeth (my awesome instructor) got on and got her over it a couple times.  She agreed that something didn’t feel right.  I got back on and I managed to get her over the fence once before we called it a day.

While we were hosing her down I noticed some swelling in her back right leg.  When I touched it, it was hot and tender.  Apparently she had done something to herself at some point, which caused her leg to hurt… which is why she hadn’t wanted to jump, and why she felt so strange when she did it.  She was trying to limit the amount of pain she was in.  We hosed it down for a few minutes, and then the owner of the farm came out and put some medicine on it.

Hopefully she’ll be better by next weekend.  I hate that she was so sore and I had her jumping on it.  Granted, I always check legs before I ride, especially when I jump, and she didn’t seem sore on it before.  She was definitely not swollen or lame, and by the time I put her out at the end of it all she was dead lame.

You can see all the photos of my riding lesson HERE.  There aren’t too many great ones of me jumping; we rode so late that the light was pretty dim.  For riding you need to use a faster shutter speed, and that means less light going in to the lens.  Hopefully the next time I jump and have Jake there, we will be riding in the morning when there’s lots of sun.

In other news, today is Jake’s birthday!!  Happy Birthday handsome!!  You should all go visit his site and wish him a great day.

I mentioned to one of our janitors here at school that I was needing a motorcycle helmet.  Jake has a bike, and has had for quite some time, and I have been unable to ride with him due to lack of proper head protection.  This is pretty important business, as I’m quite fond of my head the way it is.  When I mentioned this, the janitor said that he had two extras at home.  I asked if either was a full-face and he said it was, and offered to bring it in.

Drew thinks I should wear this to my interview (EEEEP) tomorrow.  He thinks it makes me appear “edgy”.

I don’t know about that, but it would go with my suit….

This has been a busy week.  Monday we had a half-work day, half-meeting day.  The whole staff was trained in RtI, which is what we’re beginning to train in for a process of helping students achieve their greatest success.  I’m the RtI/A-Team chairperson, and attended 6 trainings last year with our core team.  It’s a big shift in thinking for the teachers, so it’s challenging going through training and trying to wrap minds around the new processes.  I know that the staff here will get on board because everyone is so supportive and willing to do what’s best for students.  That’s a bonus.

Yesterday was the first student day back.  One of my favorite kids had a rough morning, and I was glad I was stationed in the hallway and got to help make his morning a little bit better.  The rest of the day was full of new enrollees, getting 504 plans straight, running errands, planning for RtI paperwork, adding meetings to my calendar, and working hard to stay organized and sane.  It was very good to see the kids though; after being here three years, I see familiar faces.  It’s nice having that much time in somewhere because the kids get excited to see you when they return.

This brings me to another topic…

Last year I had put in for an in-county transfer.  I had been toying with the idea for quite some time of moving to the high school level if the opportunity was there.  There wasn’t a position open at any point over the summer, so I prepared to be back at the elementary level.  The first Friday of work days, about a week and a half ago, I saw that one of the local high school’s had posted an opening.  So I called and said I would be interested in interviewing.  The principal there requested a copy of my resume, which I provided.  Then I waited until last Friday, when he called me again.  He was checking to be sure my current principal is aware that I would like to interview for the open position at his school.  She and I had discussed it on Monday, and she was incredibly supportive.  He said that he’d be glad to interview me, and would be in touch with a time as soon as he saw an opening in his schedule.

I’m hopeful that I’ll get an interview, and that he’ll end up offering me the position.  As much as I love the little kids, the other demands of my position make it nearly impossible for me to actually counsel kids.  I just have too many other things that I’m required to do.  I know that I work very well with kids at the high school level, and I’ve missed being in that environment.  I think that it would be a good move for me both professionally and personally, in that I would be much happier.

My friend Bre has already accepted a job at the school, which makes it that much more ideal.  I’d be moving on to the grade span that I enjoy most, and I would already have a friend there so I wouldn’t feel too lonely.  The school colors also happen to be the same as the high school I attended growing up, which is coincidence but a fun one.

We’ll see what happens.  Either way I have a job, and either way I know I have a support system.  This school is wonderful, and I’ve had a good 2+ years here.  If I do end up leaving this school, it will be sad.  There are many people I will miss seeing on a daily basis, most especially the kids.  However, I know what is best for me.  This would be a very positive move if it happened.

So keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully I’ll hear something about the interview by this Friday.

Today when I got to the barn I was excited, simply because I didn’t ride last week and I was looking forward to getting back up in the saddle.  I was excited even though it was 85 degrees outside with 100% humidity and zero breeze.  It’s not super awesome riding when it’s this hot out, but I deal with this weather because I love it so much.

Elizabeth said we’d be riding in the back field today, which was good because the back field is where all the jumps are!  We haven’t worked out there since the crazy horse day, so I was pretty excited to get back out there.  As soon as Missy realized we were going out where there were jumps, she was hyped up.

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I finished reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo last night.  I’ve read all of her other books, and happened to see this one the other day at Target.  She is one of those writers whose words make my heart ache when I read them.  She makes me wish that I had even one iota of that talent.  Don’t misunderstand; I have written some decent things.  I just recognize that this woman is truly gifted, and it makes me wish I was too.

“Rob had a way of not-thinking about things. He imagined himself as a suitcase that was too full, like the one that he had packed when they left Jacksonville after the funeral. He made all his feelings go inside the suitcase; he stuffed them in tight and then sat on the suitcase and locked it shut. That was the way he not-thought about things. Sometimes it was hard to keep the suitcase shut.”
-Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising