Happy Turkey Day!

I have been a busy little beaver these last several days. Thanksgiving is looking very attractive right about now. I can’t wait to eat and eat and eat, then sink into a food-induced coma. My wonderful mom is making the pies. Her specialty is French Chocolate Pie. It’s got eggs, whip cream, chocolate and butter, and you put it into a graham cracker crust. Ahhh, yes. The good life. My poor son, however, got a stomach virus last year, on the day of Thanksgiving, and now cannot stand the sight of turkey or French chocolate pie. The mother in me says, poor kid! The glutton in my says, "Yes! More for me!"

Okay, so first this weekend. I nearly died. I was driving our new tractor for the second time - I have never driven a tractor before this - and I wanted to scoop up some leaves that were in a ditch along our driveway - get in some practice before the big snows came. Well, needless to say, the whole thing got a little wobbly trying to navigate the incline and almost tipped over. Ever the survivalist, I nearly abandoned ship, readying myself to jump. Well, the tractor somehow managed to hang on and keep going, so I nonchalantly put my hands back on the steering wheel and my feet on the clutch and brake, hoping nobody noticed. My husband told me afterward that I couldn’t have picked a more difficult place to learn how to drive a tractor. I told him he could have told me that before I started to drive into the ditch. He’s also threatened to delete this blog, stating that I didn’t almost die and was being melodramatic. I told him: I am not being melodramatic; I’m being interesting.

I told him that if he deletes this blog, I will delete him.

On Monday night, I attended a Selectman’s meeting. They are actually rather interesting. I got to see all the people who are hoping to build a house. I got to hear about how the town workers are getting stiffed in their pay (the committee is looking to rectify that situation) and then I got to hear people talk and talk and talk about things I knew nothing about. I really only went to support the library and ask that their purchasing budget not be decreased by $3000. I was there from 6:30 until 11:00, and I never did get to say anything. As it turned out, nobody on the board wanted to second the motion to cut the money. Hurray! I felt power; I felt joy; I felt pain. My butt was sore. So maybe my being there made a difference. Who knows? I’d like to believe it did because the library is very important to me. Go Democracy!

Today I went into my son’s school and did a book reading and workshop for his class and then, later, for another 3rd grade class. Those kids rock. They are so bright and ready to learn. It makes me sad to see kids as teenagers lose all interest in learning. I think if more people in the community went into the schools and talked about real life stuff, I think we’d save more kids. Anyway, I had a lot of fun and hope to do more (possibly the other 3rd grades classes. Maybe the 4th graders will have me, too. Then the middle school. And after that, maybe the world!).

What did I learn from all these experiences? Don’t drive tractors in ditches on only your second attempt at driving one. My husband has no respect for my near-death experience. Getting involved may actually make a difference. And the women and men who teach are incredibly brave and should be awarded accordingly. Of course, they typically get next to nothing and are blamed when our kids don’t behave. But to somehow manage 25 kids for an entire day for 5 days a week is amazing.

Have a Happy Turkey Day, my friends!