Today is Tessie’s 14th Birthday! I don’t know how 14 years pass so quickly (especially when one WEEK goes so slow).

Tessie is:

strong – she can hold her own against her older brothers; deals with T1 diabetes with barely a complaint

hard-working – she completes all her homework on time without any reminders; she will clean the kitchen or the family room because she sees it needs it

loving – she bakes for her brothers at a moment’s notice; she writes me notes telling me she loves me and wishes me a good day

thoughtful – she thinks about people and what gifts they would want – nothing generic like a gift card (my favorite thing to buy people); she massages her dad’s feet after a long day at work; she bakes desserts for her friends and delivers them

She is exactly what our family needed!

Happy 14th Birthday, my sweet, beautiful, strong Tessie 🤎 🎂 🤎

Today at 3:10 pm our principal made an announcement to the staff. “On SEL Day, I would like to give you the gift of time. Feel free to head out for your weekend.”

This would have been perfect if I had lessons planned for next week. But I didn’t. This week has been quite hectic during school hours and after school. I didn’t leave school until 5:45 pm. On a Friday. Although I did not accept her gift, I need to look at the other gifts that were given to me today:

#1 I finished the majority of my plans

#2 I have everything copied for Monday

#3 It was not dark at 5:45 pm

#4 I got home too late to cook dinner so we are ordering out

#5 I have something to write about as I sit on the couch waiting for my son to bring home dinner!

Throughout the years I have housed many students that needed a “break”. Whether it was for 10 minutes, a class period, an hour, or even a day, I am always willing to help out a colleague as well as the kiddo that needs the break.

I remember Student 1 from 2nd grade. He would walk down the hall way and ask me, “Do you teach 6th grade?

“I do. What grade are you in?”

“Second grade. Well, I’ll see you when I’m a sixth grader.”

“I’ll be here waiting for you.”

He is now a 6th grader!

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Student 2 would come to work in my room when he needed a break (or when his teacher/classmates needed a break). On his good days he is sure to stop me and tell me, “I had a 100% day today.”

“That’s awesome! See how proud you and happy you are about your choices today?”

On the days he doesn’t have a great day, he looks away when I walk by. I still stop and ask him how his day is going. “Uh, it’s not that good of a day.”

I always tell him, ‘Well the day is not over yet. He could always make good choices and make it a better day than it is right now.”

Today I saw him in the principal’s office when I went to check my mailbox. I asked of he is in there for a reward, knowing that wasn’t the case. He told me how yesterday was a zero day. When I offered him some advice on what he could do when he is starting to feel angry he looked right at me and said, “Your brain is so big, Mrs. K.”

After school my principal stopped to thank me for talking with Student 2 adding, ” . . . making connections with your future 6th grader.” He is only in 4th grade.

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This week I met another friend. Recess was over, but he did not want to go inside. I talked to him about art and what he likes to draw as I slowly nudged him toward the door. I found out he draws Sonic so I asked him to draw a picture for me when he gets inside. I haven’t gotten the picture yet, but he did draw it.

These kids have a lot they are dealing with, so I’m willing to be there for them.

It really does take a village!

On Fridays one of my co-workers and I order lunch form nearby restaurants. Last year, when my students were fully remote, I taught from my classroom. I was in my room alone so I did not have to wear a mask. Wednesdays were heavy on meetings so we would often treat ourselves to Carrabba’s Italian- bread, seasoned olive oil, cheese, Caesar salad, chicken piccata, and mashed potatoes. Usually Fridays were our days for ordering out. On those days we kept it simple with pizza or gyros.

When the students came back with a hybrid schedule (Group 1 in person on M/Th, Group 2 in person on T/F) we continued to order on Fridays.

“I’d like a junior gyros, plain, sauce on the side,” making sure he remembered my order.

“That’s what I’m getting too.”

Absolutely delicious!

The bell rings. Recess is over. The mask goes back on and I wait in the hallway for my students. Then with each breath I smell the gyros. All. Afternoon. Long. I never ordered a gyros for our Friday lunches since then.

This will be the first Friday I won’t be wearing a mask. I can’t wait for a junior gyros, plain, sauce on the side.

This past weekend I was quite productive.

I . . .

cleaned all three kids’ rooms, cleaned out their drawers, cleaned out their closets, moved the furniture to clean under beds and behind dressers, did over 10 loads of laundry, made lunch and dinner both days even though my husband was out of town, picked up my husband from the airport, registered John for Senior breakfast, reviewed Andrew’s essay for National Honor Society, cleaned the kitchen 4 times (each time after she just had to bake).

This week I have been quite unproductive.

I haven’t . . .

graded the papers that I’ve carried in my bag for the last 8 days, made the calls to change our internet in hopes of it not lagging as much as our current internet does, called the Illinois tollway to explain the credit card on file expired so please remove the additional fees, organized my classroom, completed some paperwork for my mom, read my library books that are due Saturday, made a few last Christmas present returns, replied to many emails, completed my homework for a class I’m taking, bought a birthday present for Tessie (her birthday is Saturday), planned college visits over spring break.

I am putting a lot of pressure on Spring Break to be the time that it will ALL get done 🤞

My oldest, John, still surprises me 18 years later.

9 months old: John takes his first steps. On Halloween, he is walking the entire time Trick-or-Treating. No stroller. No crying to be carried.

13 months old: John finally gets his first tooth (usually the first teeth come out around 6 months old).

2 years old: John becomes a biter. He stalks his prey and attacks when they let their guard down. He waits until his cousin Georgie is playing with her dolls to walk up to her and bite her in the back.

4 years old: John is jumping around on the couch. He jumps off the couch and onto his brother’s back, mouth first. He loses one of his front teeth that we waited so long to see. A month later he is jumping in an inflatable jumpy at his cousin’s birthday party. He runs in the house holding his mouth. My nephew is asking questions, “What’s wrong? Did you spill Kool-Aid on yourself? Are you bleeding?” We look and notice the other front tooth is gone. He explains that he doesn’t know what happened, but asked if he can go back in the jumpy. My cousin walks in the house with John’s front tooth. He found it tangled into the jumpy’s netting. I look at John and respond, “Sure. Just jump with your mouth closed.” Not one tear the entire time.

8 years old: After a tough day, I tell my boys, “You better be good kids at school. Your teacher doesn’t want to have to ask you to do something twice. You better appreciate your teachers. John looks at me and says, “Don’t worry mommy. I don’t bother my teacher. And everyday before I leave I say, ‘Thank you for teaching me today, Mrs. Katzen.'”

14 years old: John goes to Greece with my mom, my dad, and my niece a week earlier than the rest of us as an 8th grade graduation gift from my parents. Once I get there my dad says, “I didn’t realize John was such an instigator. Poor Georgie is just minding her own business and John will scare her.

https://www.facebook.com/1096441185/videos/10209409198162348/ (not sure if this video will show, but it’s an example of how he bothers Georgie.

15 years old: John acts so silly that my niece says, “Honestly, I didn’t know John was smart. Like until Drookie told me he is taking honors and AP classes I thought he wasn’t a good student. I love him even more now because he can be so funny AND smart.” Yes, George, I’m surprised he is so smart too!

18 years old: We are playing the world version of Wordle called Worldle or Globle. He starts listing off names of African countries to locate the correct answer. When I throw out a country he says, “No, that’s further east.”

“Um, John, how do you know all these African countries and their locations?”

“Because I know things. How do you not know geography?”

“Wow! I didn’t know you were so smart!”

He keeps surprising me!

In my family, I am the creator of people’s nicknames. I don’t know how some of them came to be because they have been around for so long. Some people don’t have nicknames at all. It just depends on when it hits me and the situation at the time.

My mom = Muddy – her name is Magda but that’s hard for little kids to pronounce, so I just told them to call her Muddy. It has stuck for over 20 years.

My dad = Love Gero – Greek people call their dads gero which means “old man”. One day I was talking to my dad and he voiced his hatred of someone calling him old man, so I told him well if I put a nice word in front of it it’s not so bad. I started calling him Love Gero, Love for short.

My Sister’s in-laws = Chief/Chiefena – her father-in-law would always say “Hey Chief!” so we started calling him Chief. His wife naturally had to be the feminine version of that so she is now referred to as “Chiefena”.

Christina = Jack – I call my younger sister Jack, short for Jackass. My mom shakes her head at this.

Kosta = Bob – my nephew Kosta goes by Bob. No idea how I gave him this name, but the poor kid thought that it was his middle name and even told hisfriends that it was his Name’s Day on the day we celebrate Bobbys. I had to remind him that his middle name is Andreas. He looked at me confused and asked, “The why do you guys call me Bob?” I had to be honest and replied, “Honestly, I have no idea! You used to pronounce your name Kota which is Greek for chicken, so I called you Chicken for awhile, but I really don’t know how it went from Chicken to Bob.” Sometimes I call him Bobby.

Andrew = Drookie – from a baby to today at 17, he is Drookie, Drooks, Dookity Doo – but all variations of Drookie.

Tessie = Squiddy – she started calling me Squiddy Mama (maybe trying to say squishy?) so now i call her my little Squid.

John (my cousin) = Blow Off – years ago, I called him. He didn’t pick up or text. When I saw him days later I asked him, “Why did you blow me off? Is your name Blow Off?” So decades later, I call him Blow or Blow Off.

Jimmy (my cousin, John’s brother) = Butchy/Butch – no clue. I don’t remember why I started calling him that, but my whole family calls him by this name (my sisters, my mom, all the kids).

Pete = Boy Mou – Mou is Greek for “mine” so it translates to My Boy.

Me = Kooks – I’m the crazy aunt! Kosta was the first grandkid/nephew, so when my sister would come visit us (my parents, my sister, and me) my dad would tell Kosta “Don’t love her. She’s crazy. She’s cuckoo.” So he started calling me Cuckoo. I cut it to Kooks. When they would leave I would have my sister open the back window by Kosta. I would hold his hand while he was strapped in his car seat. My sister would yell, “OK. Can you let go so I can leave?” I would have her drive away slowly, running alongside the car while holding his hand, then finally letting go and shouting down the streets of Darien, “I love you Kosta!” When the kids had fundraisers and I would order cookies or popcorn or wrapping paper I would write “Kooks” in the column labeled Name. The kids would say, “Kooks! You have to put your real name because it wants a first name AND a last name.” So I then created my last name, “Malone”. My nieces call me Kooks and my nephew calls me Kooks or just Malone.

All these names are created out of love 🤎🤎🤎

I called my mom earlier this week to see if she would be home Friday or Saturday night so the kids and I can come over and have dinner with her. We decided Saturday night would work best.

“We are coming only for dinner. OK, Muddy?”

“OK. I don’t want you to stay too long anyway. You drive me crazy.”

“No I mean I’m not coming from the morning and staying until night.” Which is what I usually do.

“I’m not going to be home anyway during the day. I’m baking at church all day and I won’t come home until 4.”

Around 4:00 I wake all three of my kids up from their afternoon naps (they didn’t nap this well when they were toddlers).

John: “Where are we going?”

Andrew: “John, you’re such an idiot! Mom has told us for the last 4 days that we are going to Muddy’s house for dinner.”

Tessie: “I can’t wait to eat Muddy’s delicious food. I don’t know what she’s making, but it’s all delicious!”

Me: “Um, Muddy isn’t cooking. She’s been baking at church all day so we’re ordering.”

Tessie: “Why don’t we go another day then when Muddy can cook us something?”

We ordered Italian for dinner. Tessie liked her dinner, but she said, “Anything Muddy would have made would have been better.” I started to gather our things and said our goodbyes before I started to drive my mom too crazy.

On my drive home I usually call my mom or one of my sisters. Today my sister called me. As I drove up to my house I stayed in the car to finish our call to avoid the interruption from the phone disconnecting from the car back to my phone. When it seemed like my sister was finishing up her thought, I opened the garage door. I told her I just pulled in and I had a lot to carry so I ended the call with a “talk to you later”.

As I looked up, I saw Andrew waiting at the door. I realized he heard the garage door open, but didn’t hear or see me for the few minutes it took me to finish my call, get the mail, and grab my bags form the car.

A memory came rushing at me from many years ago, when my boy was little and he would be waiting for me to walk through the door so we can talk and play and snuggle. 🥰

I usually eat lunch in my classroom. Most days I don’t even have a lunch to eat. Some days I work, but some days I just mindlessly check my phone or stare into space, enjoying the silence. Some days I head to the teachers’ lounge to socialize with my colleagues.

One day after lunch in the lounge, listening to conversation that I decided it was best for me to shut my mouth and listen as opposed to speak, I remembered how much I prefer the silence over annoying conversation.

That evening a text came through. Do you normally eat in your room?

Usually I don’t have lunch. LOL! But if I know you are down there, I’ll come down to see you!

I was going to say we should eat together once a week!

So once or twice a week I enjoy lunch in my classroom with my friend. We talk about our moms, our kids, and life. We try not to talk about school, work, or students. This is our time to catch up with very little silence during those 20 minutes.

I LOVE our lunch dates!