I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

      Everyone that will listen knows that I LOVE my job. That is no secret. Part of the reason I love it so much are my students, again no secret. The part that is not so obvious is that I also have the privilege of spending my days with some incredibly awesome coworkers. I have always had that opportunity at Tucker Creek but I have not always appreciated it to the fullest extent or even taken the time to notice just how cool some of these people really are. I have written about Ann, she is my low maintenance friend and a favorite confidant. I have written about the ridiculously fabulous Ms. Vickie who is my daily source of sunshine and I have even written about my retired friends like B. Dail and Lu. These ladies are all wonderful and I have been fortunate enough to get to know them and spend a great deal of time with them over the years. I would not trade a single one of them but this weeks blog is devoted to the newbies.

      Melissa Orr has been working at Tucker Creek for several years. She is rapidly becoming a seasoned professional and an asset to the school. She is intelligent, witty, fun, beautiful and the best research paper editor a girl could ever ask for. (And did I mention single?) :) In the short time that I have known her she has never been too busy, overwhelmed or stressed to help me out when I needed it most. When everybody else gave me an excuse, she gave me a smile and a yes. The best part of all is that she takes her payment in the form of no bake cookies. Melissa had the awful job of proctoring my comprehensive final exam for my masters a couple of weeks ago. The poor girl sat there for over six hours while I cranked out a whopping eighteen pages of I don't know what. I offered to pay her but she flatly refused. She said that the only thing she wanted was for me to have her over for dinner sometime. I thought that was the sweetest thing.  She has done so much for me and all she wanted in return was a little home cooking and a little time. That simple request spoke volumes about her character. She is an old soul and I enjoy her company immensely.

      Another favorite newbie is Denise. She is brilliant, organized and positive. She has the uncanny ability to make you feel as though you are the only other person on the planet and that what you are talking to her about in that moment is of the utmost importance. She will stop everything to listen to my latest crazy lesson plan idea or join in on my excitement about the next Junior Civitans project or the fantastic book I just read or my most recent blog. She gives you undivided attention and anyone that works with kids knows what a rare commodity that is these days. Denise took me out for ice cream the other day to celebrate the completion of my degree. It was such a kind and unexpected gesture. She made my day! I loved talking and spending time with her.

      Both these ladies supported me as I was finishing up my never ending masters work and both shared in my joy when it was finally over. Both of them have been unbelievably encouraging when it came to writing this blog especially in the beginning when my insecurities were getting the best of me. Talking to them always made me feel better. I am very grateful to have them in my life. My goal is to be the kind of friend that is deserving of such awesomeness. So for this week's pay it forward I am going to figure out ways to honor my wonderful friends. I am going to finally bake those cookies and plan those dinner parties for my Melissa and since Denise is looking for a workout partner I am going to commit to a regular fitness routine with her on a weekly basis. (Here's hoping I can keep up!) In addition I am going to come up with some other random acts of kindness to do throughout the remainder of the school year and well into the next. I am going to make a conscious effort to value and contribute to our friendships on a regular basis. With my work load lightened a bit perhaps now I will get the chance to be there for them just like they have always been there for me.

Laurie

Low Maintenance Friends

      I have a good friend named Ann. Ann is the type of lady that is easy to have in your life. She is always there for me, good times and bad. She never judges me, she will take my secrets to the grave and every time I am with her I feel a little better about myself and my situation (whatever that might be at the time).

      Ann is what I like to call a low maintenance friend. Her friendship does not require much time or effort. When we do spend time together we just pick up right where we left off without skipping a beat. It is nice to have people like that in your life but sometimes, I am ashamed to say, I take them for granted. I tend to put a great many things ahead of my friendships and as I get older, I am living to regret that choice. There are times in life when you just need someone to listen. In my world, I can either pay for a therapist or talk to Ann. Ann is much cheaper and way more entertaining than a therapist. She does not try to fix me. She listens and she empathizes and most important of all, she tells me that it will be all right. I think that she sincerely believes it too. Many times I remain unconvinced, but I still leave her feeling more hopeful, nonetheless.

      Ann just became a grandmother. She was overjoyed and showed me pictures of a beautiful baby girl. As I went out to pick up a gift for the baby, I thought about doing the usual, picking out an adorable tiny dress or two, putting it in a cute little gift bag and tossing in a pink signed card shaped like a baby animal. Then I remembered the pay it forward thing. Paying it forward is about taking it a step further. It is about doing something nice for someone beyond the store bought gift. It is about taking the time to tell the people that are important to me just how special they are, right now. So I got out a pretty blank card and I told Ann just how lucky that baby girl is to have her as a grandmother and how fortunate I am to have her as a friend. I hope she realizes how much good she does in the world just by being her. I am so very thankful for my friend and this year, as part of my pay it forward project, I pledge to be a better one in return. Thanks Ann for giving me such a fine example of how it is done!

Laurie