School tests and my failure

Well, it is the end of the school year and time for the kids to see what they have learned. Or as I see it, just how much I have failed in making sure The Runtyun  actually learned something and did her homework.

As you may tell, I am not pleased with how things are going right now. A lot has to do with The Runtyun's drive to do the things she is supposed to, pay attention in school, complete her homework assignments, etc. As much as her ability to do those things is important, it is my responsibility as a father to instill  in her the desire to do them. I am not doing so well in that regard.

I like the way they are tested nowadays, though. The first part is an online set of ten tests that give some kind of base line to work with and reviews what they have learned over the past school year. Unfortunately, we did not understand the due date. Luckily, the teacher emailed me and let me know the situation. Now, here we are aware, and The Runtyun is working very hard to get caught up. I hear her huffing and puffing her way through the testing regimen. She is getting frustrated, but she is keeping at it. She has gotten herself in a situation that is difficult to get out of, yet she will not quit.

I do not like that we are in this situation,  but it makes it easier to know that the Runtyun is trying so hard to make it right. I have sweetened the pot for her to complete the work by saying we will go camping if she can get the work done by a certain time. It will be only one night out, but she seems be working toward that goal.

She is a good kid and I really think she is smarter than I ever was, now I just need to instill in her the drive to work at, and accomplish her goals. Though I never did well in school, I have always been motivated to finish a goal. I hope I can find a way to teach her this characteristic. “Just don't quit because the task in front of you seems insurmountable.” No, that does not work. Try this instead, “If the job ahead is too hard to do, then break it down into easier steps.”

Those words are so easily said, yet so hard to do.

'Nough said.

olc 

Ten years ago this weekend

It had been a rough patch, those last few months. Maybe though, things were beginning to look up. I had a new job, The Runtyun’s mother seemed to have a good position. The Runtyun herself, was my pride and smile. Even the space shuttle, Columbia was completing another successful mission. Little did I know, like the shuttle, my life was going to crash and burn.

Like most people, I did not really know what the shuttle was doing up there in space, nor did I really understand the calamity my life was crashing into. The shuttle was coming down that day and I was watching T.V. idly passing time before work while waiting for my babies' mother to come home and take the dayshift while I worked away at the new job.

She was late, very late. The shuttle had gone missing and I was missing from my new job. The Runtyun was sleeping away, I could hear her soft breathing while updates were coming in. I would go over to her trying to find calm from her sweet and innocent slumber despite the inner flame burning my life away.

In a way I was a little luckier than the rest of the world, I had an idea where she was and it was not at work, while every one else could only wonder and worry about the missing shuttle. 

Yes, it was ten years ago, on the same day the shuttle Columbia developed a hole in it’s wing disintegrating at 17,000 miles per hour, though my life took longer  to crumble and burn. Ye,t like the Phoenix, well maybe not as dramatically, I was able to re-incarnate into a better person, a more mature parent.

My destiny became more real to me when the shuttle crashed. I could see the direction my life was taking, yet like the shuttle, I was headed down a course that seemed inevitable. Destiny, it seemed, had taken control for the moment. Like the shuttle, my life became a fiery testament to misdirection. Hot emotions and flames of stone took over for a time. Yet, after a time of tempering and rebirth, I was lucky to find myself.

Now, I am the man and father I am supposed to be.

A little talk

We were riding to church for an Easter egg stuffing event in anticipation of next Sunday. I am not sure how the conversation started, I think we were talking about who would be supervising the kids. No wait, The Runtyun said, “She will not be there until later, I think her friend will be there to start it off. She says that there will probably be  more candy eating than egg stuffing going on.” I heard the laugh telling me this was OK with her!

“She is her wife, right?” I inquired over the roar of the Detroit steel.

“No I don’t think they are married,” was her reply. 

“O? She seems to think so, maybe in their hearts,” not wanting to get into the intricacies of marriage while riding in traffic.

“I guess it does not really matter. They love each other, right Daddy?”

What more could I say to that?

I guess it is true that the controversy is only in the minds of us more mature people. I hope us mature people can learn from our innocent youth.

olc