Stop and Look Both Ways

This probably sounds familiar, but I am not talking about the crossing the street. Last Saturday we walked down to Navy Pier and found that we could not just cross the path at any time. We had to stop, look both ways, and occasionally wait for the runners or bikers to pass through. I also should probably remind myself that this is something I should continue to do when crossing the street. I generally follow the little walking light, but as I have become so familiar with my path home I forget to look sometimes. The one afternoon, I was forced to stop a story mid-sentence to ask Kelly what we were doing. We were literally in the middle of the street as a car whizzed right in front of us. But don’t worry, I have not yet been run over.

Things at school have been going well; I have come to realize how close to my heart some of these children have become, some even being the headache givers. One day one of the young girls called me, “Mean Lady Gaga”! She was trying to look at her spelling words inside of her planner so I was taking it away from her and this is the name she chose to describe how she felt about me. I did indeed laugh inside my head as she repeated again, just to make sure I knew how she felt about this situation. There is another girl that after about 3 minutes of questioning, the conversation that started out liking my hair and earrings turned into, “Do you have kids?” “Nope.” “Why not?” Well…yep that is an interesting one to describe to a 1^st grader while trying to provide an answer that won’t lead to more questioning. Even though going back after spring break was hard and waking up in the morning has become more of a struggle I am enjoying working with these kids and the joy they bring.

As for city entertainment, a few of the things I have done include a Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” (definitely a modern version), The Chicago City Orchestra (beautiful music, but not so much of a visual aspect for a tired person), Shedd Aquarium (hideous show with weird fantasy aquatic creatures), and today…going to a Cubbies game!! It should be a blast! I also have loved being able to take the trail down by the lake to go for a good run, the one super nice weekend there were so many people and I really wish I had some sporting gear to play volleyball or catch.

And one last story that happened last night coming home on the train…it was jaw dropping. As we sat down there was lady who entered our cart looking for money for some food. Not unusual, and I have also seen this lady a few times before, she has kind of been the in your face type. Well she stopped next to the one lady and proceeded to use her foot to reach for a plastic bag underneath this lady. As she pulled it out far enough she bent over to pick it up and open it. I noticed it was somebody’s left-overs, take note…not the lady sitting there. In my mind I was trying to prepare myself to witness this lady eating whatever that had been sitting there for who knows how long. Well not quite. She opened it up, picked at with her fingers and then whipped it at the lady and used some not so nice words. The food flew over this unfortunate lady and the two people behind her. Pretty sure everyone on the cart either gasped or grew large eyes as we started at the lady walking away yelling at all of us for looking at her. Yes...such a wonderful commute, I am so thankful it was not me as I am not sure how I would have handled the situation!