#celebratelu Goals, Cars, and Couches: Reasons to Celebrate this Week

I can't say it was an easy week; however, there is still much to celebrate! Thanks to Ruth Ayer's weekly Celebration, I am acknowledging the good stuff.

Change of any kind (even good, wanted, needed changes) induces stress, and I suspect the level of stress is somewhat proportional to the level of change (new semester, new house, new job, new car).

So I will start with the end of the semester, which in all accounts is a good thing for all of us!  My weekly powerpoints and daily emails from grad students will stop, and I will marvel at my "free" time as I only work only "one" full time job as a teacher of little kids!  Yet, those grad school finals and papers cause stress as I squeeze time to read, comment, and grade them with the respect and credit due. Yet, I really do love seeing how my students grow through the semester (or two or three) that I work with them. In my recent Assessment in Special Education course, I had them write "pretend goals" for students based on IEP needs. I smiled as I read them hearing my own "voice" as well as the course readings reflected in their words.

Then, there was the stress of getting a new car.  I spend a LOT of time in my car.  I was attached to my old one with magical powers and the ability to go more than 600 miles on a tank of fuel! http://drferreri.blogspot.com/2014/05/sol14-thanks-matilda.html

It was hard to say good-bye to a dear, reliable friend; however, my NEW car is incredible.  I took him to school on Friday for the first time and could not help but think how far cars have come since that first, radio-less '54 Ford I inherited, so to speak, from Uncle Phil!  This new car has more cameras than a fleet of cell phones and more brains than all the other cars I have ever driven.  As he drove through some mighty big puddles without hydroplaning, I realized he is the smartest car I could have ever imagined!  I am pretty sure he will be known as "Al" as in Albert Einstein!

Finally, the news is usually stressful and this week was no exception.  Yet, the story out of New Paltz about college students finding money in a couch made me smile with gratitude.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/05/16/313118337/thrift-store-couch-yields-40-000-roommates-return-money
I know that their parents are smiling from ear to ear with pride and gratitude this morning (even though the college bills are still piled high!).  I am smiling from ear to ear because no matter what they say about young people and our society, we are doing something right!