On My Mind This Week...

Rain:  It rains at least once a week here and I'm so thankful for it.  Meanwhile, my home state is literally burning up.  One million acres and counting burned.  Temperatures in the 90s, high winds, no rain.  I've always had a hard time complaining about rain - even during monsoon season in Korea.  I think this must be why.

Entertaining our guests:  A morning at the beach, a visit to a lighthouse, Old Towne Trolley tour through D.C., dominoes, Uno and water gun wars.

A variety of blog entries I discovered through a friend's blog about choosing not to have kids and people's insistence on asking about others' reproductive plans (there are whole blogs dedicated to defending this lifestyle choice - who knew?).  Of course, we all know I do believe people ask inappropriate questions about and provide insensitive commentary on others' plans to have or not to have children.  But these bloggers also posit that we live in a child-centric society that sees women as incomplete if they do not become mothers.  While I agree that women suffer from more pressure than men to become parents, anyone who's ever boarded a plane with a preschooler to the withering looks of aisle after aisle of fellow passengers knows we absolutely do not live in a child-centric society.  What do you think?

Public education:  What is its future and how do I fit in it?  Will be reading this book in preparation for the education classes that start this summer.  Can I be the kind of high school English teacher the system - and the kids in it - need to make a difference?

Happy Easter!