This is Absurd

This is Absurd!

I was given a link to an article about a "big 10 game" that is going peanut free, so that those with peanut allergies can enjoy going to a football game without the worries of having a reaction while there.

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/66513/absurd-big-ten-football-game-to-be-peanut-free-in-PC-deference-to-peanut-allergies/

The link is right above this... Feel free to read the article... Actually I want to encourage you to read the article before reading the rest of this blog post!


After reading the article, I read a couple of the comments below, and honestly had to start laughing. The whole thing is absurd...

1- it is absurd that people can be so insensitive to others that have food allergies, or for that matter for those that have any sort of disabilities.

2- it is absurd that people can write an article, and even comments, about something they really know nothing about.

3- it is absurd that there are kids and adults alike have food allergies, it isn't like any of us planned on having them, but we just have to deal with it.


Here is the bottom line... I can't say that I agree or disagree with this article. This is how this lady feels about a peanut free game, and she has every right to feel this way. How come she has to be restricted on something that doesn't affect her? Let's be honest... Are you insensitive to things that don't affect you? If you answered no, then you are lying to yourself, because we are all insensitive in someway to something that ends up messing things up for us. So who are we to judge her or anyone who feels this way.

I wonder if part of this had anything to do with people, parents, kids, who have put up such a stink to make sure that things happen in a way that makes it "normal" for them. My guess is, this lady has had some sort of interaction with someone with food allergies and it wasn't a pleasant one. We can all be guilty of pushing things on other people, and it can all be in the name of "doing what is best for our kids," "living a normal life or moment" "not having to worry," "being like everyone else." We are all selfish in our own way, wanting things to be "normal" for us.... And here is the deal... Everyone's normal looks different.

So what the heck am I saying? Is this lady right? No.... Are we right? Not necessarily...

At this point, some of you might think, how can you write about this topic or even give this article any of your time? Listen... I  have severe food allergies and have had them my entire life - before food allergies was even a thing... And not just one food allergy... But the top 4 categories of allergies (out of 8)... People, I have almost died from a reaction... I was subject to all of this before there was any kind of FDA restrictions, certain labeling, cross contamination, the works, so don't sit there reading this thinking that I don't understand your situation... Believe me when I say... Or don't believe me... But I get it a whole lot more than you will ever know. My parents didn't advocate for me to have all these specials things, or for all these people to bend over backwards for me. They did what they could to keep me safe, bring food to places we were going, etc, but I was treated like a normal everyday person, I just happen to also have food allergies. You ask my brothers, and they will tell you just the same thing... That was Aimee... She had to watch out for the things that she ate, but we didn't treat her any differently, she was just our sister. That's it... Now understand, I do know that there are people out there that are severely allergic to peanuts to the point that a simple smell will cause an allergic reaction (I know I have the smelling reaction as well). I am not saying that they shouldn't have peanut free games... I am all for them... I do think that it is great... But we all have to be realistic about living in society.... It isn't always going to be like that. I encountered many people, growing up who never got it, and were very insensitive to it, but guess what that is life... There are always going to be people like that.

I already know that many of you are probably ready to fire back with, well you don't know me or my child's situation... You are right, I don't, but then again, you have no idea what I went through or what my family went through without the internet or heck, even just having another family with food allergies to bounce ideas off of. It was just us dealing with it everyday. They paved the way for you... I paved the way for you... And I continue to, because I never grew out of my allergies... Why you ask... I don't know....

But sometimes I wonder, I just wonder, if it was the opportunity to write this.....

Never underestimate what someone around you has been through before you make judgements, either way... The fact is, I didn't want to live in a bubble, and I am glad that I continue to fight to live a normal life, while staying safe.... And not just living, but thriving! I sincerely hope that those with peanut allergies that are going to the game have a fantastic time, not having to worry... Believe when I say... I understand, and I am happy that they are doing that, but remember that life is never going to be fully like that, and well you just have to say ok, and continue on with an incredible journey of a lifetime living YOUR life!

Way too Long...

So it has been a really long time… WAY TOO LONG… since I have written a blog post. I have started many, but haven’t followed through with posting. But today I decided it was the day, and it is time to start blogging again!

Question you may ask? What in the world is going on in my life? Well, a lot!

Mostly it really has to do with work. Work and moving.

Work has been good, ended last year with a sweet group of kids, a lot of work, but I felt like overall they made great progress, and are ready to start a great year in Middle School this year.

At the end of May, toward the end of the school year, I found out the condo I was living in was sold, and that I had to move. I was able to find another condo closer to work. I am still getting settled, but overall I am enjoying the new place, learning new routes around the area, and the closer drive to work. I so loved living in the other place, and I will miss it, but I am so thankful for the time that I was able to be there, experience the quiet (yes quiet!) view of Atlanta, the business of the holidays and activities, and the independence and growing of myself personally.

Over the summer, I stayed extremely busy. When I say busy I mean busy. I think there was only 2 weeks in the whole summer that I didn’t have things to do.

In May I found out that I was accepted into a program that is offered to families of special needs in Georgia. It is called the GA PINES program. The PINES stands for Parent Infant Network for Educational Services. The purpose of this program is to provide early intervention services to infants and parents in their natural environment, like their home, to give the infants and parents as much support in living their lives as normally as possible. There isn’t anything normal about special needs persons, their lives are a challenge every day. I love that this program, starts early in the lives of these infants and their families to give them as much support as possible! To work with this program, I completed 2 weeks of trainings over the summer, with homework and home visits involved. It was a lot of work, but now that I have completed this, I am excited to be contracted through them as a Parent Advisor. Now I am still working at the same school in my teaching position, this is just on the side. A little over a month ago, I was given my first referral family. I have made one visit, and it went well. I will say that this new thing is going to be growing me a very personally way. I can’t imagine what these families go through on a daily basis. I only hope that I can be an encouragement to this family, and whatever families my come along my path.

I was also given the opportunity to speak to at a conference for the school system that I work with. The subject matter was on Specially Designed Instruction in special education setting. I really enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot, a whole lot. I was given some good feedback on the break out session that I did. I gave my presentation several times, and each time was with a new set of teachers, so it really kept me on my toes. I do hope that this is something I will have the opportunity to do again. It was my first time doing anything like that, and I will forever be thankful for the opportunity, no matter if it really does ever happen again.

Are you still reading? I know this is getting lengthy, so I will wrap it up soon.

Many of you have seen pictures and such on facebook or instagram of a certain guy and me together. Yes, that is my boyfriend, and his name is Kojo. He is someone that I am very proud of, and could not say enough amazing things about him. I am proud to stand by his side, as we have walked through some difficult things already together over the past year or more. Overall I am thankful for his mother. I wish I was able to meet her before her passing, but from what I know about her, Kojo is just like her. She raised him to be a respectable man, with an incredible heart. One day I will be able to thank her for her hard work all these years, and I greatly look forward to that day!

The start of another school year, and it has already been a rough one. I have some challenges that I am facing this year…. Ok… a lot of challenges. I really am trying to just take one day at a time. At this point that is all I can do. One day at a time… I think we all have those times in our lives when we have to do this, and well, this is one of those times.

I have lots of personally growing moments in my life right now, and I am thankful for them. Some days I am not as thankfully as others, but I am working really hard to be thankful, just for the simple fact that I know they are growing me more and more into the person that I was made to be.

I will leave with saying, more blogs to come… you will want to stay tuned… there is lots more to talk about in the very near future that you will not want to miss! J

Always Going,
Never Giving Up,
Trusting,
Loving,
Believing

2013 is already here!

2013 is here, already a month into it, and I cannot believe it. What will 2013 bring for you? What will it bring for me? Honestly, if it is anything like the last month, it is going to be a very crazy year. I cannot lie, it has been a rough start to the year. Nothing that I expected, but then again, life isn’t anything that we think it is going to be. We have dreams, we have hopes, we have wishes, and things we would like to happen, but the reality of life is, things happen and it is completely out of our control. What is in our control is this… attitude. We have to be willing to let go of what we think our lives are supposed to look like, and accept that we have incredible lives to live.

I have incredible friends, family, job, co-workers, and a very special person that I am very blessed to have in my life. I could focus on the things that didn’t happen in my life, or I could focus my attitude on the incredible life that I have been given to live. So for 2013, I will fall flat on my face in failure, I will walk a tight rope in what is right and wrong, and I will be given the strength to be able to rise above all of that and not only enjoy, but be humbled and blessed by every moment that comes along.

2013- Already living, already learning, already falling, already picking my self back up, already blessed, and already humbled. The way it should be! Here is to the year 2013!

Always Going,

Never Giving Up,

Trusting,

Loving,

Believing,

Aimee

An Incredible Opportunity

Something as terrible as shooting children is not just terrible, it is really unfathomable.  I have asked myself the question over the last 2 days, why someone would do this, but I know that no matter what is said we will never fully know.  I think that is what makes this so difficult, is the fact that we will never really know why. So where do we go from here?

I am not parent, but I am a teacher in an elementary school. I do not know what it feels like to lose my own child as a parent, but I know what it would feel like to lose a student from my class, and it is devastating. I know that I can speak for myself and my fellow co-workers when I say, we work long hours, we talk to you after the bell rings at 3 p.m., we listen and answer e-mails and text before the bell rings at 7:15 a.m., we prepare lessons that engage the students, we come up with activities that not only help the students learn, but are fun because we like to have fun, we think about your students after school, before school, weekends, and holidays. We know that the students’ home lives are sometimes terrible situations, and that school is their safe haven. We know that their meals sometimes just come from school, we know that the students come with very little sleep some nights and without homework, but really we do know all of that because we CARE. We care about our students from morning to night and everywhere in between. We have an incredibly difficult job, but it isn’t a job for us. We know that when we come to school the students are looking to us for stability, love, and opportunity to learn, and a sense that someone cares about them. I can speak for myself and everyone that I work with when I say that we care, more than anyone knows, we care.

I have felt incredibly burdened over the last 2 days about the whole situation. I know that something like this could happen in my classroom, you just never know. I know that come Monday my students are going to have lots of questions, and may want to know things that I can’t answer, but deep down, they are just wanting to know that they are safe.

So,

To Parents: Do not worry about sending your kids to school on Monday. Your students are cared for just like you would take care of them. We love them dearly, and would sacrifice anything to make sure that they were and are taken care of. When you are not there, we take on your role, and we know that it is a very important role, and we would never take that lightly.

To Students: We promise to you that not only will we help you learn, but we will keep you safe. We always have and we always will, because we CARE and LOVE you. You are each special, special children and gifts from God. School is your safe haven and we will always do our best to make it that. We are excited for you to come to school so that we can help teach you incredible things about life.

To Everyone: It is my hope and prayer that through all of this you are able to see the incredible job that each of us teachers have everyday. We are not just people that come in and decide that we are going to teach a lesson about adding, we teach life lessons, we solve problems, we give children hugs that may not have had a hug for days, we give children food when there may not be any around, we give them laughter when their home life is anything but, we give smiles, we give hope- hope that you can be anything that you want to be and we will help make that happen… because we love and care about each of our students. It is our job that helps make these children become doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, firefighters, physical therapists, and so much more.

So today and tonight, say a prayer for your child’s teachers, and for any teachers that you know. We are all burdened by this, and know that we have a great opportunity come Monday to calm nerves, quiet fears, and teach and love on children in a way that they need. We have an incredible “job” that we go to Monday-Friday because we care and will sacrifice to the very end.Something as terrible as shooting children is not just terrible, it is really unfathomable.  I have asked myself the question over the last 2 days, why someone would do this, but I know that no matter what is said we will never fully know.  I think that is what makes this so difficult, is the fact that we will never really know why. So where do we go from here?

I am not parent, but I am a teacher in an elementary school. I do not know what it feels like to lose my own child as a parent, but I know what it would feel like to lose a student from my class, and it is devastating. I know that I can speak for myself and my fellow co-workers when I say, we work long hours, we talk to you after the bell rings at 3 p.m., we listen and answer e-mails and text before the bell rings at 7:15 a.m., we prepare lessons that engage the students, we come up with activities that not only help the students learn, but are fun because we like to have fun, we think about your students after school, before school, weekends, and holidays. We know that the students’ home lives are sometimes terrible situations, and that school is their safe haven. We know that their meals sometimes just come from school, we know that the students come with very little sleep some nights and without homework, but really we do know all of that because we CARE. We care about our students from morning to night and everywhere in between. We have an incredibly difficult job, but it isn’t a job for us. We know that when we come to school the students are looking to us for stability, love, and opportunity to learn, and a sense that someone cares about them. I can speak for myself and everyone that I work with when I say that we care, more than anyone knows, we care.

I have felt incredibly burdened over the last 2 days about the whole situation. I know that something like this could happen in my classroom, you just never know. I know that come Monday my students are going to have lots of questions, and may want to know things that I can’t answer, but deep down, they are just wanting to know that they are safe.

So,

To Parents: Do not worry about sending your kids to school on Monday. Your students are cared for just like you would take care of them. We love them dearly, and would sacrifice anything to make sure that they were and are taken care of. When you are not there, we take on your role, and we know that it is a very important role, and we would never take that lightly.

To Students: We promise to you that not only will we help you learn, but we will keep you safe. We always have and we always will, because we CARE and LOVE you. You are each special, special children and gifts from God. School is your safe haven and we will always do our best to make it that. We are excited for you to come to school so that we can help teach you incredible things about life.

To Everyone: It is my hope and prayer that through all of this you are able to see the incredible job that each of us teachers have everyday. We are not just people that come in and decide that we are going to teach a lesson about adding, we teach life lessons, we solve problems, we give children hugs that may not have had a hug for days, we give children food when there may not be any around, we give them laughter when their home life is anything but, we give smiles, we give hope- hope that you can be anything that you want to be and we will help make that happen… because we love and care about each of our students. It is our job that helps make these children become doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, firefighters, physical therapists, and so much more.

So today and tonight, say a prayer for your child’s teachers, and for any teachers that you know. We are all burdened by this, and know that we have a great opportunity come Monday to calm nerves, quiet fears, and teach and love on children in a way that they need. We have an incredible “job” that we go to Monday-Friday because we care and will sacrifice to the very end.

So Close, Yet So Far

So Close, Yet So Far

We all go through times in our lives that we feel we are just spinning our wheels. When you look at those times, doesn’t it seem like that is when we have the most going on?

I don’t know about you, but I have felt like that many times… more times than I want to count. It seems like the times that I feel this way are when I know what I have to do, but it gets close to the end and I almost freeze. I am not sure what it is… fear, pressure, or something else. I think that maybe it is a little of all of it, but I think what it ultimately comes down to is the fear of the unknown. Now, understand I am not necessarily talking about everyday things that you have to accomplish, but the bigger goals and opportunities that come in life. I think we get close to finishing something, but in a way it just feels like it will never happen, or it will never be what we think it might be, so we just quit it.

Believe me when I say, that I am saying this, okay maybe screaming this, at myself right now. I know that I have some things in my life that I am so close to finishing, and I just have to put my mind to it. I think part of the reason that I stall is just the fear of the unknown of what will come next when the things that I have actually started end up finishing- Especially those potentially life changing things.

So here is to being so close, feeling so far, but knowing that all you and I need to do is finish strong. And most importantly, believe that there are incredible things in store once we think something is finishing… a new thing is always beginning... The funny thing is, the new beginning many times involves what we think is finishing.

Always Going,

Never Giving Up,

Trusting,

Loving,

Believing,

Aimee

Grateful 10-13

I had to go ahead and post my gratefulness for this week. My heart seems to be overflowing. To be honest, I was a little skeptical about this whole thing, but as the week went on, I realized that it has made me really stop and think about my day. Also to be thankful for not just the obvious things, but for things that I may have never stopped to be thankful for before.

Monday- soy chai latte from Starbucks (because it was a rough start to a Monday morning)

Tuesday- listening to Michael tell stories and annoying me over dinner

Wednesday- Weights (so I can work out! J)

Thursday- Unexpected gift of thoughtfulness

Friday- talks with my sweet co-worker

Saturday- laughter

Always Going

Never Giving Up,

Trusting,

Loving,

Believing,

Aimee

Grateful

Grateful...

I was flipping through channels today and came across an interview that Oprah was conducting with someone, that I honestly can say I have no idea who they were. I didn't watch long, but one thing that caught my attention was the fact that she talked about journaling. I am a huge fan of journaling, and wondered what she was going to say. She said that for awhile everyday she would write in her journal one thing that she was thankful for that day. It could have been a note, phone call, hug, kiss, or something simple like a particular food that turned out just how she liked it! I thought about this for a moment, and really, I know that people will do things like this during the thanksgiving season, but what if it was something that was started now.

I guess the reason that this really struck me was because I just feel like I have had a terrible out look on life recently. I know that I haven't had the greatest of attitudes, and well, I have had a good reason why, but it still doesn't change the fact that you can't stay there. You can't stay in that place. I can't stay in that place.

So I decided that this is something that I need to start doing. My life is not perfect, and well some days it would just be easier to complain, but I really need to think about the things that I am thankful for. I told my kids that there are low words and high words in my book, and I am thinking that thankful is a lower word, so I came across grateful... I think I will use grateful from here on out... Now lets be honest, I will not be doing this everyday, but I think that if I can keep track of things and update every week, it would really let me look back on each year of my life, especially during the hard times, and to see all the goodness going on in my life...

So to start I will list lots of things, just because I am kind of behind... :)

My new place,
the incredible view every night,
girl time,
being held in a way that lets you know that you are not alone,
A day full of nothing but hanging out,
laying by the pool,
a new family with the best little girl that I get to just be there for and understand what she is going through,
A job,
chinese food from publix right next to my new place!,
permanent reminders that there is a plan,
boxing gloves,
cool air,
washer and dryer,
brother time,
pillows,
exercise,
Oreos,
time,
the opportunity to be patient,
blankets,
writing,
teaching,
learning,
opportunity to make an impact,
loving on people,
family,
Friends,
Barbecues,
Transportation,
time at the beach,
opportunity to live life

Yes, this is a lot, but I felt that I was a month behind, so there are 30 for the past 30 days, and one extra for today...

Always Going
Never Giving Up,
Trusting,
Loving,
Believing,

Aimee