How much sleep do we really need?

 One of the things I miss most since entering a more mature age is sleep. Growing up as I did, I learned to sleep anywhere, anytime, any spot I happened to lay my head down in. 

I am not sure if it was because I was a kid or because I played so hard during the day, but I never, ever had problems sleeping once those peepers were closed. 

In the last year or so that has changed. Now if I manage 4 hours a night, I feel extremely lucky. According to familydoctor,.org, just because you are older, you still need between 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I have never sleep that much except during my teen years but I always seemed to manage at least 6. That has disappeared. 

This site and several others also say, "As we age, our brains may tell us to go to sleep earlier. This is likely why so many folks fall asleep right after the evening news or dinner." Really? 

Last night I could not hold my eyes open past 7:45 p.m. I had a busy day and drove about 4 hours roundtrip to see my brother and my best friend. I did several chores around the house when I got home and went to bed. After about 4 hours, I was wide awake. I tossed and turned for several hours until finally giving up and getting up.

I was wide awake even without my morning cup of coffee. So I made coffee, let the dogs out after they woke up, and turned on the television. I did all my normal morning stuff, just 3 hours early. Perhaps I will be able to take a short nap during the day, but I know if that happens, sleep will allude me again tonight. I back to work tomorrow, so that scenario doesn't feel positive. 

So I will treat this like any other Sunday. I do plan on some yard work today. That may tire me more and hope for a better sleep outcome tonight. I am not sure why my sleep has been so off unless it is simply an age thing but I don't like it. I guess that doesn't matter since it has become the norm for me. I guess as long as I am not falling asleep in class, I am getting enough sleep. It sure feel weird, though. 

Growing older is not for the weak

 When you are young, you are invincible and you cannot imaging getting old. Especially old like your grandparents. You breeze through most things and you handle them with panache. 

When I was 22, right after my son was born, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Most people don't know that. I chose to have a vaginal hysterectomy at that time because I had no plans to have any more children. Being a single mom with one child after my divorce was enough for me to handle.

Since that time, I have been relatively healthy. I am not on a lot of drugs for any serious health issues and didn't really have any aches or pains until I went through menopause. Now let the fun begin. 

Several weeks ago, I happened to be putting some moisturizer on my face and noticed a small lump right next to my ear. I had no idea how long it had been there but knew it was not normal, so I called and made an appointment with my GP.

She felt it, looked at my medical records and told me it was a Parotid tumor. A what? I had never heard of this before. Your Parotid gland is a salivary gland on the side of your face. You have one on each side. She assured me they are normally benign but she was going to order a CT scan and make an appointment for me to an ENT doctor in the group.

I went for the CT scan and waited on the results. The radiologist said it looked like a Parotid tumor, most of the time benign, but just to be on the safe side, recommended a biopsy. Doctor called to let me know that I would be receiving a call from the hospital because that is where needle aspirations were done. 

So then I went to have the needle biopsy, which I had never had before, done. I had convinced myself I would just close my eyes which they were doing it but having a monitor right in front of me where I could watch the doctor thread a hollow needle in to this mass to get samples was so interesting to me,  I forgot about closing my eyes. Then it was done and I was on my way home. 

Now I get to sit and wait for those results to go back to my doctor so we can schedule a visit with an ENT so we can schedule a date for the removal of the tumor. This is advisable even when no cancer cells are present because they can grow and become cancerous.  ( I did lots of research on Parotid tumors)

So I continue to go about my daily routine and wait to hear from the doctor. I could call everyone I know and tell them the whole story, but that would do no good. It sure wouldn't make me feel better. I feel fine. 

I have decided that I am glad I was raised to face things with a positive outlook. If I had been like some people I know, I would already be digging my grave.  

She ordere

 

When I was younger, I was pretty geeky. I found out very early that I was pretty smart and school came easily to me. I had parents who encouraged me to work hard and I could be anything I wanted to be. I was called a teacher's pet, too many times to mention. 

When I hit puberty, my hair became greasy, pimples began cropping up and my legs and underarms became pretty hairy. That was when the bullying really began. I was called greaseball, zit face, gorilla legs and several other choice names I won't put on paper. It was a tough time for me but I tried to keep my grades up and would disappear in my tree when I got home and read books. I didn't have many friends then and when the decision was made to move back to Florida when I was in 9th grade, I was happy for the change.

My self confidence soared when I was so accepted at my new school. They liked me even though my grades stayed up. I ended up with good grades until I graduated and continued to develop my self confidence. I have a lot of friends and teachers to thank for helping me but I never knew how much it might affect those around me. 

I have said, almost since I began working, that I would not work a job I was miserable in. I work the same way I did school. With my all. I give it the best I can and I think that should be recognized. So my whole life working, I never hesitated to make sure that I my concerns were heard if I had a problem. 

I have had people ask me if I am scared I will get fired? What happens when you lose your job? What if you make your boss mad? Short story is, I don't worry about it. If someone in this day and age wants you to not have a job, they will find a way to make it happen. 

When I was gainfully employed by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, I did a great job. I was always there. I could do just about any job they asked me to do and they paid me well for that job. I had my whole life planned out around that. Then I was called in a room, along with a bunch of other people, and told I would no longer have a job after a certain date. 

Then trying to find a job in the business that you had been employed in for 35 years was impossible. There just weren't enough of those jobs to go around. So at one point I was a 46 year old working 3 jobs to try and make sure my mortgage was paid. I didn't complain. Why? That would not have solved anything. 

So I learned that no matter how positive you are; how good at your job you are; how much you can bring to the company, if they want to let you go, you really have no say in it. So I decided to make sure that I did have a say. My say now is, "...so fire me. I will find another job."

My son brought this to my attention last night when he informed me that he was much happier now his self confidence was approaching the same level as mine. He was not scared to lose his job because he would not be able to find another one. He said he learned that from me. I guess there are worse things. 

We need more front porches

 

I have a variety of friends, some cultivated over years of conversation and some, simply because we have something in common.

The interaction between some of my friends continues to baffle me and with social media becoming so prevalent in most peoples' lives, it becomes even more interesting. People watching, if you will, on typed conversations. 

I had noticed that people tolerate other people complaining about their jobs much more than they do when a teacher complains. If a teacher complains everyone begins with the, "You knew what you were getting in to." "I thought you loved the kids." "Yeah, but you get summers off," The list can go on forever. I posted something on social media about this. 

Normally, I don't get a lot of response to my posts but I had one of my teacher peeps respond that he didn't put up with anyone complaining about their work, etc. I didn't think too much about it; he is what I call a conservative liberal and he does like to make statements just for the sake of arguing but he is fun and I laugh a lot. 

Then one of my other friends responded with a pretty vitriolic answer. I was actually surprised because I did not find what friend number one said to be that right winged. Then, of course, my other friend came back with a "Who pissed in your Wheaties?" question/

At that point, I wrote another post explaining who each was and telling them no fighting on my page. One poster removed his comments and apologized.

As our society continues to split and humans become more and more removed from each other, dependent on technology to communicate, I think we need more houses with front porches, open to our friends, where you could grab a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and talk. Just talk about things. And listen. Just listen about things. I think there would be less misunderstanding and more tolerance for different ideas. 

Just make sure the ones in Florida are screened. I think we can all agree that we don't like mosquitoes. 

My (relaxing?) weekend away

 

This is a photo I took of the Silver River last weekend. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I wanted my friend, who had never been, to meet the large, alligator snapping turtle who lived on the kayak/canoe launch down the River Trail. 

I have been visiting this particular state park for 20 years or so and every time I walk down this trail and step on the launch, which is metal, this turtle sticks his head out. I am sure it is due to people feeding him, which you are not supposed to do, and I worry that some child is going to reach out for him and have their hand taken off. 

But I can't control others or their children as I found out last weekend. There were three little girls with their Moms? throwing Vienna sausage to this turtle and then laughing and screaming when the turtle dropped the food and the fish swarmed around to eat the leftovers. I then noticed one child had a stick that she was poking in the water. I told her to stop poking the turtle. Whew, then the adults began, "She wasn't poking the turtle. She was only trying to help the turtle get the food." Are you kidding me? Do you imagine that the turtle wouldn't eat if your child wasn't poking him? The ignorance is so strong. I imagine these were uneducated in any kind of science, but then, that would be judging them. 

At this point I knew I couldn't win the argument because they were going to do what they wanted to do, regardless of what was posted all over the park about not feeding things. 

It reminded me of the last trip I made and my advising an older woman who was obviously a tourist, to not let her little, white, fuzzy dog walk to the edge of the river and down in to the shallow water. I tried to tell her that alligators loved little, white, fuzzy dogs but she didn't listen because, you know, she is entitled to do what she wants. I hope she doesn't lose that dog, but it was obvious, she wasn't listening. 

The next day we went to the other side of the park for a glass bottom boat ride. I have been to many times to count but my friend was new to the park. As we were walking through the Ross Allen area, over the bridge named in his honor, (his Reptile Island used to be here), we both noticed the plastic water bottles thrown over the bridge in to the swamp and said something at about the same time. To watch people have such a horrible attitude that they believe they have the right to throw garbage in this most ecologically sensitive area continues to make me angry but I saved the best for last. 

Why, oh why are they allowing motor boats to come all the way up to the headwaters of the Silver River? Apparently, you can boat on up any springs as long as you only use wake/idle speed. I am stunned and a little bit, just a little, surprised. 

The state can scream about protecting our water but if you are going to allow people to take boats up in to the springs with no thought to the pollution, the manatees, the fish and turtles and the quality of the water, they you need to re-evaluate what your job function is. 

I know the pollution boats cause is an effect that we seem to want to gloss over and once again, the "I pay taxes and am entitled to do what I want, when I want" seems to be the norm, I wonder who in the heck is holding on to common sense and where did those people go that truly love our state and want to protect it. They obviously are keeping pretty silent at this point. 

Political emails are becoming unbearable

 "Jean, I'm falling behind" continues to clog my mailbox on an hourly basis. Does anyone else have this problem?

I have never tried to hide my political leanings. I have always tried to vote for the best candidate for the job and in almost every case, the Republican party is not my party of choice. Because of this, I do what I can during every voting cycle to make sure my candidate wins. Sometimes they do, and other times they are unsuccessful. I do not stop trying.

I am a political junkie. I have loved politics since I told my father I was going to be President after JFK was killed. I was 6 at that time. I dreamed about going to law school and when I went to college I received my degree in Political Science. I never made it to law school and there are way too many skeletons hanging in my closet to ever be involved in a political race but I follow politicians with a magnifying glass. 

On occasion, not very often, I have sent in small donations to political candidates. I can assure you they have never been more than $5 or $10  because I am a teacher, and I live pretty close to a budget. The candidates I do support are normally local or regional. I feel like the national party should have enough money to help the candidate without my small contributions. 

Every day my in box is flooded with political candidates wanting money. Over and over from Minnesota to Georgia, Virginia to Texas, candidates send me emails. I won't even mention the ones from Florida. I get so many from them, I have stopped counting. 

Do I want to defeat DeSantis? Absolutely. Do I think Little Marco and Rick Scott are two of the most useless, corrupt politicians our state has ever elected? Yep, I do. Can I afford to send just $3 or $5 every time I get an email from candidates who are running against them? Nope and them promising the world will end with every ignored email doesn't make them nearer and dearer to my heart. 

Social media, in my opinion, has ruined most normal talk and debate about political races. They do not exist any longer. We search for like minded people and never read anything that is in opposition to the way we think. When anyone tries, the anger and vitriol becomes unbearable. The left is as bad as the right and no one stops and listens to how they sound or what they are saying.

Maybe that is the reason for all the emails. Who can take the time to argue back? Who can discuss the truth or lies which lie in the printed word? Who will take the time? 

I use to read everything I could about politics. The most I see now, politicians are doing nothing but dunning me for donations. So I just send them all to the trash and go on about my day. I find that very sad. 

 

Teacher challenges have become the norm

 

Every day I read about another teacher leaving the profession due to a myriad of issues that we face on a daily basis. Many of these issues are not in our control but many teachers and administrators do not make our job any easier. 

I am not a new teacher. I have been teaching longer than three years and although there were times I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself in to, I have never regretted making teaching my second career. I have been supported by some wonderful professionals through my teaching; teachers who went out of their way to help and administrators who were so wonderful, I hated changing schools. 

I now teach at a Title I school where many of my students are either ESOL or ESE students. Many have just begun to learn English and many have learning disabilities, some to the extreme and others less noticeable. I went back and received my certification in ESE K-12 to help me better teach the students who are mainstreamed in regular classes. 

I also work in a great department (what history department isn't great) where all the teachers are supportive of what we are trying to do. Last year, I approached all the U.S. History teachers and asked them what was the most important thing I could do as a World History teacher to help pave the way for the students to succeed when they arrived in 11th grade. I took their suggestions and incorporated them in my lessons to help the students. Not one of them suggested that to be a good teacher, I should teach them U.S. History lite version while teaching World History. 

This year I have a student who has a SLD (Specific Learning Disability) and he cannot read or write. He can understand language but it must be verbal. He uses programs where he can listen to meaning and it helps him understand lessons. Although his grade is not where it could be, we are slowly working towards getting it up.

I had a teacher come to me yesterday to ask about this particular student and to get some suggestions on how to help him succeed. I offered what I knew and his response was he was receiving pressure to not teach so much of the part of his class that could benefit the student, but to concentrate more on other parts of the curriculum because then the teachers' job would be easier when the students arrived next year. 

I immediately asked him how long he had been teaching and sure enough, it was the 3 year mark. I wanted to tell him to teach HIS kids the way THEY would learn, not because next year the teachers wanted it easier. I tried but as most new teachers, he doesn't want to upset anyone or make anyone angry. He has not learned to have a voice in his students' education.

He will end up leaving the profession. I could just about bet money on it. He doesn't feel he has a voice or is worried if he uses it he will be chastised, even though he loved my ideas for this student. They won't be implemented and this student will probably fail this class. 

We are faced with challenges like these every day, on top of the pandemic, on top of parents who think we indoctrinate children or parents who can never be reached and could care less about their students' education. We have students who never come to school or students who come to school and sleep. We have paperwork and paperwork and more paperwork. Throw in evaluations and meetings to make sure we are good teachers and it is incredible they stay as for as many years as they do.

I love teaching and I am good at it. I normally form great relationships with most of my kids. They continue to stay in touch long after I have ceased being their teacher. I wish all new teachers had that. I wish the bully teachers would go away. I wish administrators would listen instead of shrugging off concerns. I do know that no matter how hard I try, I can't save all the students. I wish new teachers were as outspoken as I was. I think the students would be the beneficiaries of that.