Decisions, Decisions

Well I made one of the hardest decisions in my entire life last week....

I have officially accepted a job at Bushland High School next year (I haven't signed a contract yet....waiting for the board meeting on the 15th). It was all a really quick deal and I was totally not expecting it.

I had already decided that I was going to stay at Road. I checked out the job board (every coach is always "looking") but never saw anything that I was really interested in pursuing and I really love my staff at RR. The Friday of graduation (2 weeks ago), Coach Greeson and I went and ate lunch after we got out at noon. She asked if I was staying and I told her yes. So we go home and I decide to take a quick nap before getting ready for graduation. At 4 I get a text from Coach Rhodes (Bushland boys basketball coach--who I know pretty well) that the training job at Falcon nation is open. I wasn't too surprised as he had told me that it might open up previously. I told him I would look into it, but not much else. So of course I call my dad to talk about it and what not, then I get ready for graduation. Well I've got no one to tell....so I finally find Greeson and tell her that the job is open....and she hates me. (We have a weird relationship.) I share with a few others that night and go about my business. So throughout the weekend I talk to some people, etc. and I hear that there have been 2 names mentioned for the job and I am one of them. So Monday afternoon I call Coach Flowers (Bushland AD) and ask about the job. He tells me to come over Tuesday. Going in, I had no idea if it was a formal interview or if I was just going over to find out some details. Well it was a formal interview and I did great---granted I already know most of the staff. It's an athletic training position and they are adding sports medicine classes next year, so I would teach 2 of those. I tell Coach Flowers I would really like to coach basketball and he agrees that he could work that out. So we finish talking and go to the superintendent's office and he discovers that I teach math and he is super excited. (One word of advice....if you want a job anyone in Texas, get Secondary Math certified...it's not an easy test by any means, but you can basically pick where you want to live and superintendents & principals LOVE you.) So he tells me they might use me in math as well. So things go great and I head home. I cry nearly the whole night Tuesday. I am so emtionally torn on what to do I really couldn't even think rationally. I talk to several different people on the phone...yell at my mom becuase I'm emotionally drained....apologize and cry some more. Finally give up and go to bed.

Wednesday was kind of a blur. I was just trying to hold it together most of the day and consider all the pros and cons. I talk to Bryan....cry in his office (I'm pretty certain that made him uncomfortable and he really didn't know what to think)...and continue to just be a basketcase. Thursday was much better. I finally had made a pro/con list that focused more on the positive than the negatives and put my emotions aside and looked at the facts. I had a wonderful talk to with Angela and finally felt like I was leaning towards a decision. Friday I felt so at peace. I called Coach Flowers in the afternoon, but he didn't answer so I left him a message saying that I would accept the job if they offered (this all goes back to my interview...left out those details). He called me back about an hour later (in the middle of his golf game...gotta find out tee times in the future) and said the job was mine.

Calling Bryan and Angela to tell them I had accepted the job was one of the hardest things ever. (And now I'm crying again as I type this.) They were somewhat expecting it, but it was still hard. I have been so blessed to work with such an amazing staff this year and have learned so much from them. They have truly become my family and I will miss each of them for different reasons. We went through so much together this year, I'm not sure how I will survive without them. No matter how our football games were going this year, I could always find a way to make Bryan smile or laugh. One game in particular was the Fritch game when it hadn't started out as our greatest game and we had an interesting halftime to say the least. Everyone was on edge, but walking out to the field I made some smart comment and all he could do was laugh. Well he repayed me...I remember sitting in his office last Wednesday crying and saying, "It's sooo hard to decide what to do. I'm a horrible decision maker, I don't even like to decide what I am going to wear to school each day" And Bryan looks at me and says, "It's not a big decision or anything....it's just your life." I instantly bust out laughing. Needless to say, it's these little things that I will miss the most. I have developed so many great relationships with my athletes, it is so hard to leave them. Especially because I am the 4th athletic trainer River Road has had in 4 years. I feel like I am abandoning them :( The good thing is that I will still get to see them quite often. We are just across town and in the same district in everything (did I mention they are big rivals???). Weeks that we play each other will be hard, but I will never forget all that they taught me while at Road. As Greeson told me, "The Road Goes on Forever...."

So there it is....I'm now a Falcon (after finishing up a few more things at Road). I truly feel like it is the best situation for me, especially in a long term aspect.

Along those line....the Bushland baseball team has done an amazing job.....they've only lost 5 games all year (and one was to RR) and are headed to the state tournament in Austin next week. So proud of my future team :)

A Quick Update

Wow....a lot has happened since my last post. I'll just go with a quick list to catch you up.

--Spent the weekend after district track with my parents for mine & mom's birthday dinner. It was so good just to eat, talk and catch up with my parents.

--Spent a weekend with the Bezners & Van Beeks' in Dalhart. I love both of those families so much and I got to play with Nater! Jenny & I taught him to sit up Sunday afternoon while his momma was working. We were pretty proud and according to JJ he loves to do it all the time now.

--Went to Lubbock for the weekend to watch the Mizzou-Tech baseball series. Mizzou won Friday nigth in 11 innings, Tech won on Saturday, I missed Sunday's game, but Tech won that one as well. It was soooo great to hang out with Katie & Matt over the weekend. Matt is the Mizzou baseball trainer and was one of my good friends while I was up there. I really miss sharing an office with him, as every day was a new adventure and there was NEVER a dull moment.

--Regional track was fun. The girls made it to the finals in the 800 relay, the first time in 5 years anyone has advanced to the finals so we were really proud of them. None of the boys relays' made it to the finals, but Chris did in the 100. He ended up 5th overall. Tony ran well and placed in the top 10. Jordan did AMAZING. Sorry gotta insert a story. I really need to add the video as well. There were 3 vaulters left and Jordan was sitting 3rd on misses (the top 2 go go to state). Well he was vaulting 2nd of the 3 vaulters and they were at 15'. Now Jordan had cleared 14'6 for the first time in a meet just previously and he was on his 3rd attempt at 15'. It was do or die...clear and go to Austin (the Cisco kid had missed 15' all 3 times...Spearman kid still had a 3rd vault) or miss and pack your bags and head home. Well HE CLEARED!!! The Spearman kid (who Jordan beat out at district on misses as well) missed his 3rd attempt, so Jordan went from 3rd to 1st in one vault. It's kinda crazy how quickly the tables can turn. So he qualified for state.

--Baseball ened up 3rd and played Tulia in the first round of the playoffs. Talk about mixed emotions. We ended up losing in 3. :( Tulia won game 1 5-2, we won game 2 3-2, Tulia won game 3 1-0. It was some of the best high school baseball I have ever seen. Tulia's baseball coach is one of my best guy friends. We went to school together from 4th grade on and have remained very close since then. I told Tate (Tulia coach) that if we were going to have to lose to somebody it might as well be my best friend and alma mater. I still hated to see our guys lose and even shed a few tears. That same weekend Ewell & Blake both graduated from WT, so they had a graduation cookout. It was very nice to see all the Adams family and hang out like old times.

--STATE TRACK MEET was GREAT! I got to go down with Jordan and watch him vault and so many others run. Jordan didn't have his best day but finished 5th clearing 14'. I saw a lot of coaches that I miss so much. I ran into Grissom & Sharon and got to catch up with them. It has been several years since I had seen Grissom, and I assure you...he hasn't changed a bit. I was very upset to find out that he was at our regional track meet because he was coaching the Cisco hurdlers this year---like I said, he hasn't changed....he'll never fully give up coaching track. The Hamlin girl that I know through the twins won the 800 for the 3rd year in a row....going for her 4th and final next year. The Thornberry twins were there...Amber ran on the mile relay and Ashlen was an alternate...they finished 4th. Sunray girls were also there in the mile relay so it was great to see Coach Hartman, Ryan, Ruby and several of the other girls. Keith's girls were there too. Keith is one of my state tournament buddies. He is one of Cooke's good friends and I have sat with him for years at games and then he is in the suite with us. He has 3 daughters and 2 of them were running at state. Payton is a senior and won the 800 for the 3rd year in a row. I have been dying to watch her run and finally got to this year. Payton & Kambrie both ran on the mile relay and they finished 7th. I got to see several new state records and a lot of good track. If you've never been to the Texas State Track Meet, I suggest you check it out. It's way addicting. I had a GREAT time with the Yankovich family and am so glad they let me tag along. I am so super proud of Jordan. He's been through a lot this past year. He wasn't able to pole vault last year because he broke his back while at Tascosa. Then he moved to River Road when his dad got the basketball job and started football. He is the one that tore his ACL in the first district game, so he didn't really feel like he contributed much to the success in football, then he missed all of basketball season except the last 2 district games....and holy cow I wish we would have had him all year. He made a huge impact on the team, so he missed that whole season, so this year track was his thing and he did and AMAZING job at pole vault. I am so excited to watch him next year in all sports.

--Graduation was this Friday. We have what is called "flex" and early promotion. All the seniors as well as all other students that have passed all their classes, passed their TAKS test and don't have an attendance problem are done with school. Everyone else had 9 more days. It's pretty crazy and I'm not really sure I understand the idea behind it or like it. Basically we take all the "smart" kids out and are expected to "babysit" the others for 2 weeks. Oh well, I'll smile and trudge on through the next 9 days. I am so proud of myself for not crying at graduation. Several of the senior boys are like sons to me and I am so excited for them to graduate, but at the same time, sad to see them go. Luckily for me, most of them are staying around here, so I will get to see them every once in a while.

This is the first weekend in a while I haven't had plans of going out of town. It was actually pretty nice to have nothing planned, however I was WIDE AWAKE at 7:30 this morning. So I finally gave up sleeping at about 8 and got up and went and watched our varsity girls play basketball. I watched 3 of their games then decided to go watch Coach Greeson & Coach Upchurch's sons play baseball. They are both 5 and play coach pitch. They are soooooo cute and fun to watch. They lost tonight by 1 run.

Well that's all....I'm headed to bed :)

Regional Bound

Well we are Regional Track bound!!!! I am soooo excited and proud of our kids.

We started out the day with the kids we thought would make running finals did, with a few surprises. Field events went ok. My high jump girl was in a 4 way tie for 3rd place, but didn't win the jump off to go to regionals. She jumped pretty well though. Kallie qualified for pole vault placing 3rd and Kaci advanced in discus placing 2nd! So proud of those girls. Neither of my boys did as well as they or I would have like them to do. Kristian didn't place and Travis ended up 5th. Baza ended up 4th in one of the throwing events (don't remember which, shot I think) and Jordan is the top qualifier in the region for Pole Vault!!!!

Then running finals started. The sprint relay went well. The girls placed 2nd and the boys finished 3rd, so the both advance to regionals. Then came the 800. I was pretty confident about getting Betty & Tony both out. Then distaster struck. Betty was running a GREAT race...she was 2nd at the break and was holding strong at 2nd-3rd throughout the entire lap, then at the last curve of the first lap she got tangled up in a group and fell. She got up and was in tears when she got to me close to the start/finish line, I told her to keep going, then turned to my head coach and said I was just going to have her stride to finish, becuase I could tell she was hurting and she still had to run the mile relay. So I run across the field and meet her on the other side and just tell her to stride and finish. None of my girls ended up placing, but I was very proud of the way they ran. So then it's the boy's turn. Tony is running a great race, not leading or in 2nd like I am used to, but he is right on pace. He kicks when I need him to and coming down the home stretch he is in perfect position to end up 2nd. A Bushland kid is in the clear lead and another is in 2nd and the last one right beside him. Well Bushland kid C, goes to pass Bushland kid B on the right in lane 2. Bushland kid B is running on the very outside of lane 1, so there is PLENTY of room for Tony to pass on the inside. I am yelling and jumping like crazy for Tony to finish. Just as Bushland kid C passes kid B, he looks to his right....the next thing I know all 3 of them are even with me and Tony is rolling off the track. He lands right in front of me and I remember just yelling at him to get up and finish. Well he ends up finishing 4th and I am CRUSHED. I go check on him and tell him good job and begin walking back to the bus to check on Betty and wrap one fo my girl's hamstrings. On my way back down the track, I meet several of our boys and they say, "What are they going to do?" I say what are y'all talking about, and they reply, "That kid shoved Tony off the track." I reply, "Seriously???" cause I never saw it. Then I realize nearly every one of our coaches are headed towards the finish line. I turn around and see my boys' head track coach, my athletic director, 2 Bushland coaches and the meet director talking. I walk up and one Bushland coach says that the other Bushland coach saw him shove Tony off the track. Our coaches say they saw it and then the meet director says he was standing next to the AD that was hosting the district meet and he saw it. He then says the Bushland kid would be disqualified and Tony was in. I was SOOOOOO EXCITED. Then I had to find Tony. I had NO IDEA where he went, so then I went on the great adventure. I finally found him and told him he was in. I felt like I had finally succeeded. Before I found all of this out, I was ready to just go to the bus for the rest of the meet. I was still upset that Betty hadn't qualified, but felt a lot better with Tony getting out. The rest of the day went pretty well. Chris got 2nd in the 100. Our boys 800 relay team was edged out by Bushland by .05 of a second, but our girls beat Panhandle by .02 of a second. Thank goodness Taylor leaned!! Sheldyn didn't get out in the hurdles :( but Tony qualifed 3rd in the mile. (He by far didn't run his fastest time, but ran well enough to get in. He was pretty sore from his tumble before.) Our boys ran an exciting mile relay and won it. Coach Pointer has checked regional times and we are 3rd going in. Top 2 advance to state so we gotta run well to get in. Our girls didn't run their best splits and ended up 4th :(

Anyways, I am super excited for all of the kids that qualified and am looking forward to a great time in Odessa. We are middle of the pack in most of the boys stuff except for Jordan in pole vault and the mile relay. I am not sure about the girls. I would think that we will be middle of the pack for most things. I am just so excited to get down to Odessa and see how they do.

Spring Break Adventure

It's my favorite time of the year. The state basketball tournament followed by spring break.

The state basketball tournament has been one of my favorite vacations since 8th grade. (Background information on my family & the state tournament click here.) My dad has been to every state tournament since 1975. I've only missed 2 in the last 14 years. I LOVE IT!! I left school Wednesday at 2 and we headed to Austin. It was a great 3 days of hanging out with some of my favorite people. It's really a shame that I only see some of them 1-2 times a year. Sunday we drove back to Tulia.

About 3 weeks ago I got 2 new tires and new brake pads on my car so it would be ready for my adventure to Missouri. The day before we left for Austin a belt on my car starting squealing TERRIBLY. Wednesday when I pulled into my parents' garage my mom could hear it all the way across the house. She got concerned. She sprayed some WD-40 on it and we headed south. Sunday when we got home I started the car and it was awful, so she said, you aren't taking that to Missouri...put everything back in my car. So being the smart kid that I am, I grab my gate key to my apartment, load everything up and head towards Amarillo. I am exhuasted, still have to do some laundry, pack and also get some sleep--as I planned to leave between 6-7am the next morning to get to Emily & Kyle's house for supper. Well as I am exiting off the interstate in Amarillo, I realize, I have a gate key, but all of my apartment keys are in Tulia. GREAT!! So I call my mom hoping she has a key in her car, nope...it's in her purse in Tulia. So I turn around and head back south and she heads north to meet me. An hour later I finally get back to Amarillo and to my apartment. I didn't get near the sleep I wanted to, but I got up around 5, showered and headed out the door.

I made great time to Granite City, IL. Emily cooked a wonderful supper and we hung out for the rest of the night. It was so nice to see her and Kyle. Tuesday I slept in a little and headed to Alton to have lunch with Em. I ran a few errands then headed up to school to hang out with Emily a little more before she headed to Indianapolis for a PE teachers conference. They were in the middle of her intramurals periods, so I got to meet several of her favorites. They were pretty humorous to say the least. Afterwards we headed back to Granite, made a stop at State Beauty and then I headed west to CoMo.

I had a GREAT time in CoMo. It was so great to see everyone. Spending 3 days with Tara made us both realize how much we miss each other....and truly relied on each other so much. Tuesday night I went to see the Hairstons and delivered birthday presents. It amazes me how much Harper & Reid have grown. Wednesday & Thursday I hung out at the training room most of the day. I had a great time seeing all the athletes that I use to spend EVERY day with. Wednesday night Casey & Neisha fixed an amazing dinner of steak, baked sweet potatoes and corn. It was sooo good. After that Tara and I headed to the Deuce for some St. Patty's Day festivities. Thursday nigth we went to the Mizzou-North Dakota baseball game. We actually left in the middle of the 5th inning, when the Tigers were up 14-3. The 3rd inning was pretty amazing, scoring 11 runs. It was so good to see the boys play. It was a little odd though becuase there are 21 newcomers, it felt like a WHOLE new team. We decided dinner at Tequila's was a must and invited Casey & Neisha to go with us since they were kidless. After that we headed to the Deuce for a relaxing evening with our favorite "Deuce friends." Being there Thursday night made me realize how much I hate holidays at the Deuce becuase people come out of the woodwork to hang out, but Thursday night was back to our favorite place to hang out, "where everybody knows your name."

1693 miles later I made it back to Amarillo. (This doesn't include the Austin trip, just Amarillo to the MidWest.) Although I didn't get to see everyone that I would have liked in CoMo, it was sooo good to see the ones that I did. There are so many things I miss about the MidWest that I didn't realize. It's amazing how much I am torn between home and the MidWest. Both have so many pros, but with the major con that I am so far away from so many friends and family members. Maybe I should move to Tulsa...it's the halfway point. HAHAHA TOTALLY KIDDING!!!! Then I would just be stuck in the middle with NO ONE.

Alrighty, I gotta do a few things before bed. Sorry I don't have any picutres. I amazingly didn't take ANY. Shocking I know. Have a great week!!!!!

Venting

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will probably start reading this and think, "Brooke, drop it....." but I am very passionate about what I do and you all know that when I do something, I tackle it with everything....I'm a perfectionist and accept nothing less than the best. But here lately, my teaching job has truly been a challenge.

I just don't understand how so many kids just flat out DON'T CARE. For example, not last Wednesday but the Wednesday before I gave all my geometry classes a test review and they worked on it in class. Every once in a while I will just change the title to Test instead of Test Review, but I informed my students this wouldn't be the case this time, but that it would be VERY similar, so if they didn't understand a problem to be sure and ask. Well needless to say...some asked questions, most did not. I took up their test reviews and took a grade on them. Now mind you on Wednesday when they finished their test reviews I offered to check their answers...so this should have been an easy easy 100. Well at least 10 didn't even turn in their reviews, so that's their first 0. Whatever, waste your time, I'm giving you the opportunity to raise your average and you won't even TURN IT IN (frustration #1). I have threatened to quit giving reviews, but then I think, I punish those who actually DO their review, STUDY their review, and NEED that review to pass my class; so I continue to make test reviews and spend a class period working on them. Thursday rolls around and it's test day. I begin grading their tests and OH MY...they either made a 85 and above or a 15 and below. We just spent 2 WEEKS on this topic, yes 2 weeks....how could you possibly not get more than 3 out of 20 questions right. I wrote the test and test review. When writing the test, I took the test review and put in the exact same questions, only changing the numbers (i.e. 5 to 6, 12 to 32), nonetheless it doesn't change how you do the problem, only the answer and then I also changed the order in which the questions appeared. They all should have easily made at least a 50, good grief, half of them all you had to do was draw a picture. As the day progressed I became more and more frustrated. I ended up with 9 zeros on the test. I had 4 students tell me they didn't know how to do it, write a 0 on top of their test and turn it in. How do you not even try and exactly what have you been doing the past two weeks. After grading their tests, I began grading their test reviews. I couldn't believe how horribly half of my students had done on their test. I became even more angry while grading their test reviews. How in the world do you make a 100 on your test review but a 0 on your test.....oh wait, you copied someone else. Friday's class began with a griping session. I was NOT HAPPY to say the least. Yes, it was a difficult topic, that's why I spent two weeks on it. I could go blue in the face saying, if you don't understand ASK....but those who really don't understand never ask. How in the world can my special ed kids make 90+ on their test and those of you who are perfectly capable of doing everything make a 0....oh wait you don't try. I JUST DON'T GET IT.....I even asked for suggestions of how I can be a better teacher or help them learn. One suggestion was, "Well we have done this for so long, maybe we have gotten bored with the topic." I nearly lost it on this comment....mainly because the student who suggested this had only turned in 1-2 of the worksheets out of about the 7 we had done. I replied "Well I'm sorry, do you want me to just teach it one day, do a worksheet then move on? Because that's not happening. It has taken over half of my students this two weeks to actually understand what we are doing.....and I don't understand how you tell me you have gotten 'bored' with the topic when you haven't even DONE it." Yes I was a little blunt, but I was beyond frustrated by this class period. This is a student who I have daily struggles with and he always thinks I am wrong and he is right. I exchange e-mails with his mother at least every other week, if not every week and I told her what I said. I told her I was blunt and she was not upset at all. She was actually thankful.

We have moved onto another topic and it is much easier so hopefully the test grades will be better. We are doing a test review on Monday and taking a test on Tuesday....SURELY the grades will be better this time. Otherwise I may be looking for a career change....ugh....I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!

So...that's my venting for the night.

2 MONTHS???

Holy cow, I can't believe it's been 2 months since I have posted. Needless to say I have been a tad bit busy. When I have had time to blog, I haven't had a computer, as it made a trip to the Dell Depot to get fixed. I am back however in the technological world with a "fixed" computer and new phone--long story & lots of money :(

Basketball season for the girls is officially over. Last night was our last game and the boys have 2 left. We definitely didn't have the season we would have liked to have by any means, but I guess you will have down years. My JV really has improved throughout the season. We finished the year 9-18. We did finish with back-to-back wins over Bushland and Sanford-Fritch so that was exciting. Now it's on to track/baseball/softball/golf. I am an assistant track coach and in charge of the long distance runners and high jumpers. I will be the first one to say I have NO IDEA about high jump. We used to play on the mats all the time when I was little and I did it beofre actually getting into track in JH, but other than jump high and make sure your butt clears the bar, I am clueless. Oh well, gotta get experience some how.

Outside of school I have no life. Boring I know...but I haven't had much time for entertainment. I am super excited for the basketball playoffs and going to watch some great games. I absolutely love going to the state basketball tournament and we should have a suite again this year so I am excited about spending 3 days with a great group of people in Austin. Can't wait!!!

I do hope to make a trip to Missouri before too long. I miss my sister & Kyle and all my friends in CoMo. Before too long school will be out and it will be time for summer workouts, weddings, camps, and a trip to Chicago!

I hope everyone is doing great. I really plan to be better about updating my blog!

Tech vs Baylor at Cowboy Stadium

Well after Melissa talking trash to me most of the game because not only was Tech losing to Baylor, but my Tigers were also losing to kansas, the tides turned and both (Tech & Mizzou) were victorious!!!! The Tech-Baylor game was definitely an ugly one, but I am so glad the Red Raiders pulled out the win. The Cowboys Stadium is AMAZING!! Holy cow that thing is huge. We were up in the top section, but didn't have bad seats at all. We took Mom's camera into the game so I don't have any pictures from inside, but here are a few after the game while we were waiting for the traffic to clear out.

Cowboy Stadium -- "Jerry World"

Mom, Dad & Me after the game

A sweet lady walked by and offered to take a picture of us.

Overall my Thanksgiving weekend was pretty good. I really would have liked to have gone 3-0 with my football teams for the weekend but you can't complain about 2-1, especially with the Mizzou game ending with a game winning field goal over ku. MIZ-ZOU.....Wreck 'Em Tech!