My book would be banned for sure

 

I tell a lot of stories to my students. Most of them are G rated because they are my students but I also find it necessary to be honest with them when it is possible. The ban on what teachers can and cannot say in their classrooms ties in perfectly with the book ban that doesn't exist and several other vague laws designed to fire up voters of the red type and keep parents on edge about what their children are learning.

I was lucky in that we did not have social media or even computers when I was educated in the same public school system that I teach in today. Many things that happen in high school today happened back then. There is just no record of it because we had no cell phones or anything else to use to document stupid teenage actions. 

I could start off my book talking about teens having sex in inappropriate places. The place I am thinking of was a science lab at the old Lakeland Junior High School by my best friend's brother. I won't use names but anyone who knows me from back then would know him. He got caught not once, but twice. So when one of the students or two, or three, get cause in a compromising position, I am not as aghast as many of my co-teachers were. 

How about my friends who were twins? She inappropriately got pregnant, her daughter was raised by her father and she is dead from drugs. Her brother, who I heard was gay which I did not know in high school, died of AIDS at the beginning of the virus. 

When our students are suspended for vaping in the bathroom, I remember the smoke billowing out of the bathrooms in Lakeland High School or the crowd behind the football locker room where cigarettes were not the only thing being smoked. 

I would have to include all the rock and roll concerts we went to with no parents. My first was the Monkees when I was 12. By the time I had graduated from high school I had seen everyone from Led Zeppelin, Cat Stevens, oops, can't talk about him because he converted to being a Muslim. The Rolling Stones at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville when my Mom thought I was spending the night with a girlfriend. I never told her about that one. 

How about my friend who liked a guy who was of another race? Her parents sent her off to church school and took her out of public school so she could not associate with the "wrong" group of kids. I saw her after high school. She had not changed and no longer spoke to her parents.

I could talk about hanging at Joker Marchant stadium with the Lakeland Tigers, many who later became Detroit Tigers. Driving my 1962 Impala all over the state of Florida during the summer I turned 16 to watch them play.  Playing Spades and drinking beer; what trouble could 18 year old girls get into 2 years later. Once again, no names. It was fun. 

Better yet, how about hanging with Merle Haggard and the Strangers on a couple of road trips. Talk about fun. But much of what we did is probably not for student ears or their eyes, should I happen to write a book. 

Did you know I used to fly whenever I wanted to go somewhere. By myself. all over the country. No fear here. How many nice people I met, many became friends for life. 

I had a subscription to Ms. magazine for years. I worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.. I went skinny dipping in many of the lakes in Polk County. I was the first female student to take auto mechanics because only boys were allowed. That took Daddy arguing the point of equality to the school board. I cheered at the dinner table when Roe v Wade was ruled on in the Supreme Court. I was a wild child. 

But I didn't think so at the time. I maintained a good average in high school. I was student president of the Tempo club, which was our version of the student PTA. I was secretary of our DCT class. I had some of the best friends in the world, many who have gone on to do good things. 

But they would ban my book. They would say it was indoctrinating kids. They would say how inappropriate I had been as a teen. What they can't know is how independent I am or how smart. They don't understand raising a child alone or struggling when getting laid off from a job you thought you would retire from. Going back to school and paying for it yourself so you could teach school because you loved the kids. Working 3 jobs so I didn’t lose my house after the layoff during the recession.Guess who was President?

There are still tons of stories I could tell but this just a blog.  Yep, my book would be banned. 

Still aging but not as gracefully

 I remember when  I could fall asleep anywhere. Once I was asleep, I slept for hours. As a teenager, I could hit the bed at 10 and sleep until noon the next day. That has all come to an end as I age.

This morning  I woke up at 1:30 a.m. I tossed and turned until 3:00 and decided I wasn't getting back to sleep so I got up, had my one cup of coffee, turned on Netflix and grabbed the computer.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, "1 in 3 adults worldwide have insomnia symptoms. and about 10% of adults meet the criteria for insomnia disorder." There are two kinds, acute and chronic which mean pretty much what you might think. Acute which is short term and chronic which is long term. 

I have never slept the way most people do. My sleep habits usually have me sleeping about 5 hours a day, which is pretty good for me. I never understood people who sleep for 8 or 9 hours. Or nap. What the heck is a nap? If I fell asleep during the day, I felt like crap when I woke up. No refreshing sleep feeling in my house. 

Lately, if I can manage 3 solid hours a night, it was a good night, but that is not enough. My average night consists of 2 hours, bathroom break. 1 hour, bathroom break. 2 hours, bathroom break. and on and on. I am not sure if something wakes me so I have to take a bathroom break or if I have to take a bathroom break so I wake up. 

I have often heard that growing older was not for the weak. The older I get, the more I find this to be true. The is very frustrating for someone who has always been the energizer bunny who existed on 4 hours sleep a night and could then run races for the other 20. 

The stomach meds I must take twice a day for the heartburn which became the GERD which turned in to Barrett's Esophagus from the many acidic and fatty foods that I crave all the time which my body cannot handle with no gall bladder and the above conditions. Every day I must take them

The steroid inhaler which causes the weight gain so I can continue to breath after years of smoking, throwing caution to the wind. I still want a smoke every day and if it was possible, I would still have one. Required twice a day for the past few years. 

The loss of hearing in my right ear due to a Parotid tumor which was diagnosed two years ago. They are benign and they grow very slowly, but it is there and I know it and I cannot hear sometimes out of my right ear. Doctors say this is not the tumor but TMJ, another symptom. I don't believe them. 

I am still mobile and still working. I still love doing yard work and getting my hands dirty. I would love to do more, but my energy level is not what it was when I was in my 30s. My aging is not as graceful as I would hope, but it is aging and it happens to us all.