Day 3 - Light House Work

Partly because today is Sunday and partly because we are tired and partly because there really isn't that much left to do right now, we didn't do much house work today.

Hubby did a final cleaning on the garage and damp-mopped the Pantry and both bathrooms.  He also replaced a toilet seat.  I didn't do much except unpack the stuff we bought in today's shopping excursion to Meijer - garden hose, toilet seat, vent covers kitchen trash can, more shelf liner and drawer organizers for kitchen - and of course, we had to buy some food while we were there!

I called a friend to come over.  After the grand tour, we had a thorough discussion of paint colors and carpet choices.  That was very helpful!  I love getting input from others.  I think we have nailed down most of our big choices.  Looks like we are going to go with Lowe's carpet after all.... as much as I don't want to...  *sigh*

Tomorrow will be a very busy day.  We've got 3 different people coming to the house to discuss painting and other jobs to be done, and the lawn care people will also be doing both yards!  WHEW!

I'll try to remember to take pics of paint and carpet samples tomorrow, for your viewing pleasure.

Day 2 - House Work

As promised yesterday, here are some photos of the Storage Room which we have named “The Pantry”.  This was one of 3 main selling features that led us to buy this house. 

The shelves are very sturdy, although they are unfinished.  We’ve discussed possibly painting them, but right now that is a fairly low priority since no one will see the room but us.  As long as everything in there is clean and stable, that’s really all we need.  The flooring is very nice ceramic tile.  

The number 1 main selling point of the house was the 3 season room on the back.  It is an add-on to the original home, but it was done very well.  The roof ties in nicely, and the room is very sturdy.  It measures 15.5' wide by 11.6' deep.  The carpet looked blue to me before, but now it looks more green in the daylight.  We expect to use this room a lot.  While it isn't air-conditioned, there is a large ceiling fan, and I think that with that on, and the A/C in the house on, it should stay cool enough out there - especially since it is on the north side of the house so it really doesn't get the direct sun all that much.  There is a heater on the wall which will be helpful in the late fall and early spring.  It is hard to tell how much we will be able to use it in winter.  The windows are sliders, and the right half of each one opens. Here are some photos of "The Porch":

Our plan as of now is to furnish this “Porch” with a table and chairs for meals and games, and then set up a seating area with wicker furniture.  We are considering a loveseat and 2 chairs with a couple of side tables for lamps.  

This is how the porch looks from the back yard:

The 3rd big selling item was the 2-car garage.  Sorry - no photos of that yet.  Picture an empty 2 car garage and you will pretty much have the image in your head.  The front wall of this garage has paneling (like the Pantry), but the side walls are white.  We plan to have those freshly painted.  Then we will either build or put up shelving for storage.  Hubby will also have a work bench at the front.  There is a people door as well that goes out the side of the house, and that needs to be painted as well.  

Today's tasks for me involved continuing work in the kitchen - putting liner in all the drawers and starting to work on the cabinets (until I ran out of liner).  Then I took apart our vacuum cleaner and cleaned it all out.  It had been used by workers in my parent's house, and it was clogged with a fine white powder.  After cleaning it all, I swept the Porch.  While I was working inside, Hubby was cleaning the garage.  He also installed a new deadbolt lock on the front door and fixed the lock on the Porch door which wasn't locking all the way.  

In some ways it doesn't seem like we got much done, but we are taking our time so that we don't burn out.  We had lunch there and then headed to Lowe's for what turned out to be a series of frustrations.  Right now, we are not happy with Lowe's Customer Service - especially in their flooring department.  Today there were 2 clerks there, but they were so busy chatting with each other that they didn't seem to have time to wait on us.  We ended up leaving the department due to their inattention and will probably take our carpet business elsewhere.  I had already scheduled to have the house measured for carpet on Monday afternoon, but we will probably cancel that now.  We ran into something similar in the paint department with 2 employees who were so engrossed in their discussion that it seemed an imposition for them to wait on us.  One clerk was interrupted in talking with Hubby by a phone call, and instead of returning to Hubby's conversation once the interruption ended, he went back to talking with his co-worker.  Likewise we walked away from that department with some of our questions unanswered.  

Somehow we still managed to spend over $200 on miscellany, and we didn't even have the energy to get everything on our list.

My allergies have been driving me crazy for 2 days.  It is hard to tell how much is from the blooming trees and how much is because there was a dog living in the house.  We are not getting the carpets cleaned because we're replacing them all except the Porch.  I may end up getting the Porch carpet cleaned because of the dog.  

More sleep tonight, more work tomorrow....

  

Must See!

If you have not yet had the pleasure of viewing penguins live on your computer screen, you simply MUST visit this website: Penguin Cam  at Sea World in San Diego.

I will warn you - it can be addicting!!!  I believe the cam is on 24/7, but there are times during the day when "the kids" are more active - like when the habitat is being cleaned and they are being fed.

I believe there are 5 species of penguins in this exhibit, and you can read about them on the website.   One of the person who answers questions in the text section said that all of these particular animals were born in the exhibit.

Enjoy!!!!

The Big Day

Today was the big day we’ve been anxiously anticipating since mid-February.  Today was Closing Day for our new house!  Our meeting was at 8:30 am at the title company, and all the papers had been signed before 9 am. 

Our seller is moving to another home in the area, and was also closing on his new home today, so he had signed all our papers yesterday, so he could attend his own signing.  The moving truck was scheduled to arrive at our new house to pick up our seller’s furnishings at about 10 am.  We were told we could go in any time, but we chose to give him his space so he could get moved out without us breathing down his neck.  We took advantage of the delay to have a leisurely breakfast and then make a trip to Home Depot for, among other things, a new garbage can.  So that is the first official new purchase for the new house!

We finally went to the house at 1 pm and entered for the first time as owners!!  It was very exciting to put the key in the door and walk in!  A number of other keys and the garage door remotes were waiting for us on the kitchen counter.  We unloaded the car of our garbage can, some folding chairs and our big shop-vac.  Then we went back to the old house for another load.

After grabbing a light lunch, we returned to the house with a card table, an interior vacuum cleaner and a couple boxes of supplies: paper towels, TP, soap, cleaning supplies, disposable cups and plates, etc…

It wasn’t too long before we were greeted by Betty, our neighbor to the east.  She is a very spry and “with it” 80something widow.  She had actually helped our seller pack and move, and she came in to finish getting the rest of his food from the fridge.  He had left a vacuum cleaner too, but we told her it wasn’t necessary that they clean – we would do it.  She visited for a few minutes.  Both times we’ve met her we’ve been very impressed by her, and I’m sure she is going to be a great neighbor!!!

After Betty left, we got busy on cleaning projects.  Hubby started in the room that we are now calling “The Pantry”.  It is actually a very nice sized storage room with built-in shelves on 2 walls which is accessed through the laundry room.  This is also where the water heater and the fuse box are, and there is a wash-tub sink in there as well.  (Stay tuned for photos tomorrow!) 

I got busy on the kitchen.  After doing a very basic cleaning of the counters, I worked on washing out the fridge/freezer.  While we were working, our neighbor to the west popped in.  His name is Al, and he is a middle-aged fellow who had his dog Wander with him.  Wander is quite elderly and has a nasty looking tumor on her hind leg.  She was very sweet, and greeted us for some “pets”, and then the 2 were on their way.  Al happens to own a painting company, and we told him we would love for him to bid on our interior painting job.

A little later, we were greeted once again – this time by the lawn care people that we are going to hire to take care of the new yard.  The man and his wife came to look at the yard and discuss everything we want done.  They walked around the yard with us and made some suggestions about the landscaping.  They will also be helping with the yard at the old house – it’s just too much for Hubby to do it all.   

Today we worked until about 6 pm, and then we headed back to the old house for dinner.  We were both exhausted and decided to call it a day.  We are going to be very sure that we pace ourselves so that we don’t over-do it. 

We are both very relieved that everything went so well today, and we’re looking forward to more new-house-fun tomorrow.  One of the items on tomorrow’s agenda is cleaning the garage!  WOO HOO!!!

The Baby

One of the big reasons for the purchase of our new house is so that we can finally take in our Baby.  The Baby has been living in a foster home since August of 2010 when we moved it out of my parents' home in preparation for the estate sale.  We simply do not have room for it here.  It will have a prominent spot in the living room at the new house.  This piano has been in my family since 1913.

The story goes that my great-grandparents -named Roehm - had a piano for my grandmother's sister Lucille.  Aunt Lucille was one of those rare and lucky people who could hear a song and sit down and play it without any music.  Well, that first piano was lost in the flood of 1913 that hit Dayton.  One of the first things my great-grandfather bought after the house was cleaned out was another piano - this one.  Someplace in storage I have a little booklet that records his monthly payments to the piano store.  I think the piano cost him $500, and I think he might have paid $5 a month on it.  

So this piano was in their home until they both passed away.  The piano then went to another aunt who didn't play the piano.  I'm not sure why she was the one to get it, but I suspect Aunt Lucille didn't have room either.  Before Aunt Kay had a place to put the piano, it "visited" my grandmother's home.  My mother was a young girl at this time, and she desperately wanted to take piano lessons.  Grandpa couldn't afford lessons for most of the time the piano was there, but then just when they got her signed up for lessons, Aunt Kay took the piano back, leaving my mother with no piano to take lessons on.  She was heartbroken, and she carried that with her all her life.  

When I was about 7, we moved to a house big enough for a piano, and getting me one was very high on my mother's agenda.  My parents bought an old upright from some neighbors who were moving and put it in our family room.  I started taking lessons at age 8 and continued until I was 16 when we moved to a new town.  

Once I moved out on my own, I never had room for a piano.  I bought an electric keyboard, and that worked well for travel because I could take it to visit grandparents for small concerts, but it was a weak substitute.  In 1995, my mother finally inherited the family Chickering from Aunt Kay, so my upright got moved to the basement, and the Chickering got a place of prominence in the family room.  

When my parents passed away, I chose to leave the old upright at their house (the buyers said they wanted it), and I had the Chickering moved to the home of some friends until I could take it.  These friends have been loving foster parents, and their teenage son has loved playing it, but now it will finally take its rightful place in my home after all these years.  

I think we might just have a Welcome Home party for The Baby, but not until I've had a chance to practice first!

Next Blog

Hello Readers!
Do you see that little link at the top of your screen right now that says "Next Blog"?


Have you ever clicked on that?


Well, let me tell you, if you haven't, you should.  Each click has the potential to take you to a new and interesting world.  It is not unlike clicking the channel-changer on your TV remote, only with this, you have no idea what you're going to get.  (Unlike the TV when you can be 95% sure you're going to land on a commercial with a baby or a dog in it.)


Every time I get in the mood to browse the blogs, I find things of interest.  If I chose to "Follow" every interesting one I find, I'd have a follow-list a mile long and no time to actually follow them all, so I've stopped "Following" unless I just can't pass one by.  


In today's browsing, I read about a restaurant someone visited on their trip to France, saw some lovely photos of unique homes in Mexico, learned about some interesting places to visit on my next trip to New England and saw some really interesting artwork.  Best of all, the writing of all of these blogs was lively and fun to read, which totally restores my faith in the English classes of the world!  


So, the next time you have a few minutes to spare, and after you've read MY latest entry, which of course is really why you are here after all, hit "Next Blog" and see where the road takes you!  I guarantee you will enjoy the journey!


Happy Browsing!  

Smooth Sailing after Inspection

The home inspection was completed on Friday, February 17.  While our inspector wasn’t Mike Holmes, he was very thorough.  Gary arrived an hour before we did and completed much of the main inspection, then his assistant continued with some tasks while Gary took us around and talked to us about every little detail.  He spent 2 hours explaining everything – roof, inside and out, foundation, windows and doors, furnace, water heater, fuse box, plumbing. 

As Gary was talking, I was taking pictures and making notes.  I photographed curtain rods, appliances, closets – things I am going to wonder about while we wait for the next 5 weeks to get the keys.  And I measured things.  This task is made much easier by the fact that the new house is the same floor plan as the old house.  Although Hubby says the new house is 1 foot shorter from end to end, we aren’t finding it. 

When we arrived, we got to meet the seller and his agent.  Then during the exterior inspection we met the neighbor to the west.  Just as we were finishing up and about to walk out the door we met the neighbor to the east who came over to bring back the seller’s little dog.   Both neighbors were very friendly and seemed like they will be great neighbors.  

The upshot of the inspection was that everything seems to be in excellent shape.   A few hours later we got a full report as a PDF on email, complete with many photos and details of every little thing. 

I think we like the house even better now than we did the first time we saw it!  On Saturday we ventured out and did some exploratory shopping.    We had a nice discussion with the salesman at Rite Rug about carpeting.  We learned some things, and we found some carpet we both like.  At this time, we aren’t sure if we will go with them or with someone else.  We also visited La Z Boy Gallery and looked at couches.  We learned a bit more about what works for us and what doesn’t.  We found a style and color we both like and got some info. 

Saturday night we brainstormed a wish-list of changes and added some cost estimates beside each one.  One important factor for me in making the initial list was that we not censor ourselves, but really put everything down we could think of or might want to change/fix.  

So, that’s where things stand.  It should be smooth sailing on the house purchase now until closing on March 23.  Then the REAL work begins!

The Adventure Begins

First, some background:

For the last 1.5 years, Hubby and I have been house-hunting. We’ve both actively looked online and watched the papers. We’ve done many drive-bys and attended numerous open houses. The search has been a roller-coaster of emotions. First comes the excitement and uphill climb of finding something that “might be the one” only to suffer the screaming down-hill effect of the realization that there are major deal-breakers that make this house, in fact, NOT “the one”.

The last time we house-hunted was in 2001 when we were preparing to move from Lima to Westerville. We were sort of in a hurry because we just had a summer to get moved before school started, so we weren’t really too picky, and we weren’t thinking in terms of buying a house we’d be in for more than 5 years or so. Our main goal was just to get here. We also didn’t know much at all about the local market, nor about how to buy a house because we’d never done it before. Luckily we had a very good realtor to guide us, and we ended up in a decent house where we’ve been fairly comfortable for almost 11 years.

Since then, we’ve watched way too many hours of shows on TV: everything from This Old House on PBS to the big house shows on HGTV like House Hunters, Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection, and lots of shows featuring remodels and renovations. We now know just enough to be dangerous to ourselves and to the real estate market!

Last week, along with another screaming ride down on the roller-coaster of happiness into the valley of despair, came the realization that what we thought we wanted and needed in a dream house really might not be out there – at least not within a comfortable driving distance of school. Not to be deterred by that realization though, and pushed to find a solution by my tearful declaration that I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my life without my piano, Hubby sprang to the challenge and found the perfect end to our house hunt. It was under our very noses! “The house around the corner is for sale,” he proudly declared! So? “So, we buy it!” Um…. Yeah….? “Yeah, and we live in BOTH houses!!!” WHAT? “Seriously, I’ve got it all figured out…” He then proceeded to spend the next half hour reading to me his list of reasons and explaining that this was really a very good idea. He was right! It is a BRILLIANT idea!

We contacted our realtor and said we wanted to see the “House of Interest”, and an appointment was set up. As we walked into this house with our realtor (the same realtor who helped us in 2001), he asked if we were interested in this for comparison purposes. It does, after all, have almost exactly the same floor plan as the house we live in now, so that was a very natural question. Hubby looked at me, and I looked at him as if to say, “it was YOUR idea, YOU tell him”! We explained why we thought it would make sense to buy it – and live in it – and our realtor was amazingly supportive. He could have told us we were nuts – that this just isn’t done – that no one he knows has ever done this! But he didn’t do any of those things. He took it all in stride and was totally non-judgemental.

That was on Thursday night. On Saturday morning, we signed an offer on the house, and by 1:30 pm on Sunday, an agreement had been reached. We close on March 23, just in time to have the keys in ours hands by Spring Break!

And so, the great adventure begins! It is an experiment in dual-house living. It is an experiment in coordination and planning. One priority is to keep this adventure from over-taking our lives to the point where it interferes with our ability to do what we need to do (or to remain sane)! Our skeptics may speculate that we are really splitting up, and this is just a nice way to do that. Not so! If anything we will have to work more closely on this than on anything we’ve ever done in 30 years of marriage. We are looking at it as a “project” that we are embarking on together, and we plan on enjoying every step of the process. This is about enriching our lives by giving ourselves the space we’ve needed. We’ve felt very much “pinched” for the last 11 years – into a house that is really too small to fully meet our needs. We have had to sacrifice some of our interests due to lack of space. No more! We will now have more than 2500 square feet of living space: 6 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 dining rooms and 2 kitchens, a 3 car garage and a glorious, spacious, well-built 3-season room! It isn’t really all that different than having a primary home and a vacation home – ours just happen to be within walking distance of each other.

I intend to blog about the progress of our adventure so that others might share in our joys. Perhaps some readers may realize that this is the perfect solution for them as well. Stay tuned…. The next step is the inspection! Since it probably won’t be Mike Holmes doing the inspecting, we will be looking over his shoulder until he swats us like noisy flies!

Update on the Healing Process

We’ve just passed the 1 month anniversary of the death of my colleague.  His hometown funeral was on the Saturday after his death, and then our town/school had a memorial service on the 2^nd Saturday after.  I think that our local memorial service really marked a turning point in the healing process.  Until then, there was a huge memorial area set up in a prominent showcase in the front lobby of the school, and there was also a make-shift memorial in the hallway outside his room.  All of that was cleared away in preparation for the formal memorial service which was held in a large church near our school. 

The memorial service was attended by hundreds of people.  Most of our building’s staff members and retirees, many district administrators and former admins, many students and former students and some of their parents attended the service.  Some of our colleague’s family members also drove up from his hometown in spite of the snowy/icy conditions. 

The service was lovely and a very appropriate tribute to his life and showed how loved he was by the entire school community.  Several of his closest friends spoke in loving tribute sharing anecdotes, and several other colleagues performed musical selections, and our school’s show choir sang in his honor as well.  The group even learned a song in Spanish since that is what he taught.   The school even took down a bulletin board which had hung in his room to display at the service.  It was covered with memorabilia that he had collected over his years in that room.

I noticed a definite change in the mood at school after that service was over.  I think that once the school community was able to grieve together at this service, they were able to sort of let go and move on.  We continue to collect money for a scholarship fund in his name, and so there are regular references to him on the announcements as fund-raisers are held.  And certainly there is an air of sadness every time his name is mentioned.  I also know that individuals who were particularly close friends of his are still struggling privately with missing him.   Overall, however, it seems that many aspects of our life at school has returned to normal.  Obviously there is no way to know how much his death has impacted the individuals who knew him the best and worked closely with him daily.  I’m sure there are still students of his who struggle with walking into his room every day. 

I’m sure each situation like this is different in the specifics, but it seems to me that the general healing process for a large group of people probably follows a pattern.  I really didn’t know what to expect.   It has been interesting to watch the grieving process from sort of a close-distance.  Perhaps focusing on the larger process was my own way of dealing with this tragedy.  I’m sure that not a day has gone by yet that I have not thought of him at some point.  

Thoughts After A Tragedy

One week ago, a colleague of mine was murdered in a violent murder/suicide scenario.  While he was caring for his dying mother, his father went off the deep end and shot him, 2 of his mother’s sisters and himself.  It turns out that the father had already done time for murder and had also stabbed his own father at some point after getting out for the first crime.  It also seems that many people who knew him were scared of him and felt he was easily capable of violence again.

However, I digress.  The point of this piece is not the violent father.  Nor is it the loss of my colleague, to whom I was not particularly close.  The point rather is the complex reaction that I’ve seen around me to the tragedy.

I don’t know for sure when the tragedy was first reported on the local news.  It happened on Monday evening, and I don’t know if it made the 11:00 local reports.  I first heard it on TV on Tuesday morning about 6:45 when I was getting dressed for school.  I know that the administration of my school learned about it sometime late Monday evening, because a mass email was sent out at 11:59 pm announcing an emergency staff meeting for 7 am the next morning. (An email which I didn’t get until I got to school and fired up my email because I am not “plugged in” with a smart phone.) I also know that some people on the administrative team were called at 2 am.

I presume school administrators have some sort of crisis management plan in place with protocols to deal with things like this.  They must have some sort of plan because it seems clear that they acted swiftly to mobilize others.  Before school officially opened on Tuesday morning, there was a team of counselors at school ready to talk with grieving students and staff.   This is just one of many reasons I am glad I am not an administrator. 

I remember that when the tragedies of 9/11 happened, one of the things I thought about was the emotional cloud that hung over everyday life.  In the days that followed, as we were all subjected to daily reports and videos on TV, it felt like everyone was acting differently.  Even though people went on with their daily activities of going to the grocery, going to work, etc… there was a noticeable change in mood.  I think even the mood of children changed.  Even if they were too young to understand the magnitude of what had happened, they felt a change in the adults around them which affected them. At some point I found myself wondering how long the cloud would hang over us to the point where it was noticeable in public.  How long would it be before the tragedy was not the first thing I thought about when I woke up and the last thing I thought about before going to sleep?  How long would it be before I would actually go through an entire day without thinking about the tragedy?  I don’t know the answer to any of those questions because I didn’t keep track, but I do know that there did come a point when the cloud lifted and when the tragedy was no longer a part of my daily consciousness.  There was a point at which a direct trigger like a news report was needed for me to remember the events of 9/11.

On Tuesday of last week, as I watched the reactions of those around me to this recent, local tragedy, I decided to pay attention to the change in mood to see how it evolved.  On Tuesday there was a silence at school.  There was not the usual noise in the halls between classes.  When people did speak, they did so more quietly than usual. It was as if the volume of life had been turned down several notches.  “Loud” seemed offensive.  Also, many people cried openly and uncontrollably.  Many other people were on the verge of tears all day.  There was school work that was done, but it seemed to be done with apology and with a feeling that we might as well work because the alternative was to sit around and cry more. 

The only class in which I totally abandoned my scheduled lesson was in Intro to Theatre class.  I had planned to talk about Oedipus the King that day.  Somehow the idea of talking about a man who killed his father, married his mother, had children with her and then gouged his eyes out when he realized the truth didn’t seem to be appropriate for the day.  I asked the kids if they would like to watch a movie instead – they said yes.  In going through the box of the movies I usually show in theatre classes, I found Les Miz – too tragic and violent, Phantom of the Opera – too creepy,  Jekyll & Hyde – both violent and creepy.  Even the old classic The King and I ends in death.   Then I hit upon two comedies I usually show in Acting class: Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire.  No death, no tragedy…  Mrs. Doubtfire won the toss.  Finally, on Friday, after the movie was over, we talked about Oedipus. 

Tuesday’s lunch period was difficult.  Many of the people I eat lunch with were very close to our fallen Warrior.  I almost hesitated to go into the room where the teachers eat, and I thought perhaps others would stay away as well, but it seemed people wanted to be together in their grief.  I was also surprised that people were actually eating.  Some people have trouble eating when they are grief-stricken.  The discussion was about our colleague, and about what was being said on the news, and about arrangements that were being made.  A few people, those closest to him, seemed on the verge of tears, but no one cried openly at lunch. 

By Wednesday, the general mood of the school was still somber, but it didn’t seem that as many people were still on the verge of tears.  Perhaps those who had cried were cried-out.  The halls were still quieter than normal but not silent as they had been on Tuesday.

By Thursday, the noise was returning to the halls, and while there were select individuals whose mood seemed to be affected, the number of people exhibiting visible reactions was smaller.  There was even a fight in the cafeteria at lunch (2 of my students).   At some point on Thursday, a memorial had been set up in a showcase in the front lobby, moving some of the flowers and tokens that had been left in the hallway outside his room to a more prominent place.

On Thursday evening, we had our first snowstorm of the season, and there was some expectation that we might have a delay or cancellation on Friday.  Morning travel was challenging for many drivers and some of our busses were late arriving, so the talk of the day became more about the snow and less about the tragedy.  It felt as if people welcomed something else to think and talk about.  The noise level in the hall was close to normal, and talk at lunch was about driving to the funeral on Saturday, also in relation to the winter weather. 

So far, there has not been a day when I have not thought about the tragedy that happened to my colleague and to those in his life.  On Saturday I will attend the local memorial service for him, and I am sure that thoughts about that will stick with me for awhile afterward.   I expect the week ahead at school to be much like last week as preparations for the memorial continue and announcements are made about fund-raisers for the memorial scholarship fund.   When will the day come when I do not think at all about the tragedy?  Of course, noting that day means thinking about it and therefore negates it, unless the realization comes later.

I am left with some questions which will never be answered.  How much of the response to this tragedy was more about the dramatic nature of the tragic event than about him?  How much of this same mood/feeling/reaction would have existed if he’d been killed in a more common way, like a car accident?  What about if he’d had an illness or sudden health crisis like a heart attack?  Did he realize how much he was loved?

Of course tragedies like this serve as reminders to us that we never really know what might happen from one moment to the next.  Are we all living life to the fullest with the idea that any moment may be our last?  Are we all showing signs of appreciation and affection to our loved ones lest this be their last moment?  Are we all truly “not sweating the small stuff”?

I’m sure there will be people for whom this tragedy remains fresh and painful for a long time – months, years.  There will be people who think about it every day for the rest of their lives, but it will pass out of the daily consciousness at school for many people.  It seems trite to say, but it really is true – life goes on and wounds heal.  Sadly, there will always be other tragedies for other people in other schools to deal with.  I hope this will be the last one for me.