Five Question Friday

Another week comes to a close – they just don’t go any slower do they. Especially when every day you have to go through the days to come with your five-year-old. So very often we have the following conversation:
Liam: What’s going on/what are we doing tomorrow?
Me: It’s a kindergarten day…
Liam: And then after that, what?
Me: It’s a stay at home day/MOPS day/soccer practice day.
Liam: And then after that, how many days until [fill in the blank with some highly anticipated thing]?
Me: It’s one day less than what I told you yesterday OR the same as I told you 30 minutes ago…
Repeat, ad nauseum, daily. And now he’s adding holidays into the mix because he knows Halloween is coming next month, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Sometimes I relate time in a day to how many Nick Jr. shows it would be, e.g., if we have to leave in an hour, that’s 2 Nick Jr. shows – he seems to get this concept. But yesterday he asked, how many Nick Jr. shows it is until Halloween. And for a minute, I tried to do the math… approximately 48 Nick Jr. shows in a day x 7 days in a week x 6 (or so) weeks… then I just replied, “A lot.” Does everyone’s kid need to have an explanation of what is coming up? I feel like some kids just don’t keep track, but Liam sure does…

This weekend is a weekend he’s been asking about for a while, the boy’s football weekend. Each year, the men on my side of the family who are able, pick an out-of-town MSU football game and all go there for the weekend. The rule became, when you turn five, you get to go on the weekend and Liam is finally five so he gets to go! A mother rejoices (but I’ll really be rejoicing in three years when both boys can go – I imagine this will be the first time since I got married that I will be in my house, alone for more than a few hours). While the boys enjoy a little football fun, Jack and I are heading to my parent’s house to hang out with my mom and (hopefully) other family. I hope to sleep – these are my plans for the weekend.

1. If you had a weekly newspaper column, what would you name it?
This, that and the other thing. Because I doubt I could ever stay on one topic.

2. Who is your mentor/inspiration?
Gah… I really don’t think I have one specific person to pick for this. I don’t know what that says about me, but I just don’t. If I had opted to go into teaching (which, let’s face it, was never a remote possibility), I would pick a teacher I had for two years in middle school who I have continued to stay in touch with over the years, though not as often as I would like. Mr. Small was and ever will be the best teacher I ever had, he was also the hardest with the highest expectations and I loved that because he challenged us and demanded our respect and we loved him for it. So many teachers take the easy road or try to be a friend and not a teacher or let students get away with too much, but never Mr. Small and yet, we all ended up wanting to be his friend after we were done with his classes. Of all the classes I have taken, I have so many more memories from his two than all the rest combined and that speaks volumes to what we learned and experienced. I will have to find the story I wrote set in medieval times (he taught History and sometimes English) that I had to research and write for his class, it featured a birth scene; a birth scene written by an eighth grader which I can only imagine was super accurate. We also held an annual medieval/European fair where we featured food from around Europe and performed works from Shakespeare (the group I was in did an updated version of Hamlet where in the duel scene, an HIV-infected hypodermic needle is used instead of the poisoned sword – it was surprisingly hilarious). I could go on and on, but it’s really interesting only to those of us who were in those classes. During our senior year in high school we got the chance to honor him at a ceremony called Presentation of the Roses where we gave roses to the people in our lives who had made a positive impact – parents, teachers, mentors, etc… I forget how many of us there were, but a fair number listed Mr. Small and thinking about that moment now makes me tear up – he was/is as good as it gets. Had I ever gone into teaching, he would have been the role model I followed. It should also be noted that his wife was a pretty awesome teacher in her own right, but you don’t have the same experiences in a math class as you do in history and English (though I do recall one funny incident when I had a pretty bad, barking cough and she asked me if it was a smoker’s cough which still makes me laugh to think about since I was in seventh grade and horrified at the suggestion).

3. What is your wake up beverage of choice?
When I first wake up, I always have two glasses of water from the tap, but after that, I need coffee or Diet Coke, but most typically coffee that my lovely husband makes, unless he’s feeling passive aggressive, then I have to make it.

4. Would you wear your mom’s clothes?
If I had to, sure, but typically, not so much – she is 42 years older than me, I think it goes without saying that are tastes are somewhat different. She’ll ask me if I like something and often I’ll say, “I like it for you.” I’m a bit of a brat but too often if I say I like something, then she’ll get me something similar which I won’t end up wearing so I’ve learned to just be honest.

5. When you were a kid, did you put posters on your wall? If so, what were they of?
Oh yes. In elementary school, the posters were of kittens and puppies – all from Scholastic. Then I moved on to Kirk Cameron and New Kids on the Block. In college I had Leonardo DiCaprio from Romeo and Juliet (LOVED that movie) and an inspirational poster I got for graduation from my cousin and his wife. My roomie had a poster of a very nice house with three expensive cars in the garage that said, “Justification for higher education.” Kara, if you’re reading this, which you are not, I hated that poster but I love you!