Roses and Raspberries of 2012

I know everyone (and by “everyone,” I mean the 2 people (one of them likely being my mother) who will read this) was wondering when these would be available to the public… So here they are, folks: my roses and raspberries of 2012. 

Graduation with my wonderful housemates (minus one).

Roses to graduating with my elementary education degree from Corban University after four awesome years there.  With the student teaching done and work samples submitted, it’s good to know I have chosen a career I love.

Roses to spending my last year at Corban with some of the most incredible people I have met and am lucky to call my friends.

Raspberries to the lack of home-renting knowledge we had… but roses to the fact that we can laugh about our naivety “back then” and are much smarter now (HA!). 

Spending time in Costa Rican schools.

Roses to spending another summer with Royal Servants in Costa Rica… didn’t even get one bad sunburn this year and the idea of “camping” is hardly foreign to me anymore (HA! again). 

Raspberries to the lack of reciprocity of teaching licenses… and having to take and pay for tests over again just because they say “WASHINGTON” at the top instead of “OREGON.”

Roses to now being a licensed teacher in two states.

Roses to my parents’ new living arrangements in England.  I feel that by having such jet-setting parents, I must be cool now, too.

Raspberries to missing my parents when they are “across the pond.”

Sarah's married now!!

Roses to being a maid of honor in my best friend’s wedding. 

Roses (believe it or not) to being a substitute teacher.  Even though I didn’t get my highly sought after full-time, permanent teaching position, I have been blessed to stay busy with subbing and have enjoyed far more than I thought I would.  I don’t have 30 students; I have hundreds and hundreds of students.  I like to say my class is half-full…. what a terrible pun, but it worked too well to leave it out.

New friends!

Roses to finding out (thanks to subbing) that I happen to love working with middle schoolers. 

Raspberries to the difficult days of teaching, but roses to the great stories they leave me with.

Roses to the new friends I have made since moving back to Washington.  Turns out it might actually be possible to create a social life for myself while also being a teacher.    

Happy New Year to you, I hope it's filled with many more roses than raspberries.  

Digging through the trash for a retainer in an Oregon monsoon

It’s been said that friends make the good times better, the bad times more bearable, and in my humble opinion, the weird times funnier.  My best friend (and roommate) has proven this point to me over and over again.  As I was getting ready for bed last night a sinking feeling overwhelmed me as I realized I had taken out my retainer, put it in a paper towel, and then placed it on the kitchen counter.  (Why I thought it was a good idea to remove my retainer in the kitchen is a mystery to me.  I probably wasn’t thinking clearly at 6 in the morning.)  I vaguely remembered clearing off the kitchen counter sometime in the afternoon, and most likely that clearing included the paper-towel-wrapped piece of plastic tooth preservation.

After about 4 minutes of panicking, my better half and best friend calmly told me that we were going to get on our shoes, put on coats, go out to the trash bin sitting on the side of the street, and dig through to find my retainer (which was recently replaced from being thrown away and lost last year).  We walked outside into the typical Oregon monsoon, opened the big green lid, and pulled out the most recent bag of household kitchen trash.  It was quite the scene, complete with Ziploc bags on our hands as “gloves.” 

We dug through the rotten turkey meat, the pesto covered noodles, the eggshells, the soggy paper towels, the glops of yogurt, and other such trashy items.  As disgusting as this all was, I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness. 

Just as I was losing hope, I found a wadded up paper towel slightly resembling the roof of my mouth.  Retainer obtained.                         

As thrilled as I was to have my retainer back, I was highly disappointed in finding out via google that no, I could not dishwash, bleach, or boil my now more than slightly germy tooth preserver. 

But regardless, I fell asleep laughing.  And I couldn’t help but think that I most likely would have just left my retainer for the garbage man if I hadn’t had the encouragement of a good friend to choose the better route and dig through the trash.  Isn’t that really what friends do?  They help us dig through the trash.  Sometimes that comes in the form of being the one who’s there when the chips are down.  Sometimes that comes in the form of being the one to confront you when no one else will.  Or sometimes it just literally means digging through the trash to find a lost retainer.

I am reminded of this in Ecclesiastes, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; if one falls down, his friend can help pick him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.”  (4:9-10)

I am thankful for those friends who help me up.  Or help me dig through the trash for a retainer in an Oregon monsoon.