Hospice

There is much about this life that I am uncertain about.  I don’t know how my life will come out or my family’s.  But I do know one thing: The people that dedicate their lives to hospice are true saints in a world that is sometimes lacking in the sainthood department.

My blog yesterday told you that my father has been assigned to hospice care.  These wonderful people not only ease his pain but ease my mother’s mind as well.  My brother, who is dad’s primary care giver, is going to get the training he needs to do this job well and most importantly they can be called 24 hours a day.

This service to the dying is incredible.  That they carry this burden so lightly is a testament to their own faith.  God bless them all.

There is a season.

Today we (my mother, brother, and I) signed my dad up for hospice.  It was terrifying.  My dad had been going downhill (no illness, just 91) for a long time and I think we all knew that he was dying.  It’s just different somehow when you acknowledge that fact with the medical profession.

I remember my father as a strong man.  He was the one that I could depend on.  He taught me to drive, to fish, to enjoy life.  Now he can’t even stand on his own. 

I think I mentioned in one of the forums that my brother and I were adopted at birth.  My mom and dad couldn’t have children of their own.  I never felt that I was treated as anything else than his son and until I die he will be my dad.

A paper in search of an idea…

I have been focused the past two weeks on my paper topic.  Since I have been a teacher in the past and hope to do so again in the future, I thought something on the trials of public education in today’s world.  In particular, the effect of homeschooling on public education.

There are two problems here.  One is making this personal.  The prof is pretty specific on this, it has to relate personally.  The second is to formulate a solution to the problem.  Some of the great minds of the past 50 years have been formulating solutions to education reform with no real success so how am I to solve this issue.

Well, I have a week.  Barring divine intervention here I think my goose is cooked.

Wicked!

I was reminded this evening on how much better live theater is than movies.  There is no way that the personality, the energy, the spirit of the cast can be represented in a two dimensional medium.   One major difference is the interaction between the cast and the audience.  They dance together in a rich interwoven tapestry that cannot be duplicated ever again.

The play was Wicked.  The atmosphere was electric.  The cast was doing it’s second show of the day and the last performance of the series and it was phenomenal.  The interaction of cast and crew was seamless.  I am so glad they shared it with me.

Time flies…

1 week down. 1 paper written and a lot of discussion done.

One of the things I really enjoy about an online class is the “forced” discussion. How many times have you set in a class and only the same one or two people ever speak! In an online class it is an unavoidable event. You HAVE to participate and the result is glorious!

Greetings!

I was looking at the syllabus thinking how much fun this course was going to be.  Then it dawned on me that all of this had to be completed in 4 weeks!   Oh well, I am guessing that other classes before me have done this with no permanent ill effects so I guess I will also.