Moving forward

This past week we have been busy ridding ourselves of many of the possessions we accumulated in the ten years we lived on Grove Street.  During that time period of home ownership, we celebrated many milestones and memories (both good & tragic): our wedding, September 11th, the birth of our daughter, the weddings of family members & friends, and the births of our niece and nephews... We celebrated a number of birthday's from Rob's 30th to Belle's 7th, the loss of several family pets (our first family dog, the cat, and Belle's mouse), and the acquisition of our rabbit; my two college graduations, and Belle & Rob's first days of school/college.  We learned how wonderful neighbors could be and developed a soft spot for the street we lived on and its people.  This weekend, with the help of some incredibly helpful and hardworking friends, Erica, Ashleigh & Liz, we emptied and prepared our former home for its new owners (who take possession on Wednesday).  I thought it would be hard to say goodbye and there were a couple moments in Belle's room where I got a little choked up, remembering the time spent transforming the space into a princess room.  I found out that it wasn't hard to move on. I'm ready for this new adventure, and eager to start it.  After selling our living room couch, I came back to our summer home and ordered the two suitcases that will carry my remaining possessions with me across the ocean and a continent.

I also celebrated the NH region's Scholastic Writing Awards on Friday (part of the work of the National Writing Project in NH), and had the honor of presenting a silver key to one of my own students (I did not take part in the adjudication) and received a teacher's pin as recognition for being a key winner's teacher.  We also had copies of Middle/High School Voices available for purchase or included in the registration fee for the earlier writing conference with local poet and Plymouth State University English Department chair, Liz Ahl.  During the conference, I learned about the Arabic poetry form called the ghazal and I am eager to use it in my creative writing class later this week (it seems like everything is pushing me towards my destination this summer).  I've turned in my award selections for the end of the year assembly and I'll be presenting three scholarships/awards on the behalf of my English department and teacher's union at the up-coming graduation ceremonies.  The year is quickly coming to a close, and I provided my senior students with their writing portfolio requirements for their now remaining 14 days of class.

Life is going to be busy in the next few weeks with end of the year events, grades, softball, and swim lessons (and probably one more yard sale to empty our storage unit), but it is nice to know that our first move is completed and we're beginning to prepare for the next one.  And today, the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Education announced the school calendar for next year. Off to update our checklist page...