Ruminations

More parent conferences. I got a long string of parents whose kids were messing up, which meant long conferences, which meant a huge line of parents poking their heads in the door and looking impatient.

I got to talk to party girl's mom. I wouldn't be so hard on this girl if I didn't have the highest hopes for her - she wants to be a model & an engineer, and I think she could do either, or both. So I want her to keep it together in school and go on to a great high school & college. Anyway, her mom and I see eye-to-eye, so it was a nice chat. Unfortunately, I woke up today with a full-fledged head cold & sore throat (mind-body connection, anyone?), and talking for two hours straight didn't help.

My colleague had her baby this evening (induced labor, epidural, the whole nine yards) - a healthy girl, little over 7 pounds. No name yet. We are all so excited for them! Awwww....

I don't want to write tonight, I want to watch my Atoms & Molecules Video, then go to bed. Oh yeah, I guess eat dinner. So I will leave you with a poem I found today, by Rumi (Sufi mystic poet of the 13th century):

My worst habit is I get so tired of winter
I become a torture to those I'm with.

If you're not here, nothing grows.
I lack clarity. My words
tangle and knot up.

How to cure bad water? Send it back to the river.
How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you.

When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools,
dig a way out through the bottom
to the ocean. There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can't hope.

The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.

Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.

-Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)