The.Saddest.Story.Ever.

Yesterday afternoon, my friend Melissa called.  She and her hub Joe were just leaving a doctor's appointment in St. Louis Park and her first-grade twins would be home from school in about twenty minutes.  Could I pop over to her house and be there when they arrived?

I have know Melissa and those twins since they were two.  I had them in swimming lessons for close to three years.  We'd gone out for lunch together several times, but I hadn't seen them in maybe a year.  Of course, I said, "Yes."

I beat the bus to their house in Farmington, and when they got home, I hopped out of my car.  Gabe looked at me and said, "Who are you?"  Broke.my.heart!   

The.Second.Saddest.Story.Ever.

Last week was life jacket day at the Y where we gave all of our classes the opportunity to swim in life jackets.  Now you might think "the second saddest story ever" was when one of my fifteen month old students literally got stuck in her life jacket.  It took both her mom and I working together to finally get her out of the jacket because that zipper was STUCK.  Sadly, the story happened in my next class . . .

I have a larger student who I didn't think would fit in one of our thirty-to-fifty pound life jackets, so I grabbed a fifty-to-ninety pound life jacket.  I tried to put it on this student and it did not fit.  I asked him if he knew how much he weighed.  He smiled and said to me, "Ninety-eight pounds."  Friends, this child was FOUR!  And that's what makes this story so sad . . . think about it.  When did you weigh ninety-eight pounds?  I was 102 pounds the day I graduated from high school!

The Past Thirty-Four Weekends

One I actually had off;

One was spent out of town at a wedding;

One was Easter weekend;

One I was scheduled to work but found a sub (due to Sam's surgery and you know what I did all weekend!);

Two were spent in Ukraine;

Ten were spent working at the Y;

Eighteen were spent working at 

Sand Creek Adventures.

... and that explains why you haven't seen me for a very long time!

Last Day at Sand Creek . . .

At 32*F, wearing two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, two shirts, two coats, hat and mittens - I can't said I was sad driving to work at 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning!  The only redeeming news was the lack of snow - we actually had more snow in Lakeville than they did in Jordan!

Our first group of the day was the Rosemount Fighting Irish Girls Hockey Team!  Mark and I brought them down the ice covered hill and over the ice covered bridge for some team bonding.  We had a blast!  We followed that up with Mark and I working together on the Leap of Faith where even the coaches got up.  After that, we sent them zipping.  The saddest part of their time - when they told us that last year they had only won seven games which actually was great because the year before thy hadn't won any!  May they do better this year!  The best part of their time - they had pizza delivered to the bus to eat on the ride home.  As they were passing out pizza, I discovered that my male co-workers had given the girls my warm wool mittens!  I hopped on the bus and they sent my gloves up with a piece of sausage pizza which I joyfully ate right in front the the men! 

My next group was a co-worker from the Y and her family.  Sadly, the group of six turned out to be a group of four - it's a bit hard to do team building with a group of four - but we had a great time!  I understood her reasons for bringing the family out and I'm glad I could spend the afternoon with them.  When we went up the hill to zip, it turns out that . . .

They were zipping with another group.  That other group included Super Man and Wonder Woman who in real life were sisters celebrating a 50th birthday!  We toured and had a blast - until platform three.  I was hooking up the last guy and I asked him how he knew the family, thinking I already had sister, sister, husband, son - maybe he was the other sister's husband.  Oh, no.  He told me he was the asexual life partner of the woman who's husband and son I had just sent down.  The things we can't make up on a zip line.  I still can't grasp their relationship - nor do I need to!

The last group of the day was Hannah's birthday.  Hannah worked at Sand Creek this summer and we had fun with her.  Sadly, her party of thirty had dwindled to a party of six - maybe they thought it was cold outside.  After we zipped them, I got to go home early enough to go to Saturday night church!

It was another great day at Sand Creek which was part of a great year - but at these temps, I'm so glad to be done for the season!

Thankful Thursday!

It's amazing how living in a fourth world country can change your appreciation for what you have.  A few weeks ago, our water heater went out and we had to use hard water for an entire week.  At least we had clean water, unlike the water of Sierra Leone . . .

That human looking form in the upper middle of the photo is our good friend, Olly, diving in water that is used for cooking, cleaning, and living by the people of Sierra Leone.  I am thankful for clean water.

Our server spent most of last weekend being down, which greatly frustrated three out of four family members.  But can you imagine having no electricity at all?  Our friends in Liberia can.  I am thankful for electricity and internet access.

Our furnace died on Tuesday and the repair person will be here the same day as the snow - tomorrow.  The temps inside are beginning to drop and it will be a cool night at the Zupke home, but we have a home with four walls and windows and doors which our friends in Liberia, Togo, Benin, and Sierra Leone may not have.  I am thankful for a home that will be warm soon and an electric blanket until then!  

Saturday's CPR Class!

Before I write up "Thankful Thursday", I have to let you know how much fun I had teaching CPR-Professional Rescuer, First Aid, and Emergency Oxygen Administration last Saturday.  

I had a class of eight - four of them worked in "Kids' Stuff", the childcare at our branch and the other four came from three other Y's.  It was a hoot - because of "my people"!  Not only had I had three out of four Kids' Stuff staff children in swimming lessons, but they were doing "synchro CPR" - totally counting in unison and having a blast!  I can only say, "It was fun!"

Thankful Thursday!

Some days the things we are thankful for are not what we would consider "good" things, but maybe "needed" things . . .

Yesterday, Micah and I went up to Northwestern University (St. Paul) for their "Fall Preview Days".  I was excited because we got a free lunch with the deal - I'm always in favor of not cooking and lunch was the first event on our schedule!  

We made our way up to the dining room and were told we could have one entree, one salad, one desert and one beverage - excellent!  Except Micah has peanut/tree nut allergies . . .

There were five possible entrees - one had peanut sauce, two were cooked in an area that contained peanuts, one they weren't sure about - Micah had plain noodles.  

We went to the salad bar and saw major cross-contamination of items that we knew contained nuts with items that should not have.  No salad for Micah . . .

The deserts were all cooked in an area that contained peanuts . . . cancel desert.

Wow!  It hit me hard - how am I going to send her to college AND keep her safe?  Some of my best memories in college happened in the cafeteria.  I met so many neat people and had so many great conversations.  I don't want her not to do that, nor do I want her to eat just plain noodles . . . 

So I am thankful for yesterday and now realize that her going off to college presents a whole new set of challenges because we can't pack her lunch every day . . .