Going Away

I plan to leave tomorrow after school to ride with Wesley (our principal) to Shawnee, KS, in the Kansas City area. We're headed to my sister Carol's house to spend the night, and then plan to attend a workshop the next day in nearby Overland Park.

Excellence in Writing (EIW) is the name of the organization the workshop presenter is associated with. Both Wesley and I have been very favorably impressed with the writing approach we've learned about in shorter workshops by a presenter from EIW at the Christian Schools conference we've been attending once a year. It quantifies and makes "grade-able" a lot of writing techniques that most competent writers have learned by instinct. People whose instincts are missing can still be taught these techniques, however, and that's what we hope to learn all about--in order to provide more substantive and accessible help to our students.

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If the 100% chance of rain tomorrow night materializes, and the 90% chance on Friday, as well, we'll be greeted by a soggy world when we return Friday evening. Despite how it might slow down our travels, we're relishing the prospect.

We've had many days of bright sunny weather, with temperatures in the upper fifties to the mid-sixties. While these kinds of days are very pleasant, we're still in great need of more moisture. I think our students are tuned in enough to the outdoor environment not to complain about rain, even though it would put an end to their happy times at the picnic tables outside--eating or studying.

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In the early 1980s Wesley and Carol were both working in Washington, D.C. at the same time, so they already have interacted as adults. Wesley's wife Jean Ann is a first cousin to Carol and me.

All of us wish Carol's husband Roberto could be at home when we plan to be there. He's off to San Antonio, on one of many trips required by his job as the Director of Hispanic Missions (Ministries?) for the Nazarene denomination.

An occasion like this would have been hard to imagine as few as ten years ago. At that time, Wesley was living in Ohio and Carol in Maryland. But now all of us are in our fifties and have, by circuitous routes gravitated to Kansas where we were born.