Sixteen!

 

Way back on August 9th, 2010, I wrote my very first ever blog post, so that means today is Sparrow Tree Journal's 16th birthday! 

I can hardly believe it. When I started I had no clue that I'd still be posting here all these years later. I also didn't know how important the friends I'd make along the way would become to me. You all add color and richness to my life, and for that I'm truly grateful. Thank you for being here!

xx

Jennifer

This will be my 1,649 published post. 

Week two: settling in

Week two of work is now done. Despite the fact that each day flew by (there's so much on my plate now) the week seemed terribly long. The students came back to school on Monday, so the new year started for real.

I still don't know what to make of my new boss. On Monday afternoon I noticed that three of the office women had little arrangements of flowers delivered and sitting on their desks. I asked the secretary, "Those are so pretty! Who sent them to you?" and she said, "Miss (principal's firstname)!"  She had flowers delivered to the secretary, the bookkeeper, and the student data manager/registrar. Guess which "office lady" didn't get any flowers? Yep. I was the only one. I didn't know what to think. It's weird for her to send flowers for no apparent reason to a few staff members in the first place, but then to leave me out was not only strange, but rude. My feelings were hurt. I wondered what it could mean. Then I decided, to hell with it. If she wants to be weird and rude and to play favorites, I guess that's her business. My business is to do the best job I can, to learn a lot of new skills, and then to move along at the end of the year if I'm not valued where I am. I let it go, but I still think it was shitty of her. 

Then, to really make things confusing, on Wednesday night she sent me an email. She said, "I just wanted you to know how proud I am of the wonderful job you're doing getting the permanent records back in order. Excellent work!" Honestly, I'd rather have validating words like that than flowers, but it sure seems like a lot of mixed messages. I guess time will tell.

I do like the challenge of my new job duties. By the time I left yesterday I felt like I was finally beginning to gain my footing a little bit. I've made a good start and I've learned a whole lot already. I miss working closely with the students and really getting to know them, though. A few kids asked what had happened to me (since I'm no longer at the desk in the lobby) and came and found my office to give me a hug. One was a trans boy named Nick who's living in a foster home. We've been special friends since last year and I try to be loving and accepting to him--something he desperately needs.  I was genuinely so happy to see him, and he knows it. We spent a good ten minutes catching up before I sent him on to class. Another day, I was in the cafeteria at lunchtime and heard someone say, "Hey Ms. Barlow!!" I turned around and it was another boy that would sometimes stop by my desk and talk last year. He'd grown a tiny little wispy moustache over the summer (!!) so when he came over to hug me, I said, "Caleb! Look at you! You've grown about a foot taller over the summer and you have a moustache now, too!" He smiled shyly and said, "I have a beard now too! But I shaved it." Haha! Judging by how wispy his little moustache was, I doubt he has any serious need to shave. I pretended to be impressed, though, because he was very proud. Isn't that adorable? So, I'll definitely miss the close relationship with kids after this current batch of returning students move on to high school. That won't happen while I'm  tucked away in an office somewhere, of course.

So that's it for me this week. I've been reading blogs on my lunch break and sometimes after work, but now blogger won't allow me to comment on most blogs when I'm using my phone. I still regularly have to go retrieve "good" comments from the spam folder, too. I know blogger is a free service, but I really wish some of theses issues would get resolved. I've been really tired these past two weeks but that's starting to get better. When I left work yesterday, for the first time this year, I felt like I was finally starting to get my footing a little bit with my "new" jobs. I'll try to *blog about something else besides work going forward. I'm sure it's getting boring.

Have a nice weekend, my friends!

*Tuesday will be my blog's 12th birthday!! I can't even believe I've been at this blogging thing for that long! Read my very first (very short) post here.

A decade of blogging

 As astounding as it seems, exactly 10 years ago today I started this blog. I just can't believe it's been that long. Looking back at the first month or two of my posts, I'm amazed at how many things have happened and changed in that amount of time. When I began this blog, I had just moved back to Florence after 3 years of living 20 miles out in the country. I was still working as the store manager at Pier 1 Imports of Florence, but unbeknownst to me our little store was about to go out of business later that year. Now Pier 1 Imports as a company is out of business altogether. I loved that job and it was a sad day when our store closed down. When I started this blog, Gregg had not been diagnosed with cancer yet, and now he's an 8 year cancer survivor. I've changed jobs twice since then, made lots of friends, and finally bought a home of our own (which meant another move). Life has had its ups and downs. Ginger was still a young, high energy pup when I started writing here, Marco was still a baby, and George wouldn't come along for another 3 years. We had a little House Sparrow named Chip who lived with us, too. My mother in law was still alive and her mind was still sharp (I miss her so much), and our favorite niece and nephew were young teenagers. That same niece just got married last year, and last month she and her husband moved all the way across the country to Oregon where she'll be starting law school later this month. How life moves along! If I manage to keep blogging for another 10 years who knows what my life will look like then. I hope most of the changes that are sure to happen are mostly happy ones, and that I can meet the challenges and bad times with courage and heart.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading. Writing this blog has enriched my life more than I could ever have anticipated back in 2010. I treasure each and every one of you.

This double rainbow appeared in the sky beyond our house two days ago after an afternoon rain shower.