When people ask me what I do, and I tell them I am a high school English teacher, they often tell me that they could never do it... the working with teenagers part. Teenagers, as a whole, get such a bad reputation. And after a week like this one, I just know that the perception of teenagers is completely wrong. 

On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from my coworker. She could barely speak, and finally uttered that one of our students had died. To say I was stunned is an understatement. I went into complete shock. And, while I trust her with my life, I truly didn't believe it until a few hours later when a phone message came from our principal telling us that, in fact, Jake had passed. 

I knew Thursday was going to be a terrible day at school. Unfortunately, Jake is not the first student we've lost during the school year, so I braced myself for the reaction. Nothing can prepare you for walking in the day after a student death. The hallways are silent. The kids walk together, but no one speaks. They stare straight ahead, and they cry, and they hold hands, and they hug one another. And although this is not the first time our school has faced tragedy, going through it once or twice or ten times doesn't make it any easier. The loss of a young life is always tragic, but when the student dies during a school activity, it somehow pulls a little differently at your heart strings. 

Jake was a junior at our school, and I teach predominantly junior classes. Even if I didn't teach juniors, I don't think it would have mattered. Jake is one of those kids who knew everybody. And, if you've caught any of the news articles or reports about him, it's true -- he was truly the nicest, most wonderful kid everyone says he was. 

Thursday and Friday were tough, to say the least. Those who knew him are in different states of grieving. Those who didn't know him hurt for different reasons... because they see their friends hurting, or, maybe because this was a realization that life is fragile, and death can impact anyone. 

Over the past few days, I've had a lot of different opportunities to see our students in a new light. I've watched them help each other down the hallway. I've seen a pat on the back turn into an all our bear hug. I've seen tissues passed. I've heard some of the most eloquent, encouraging words I've ever heard before. And this all reminds me that teenagers are AWESOME. 

It's not even just our kids. The neighboring high school, often one of our biggest rivals, made a huge banner, signed it, and brought it to our school. Then, last night, they each wore an orange sock at their homecoming game. Other schools have had moments of silence or put Jake's football number on their helmets at their own games. They're all with us. They're all Slicers right now. They all feel this loss. 

More than that, I've seen so much love going toward Jake's family. The kids are clamoring to help. The community that has gathered to support them is unreal. I pray it's offering them some comfort through this terribly tragic time. 

My favorite thing that has come out of the teenagers are their observations. One of them told me, "You know what's kind of cool? Jake died of an enlarged heart. If he had to die, doesn't that seem fitting? That his heart was too big?" 

And people say teenagers aren't perceptive. I am honored to know these kids. 

Rest in peace, dear Jake. You will live in our hearts forever. 

The weekend I ate everything

What a perfect Saturday. Currently, Dan and I are watching Bob the Builder with Dan's nephew, Cole. He's been entertaining us for hours now. We went for a walk, ate pizza, had a dance party, and watched a lot of children's programming on Netflix. Thank God for Netflix. Dan and Cole are crawling in a box together and calling it a tree house. Love.

Swoon.

I'm casually dubbing this weekend, the weekend I ate everything. Here's why. 

Last night after work, we met up with four other couples for dinner. It's completely rare that the ten of us ever have free time all at the same time, but we were able to make it work. We ended up eating at Soho, a Japanese Bistro in town. It was our first time there, and we loved the atmosphere and the food. So, after we ordered some sushi, we also got soup, salad, fried rice, vegetables, and chicken. A LOT of it. And, when we were done, we didn't want to separate yet, so we went to Coldstone for dessert (naturally, I went for Oreo creme with cookie dough mixed in... a cool 620 calories!). It was so great to visit with everyone, and the food was delicious. 

This morning, Andrea, my coworker Tom, and I took on the challenge of the Gameday Chase 10K. I felt great after my run last weekend, but I didn't sleep well last night and woke up feeling sore, so I wasn't sure how today would go. Thankfully, running with my friends made all the difference, and we were able to support each other to the finish line. Final time? ONE WHOLE second faster than last week. I am nothing if not consistent. 

Tom, Andrea, and I finishing the race strong!

After I'd cleaned up, we met up with my parents and Godson Jacob to go to Middlebury. Why, you ask? Because we wanted to do something different and eat delicious food. Naturally, we ended up at two places: Das Essenhaus and Rise and Roll Donuts. If you've never been to one or both of these places, I can safely say you're missing out. There's nothing better than Amish noodles, mashed potatoes, chicken, CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CREAM PIE, and, of course, following all of this up with Cinnamon Caramel donuts. Think I'm overstating the awesomeness of these two establishments? I am not. So, after eating our way through Amish country...

...we ordered pizza tonight for dinner. Because we didn't have anything to make? No. Because we didn't have any leftovers? No. Because we were super hungry? Heck no. We ordered pizza because we had Cole over and it was an excuse. UGH. 

Oh, and then, we had some Rise and Roll donuts. Double ugh. 

Thankfully, we don't eat like this every weekend, and there was a 10K involved today, but tomorrow is definitely time to get back on track. Lots of fruit and veggies and healthy autumn awesomeness coming our way! 

I'm looking forward to not setting an alarm tomorrow, to enjoying a quiet day, to doing some grading, and to relaxing while we watch the second to last episode of Breaking Bad! Excited! 

Kilometers for Cam

Today was the sixth annual Kilometers for Cam race in St. Joe, Michigan. Dan and I first heard about this race last year from my running friend, Sherry, and really loved our experience last September when we ran the 5K. So, this year, we decided to push ourselves a bit and go for the 10K. But first, a little background. 

Cam lives in southwest Michigan with his family. Cam is one of the few children in the world who has Progeria -- a disease that causes his body to age faster than it should. Cam has been at the race both years, and is such a cute kiddo -- he's often playing around with other kiddos, and he always sends us off at the beginning of the race. You can learn more about Cam here.

So, we arrived just as people were lining up to begin the race. Dan and I had talked about aiming for a time of under an hour. We were able to run last weekend at a nice ten-minute pace, and thought that would be a good goal for our first ever 10K. We also decided to run this race together. Dan tends to be faster (read: A LOT faster than me), but I tend to be able to go farther, so we figured we could combine our strengths. 

The weather was absolutely perfect -- in the 40s when we started -- my favorite running weather. In the first mile, there is a HUGE hill to climb, but we made it up with ease, and by the time we checked in with each other, we were already at the water station at mile 2. When one of us started to feel achy, we slowed down a bit, but we were always able to pick right back up. And I don't know if it was the change of scenery, or the fact that we were running for a great cause, or what, but the miles really did fly by. We even ran our fastest mile in the last mile, which was an awesome feat for us. Dan and I ended up crossing the finish line, together, at 54:32, meaning we ran at an 8:47 pace! Super proud of our fast time, but more proud that we did it together. It was the perfect way to kick off a Saturday morning! 

After the race, we met up with our friends and Dan's family who had all done the 5K. So nice to visit on a sunny morning! 

Friends, post run and refuel!

Dan's sister, Roni, and nephew, Cole, taking a ride on the carousel! 

I thought a lot about the reasons I run today. And one of the biggest reasons is because I CAN. And this thought reminded me of a fantastic video I saw at the ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute this summer. If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it. There is still so much good in this world. 

Out with the old, in with the new... car smell

My new ride! 

On Saturday, Dan and I ran six miles in preparation for our Kilometers for Cam 10K this coming weekend. It was nice to get a long run in, especially since my running lately has been totally sporadic. I'm excited to race this weekend since I haven't done one since June. AND, this is my first ever 10K, despite running two half marathons prior to this! 

After we showered and drank amazing banana chocolate peanut butter spinach smoothies, we headed out to look for new cars for me. I've had my beloved silver Honda Civic since I graduated college in 2005, and while she has served me well, it was time to upgrade to something bigger (literally) and better. I absolutely LOVED my Civic, but last winter's commute to work was SCARY, and I wanted something with a little heavier body. But, being the cheapskate I am, I was also worried about gas mileage, and had to take that into consideration. 

Going in to Saturday, I was most interested in the Mazda CX5. I liked the look of it and the stats were great too! My second choice was a Honda CRV, which I've heard wonderful things about from pretty much every CRV owner. We started at the Mazda dealership where I test drove a CRV first, followed by the CX5, and I was shocked to find that the CRV felt better to me. The ride was roommier and smoother, and both Dan and I commented that we felt very at home during that first test drive. 

So, we switched gears a little bit and headed over to the Honda dealership instead. I drove three or four more cars there, but ultimately had my eye on a 2011 CRV with only 12,000 miles on it. A brand new car scares me a little bit (what if I mess it up?!), but a slightly used newer car is right up my alley. We talked numbers and settled on one we liked with our salesman, and even got a great trade in on my little Civic (I miss her, a little!). I almost cried when it was time to turn her keys over, but THEN I got the keys to my shiny new car and the smile quickly returned. 

The one downside to my new baby? She smells. Like smoke. Which is the EXACT problem I had in 2005 when I bought my 2004 Civic. 

I don't know what it is about me that attracts me to cars smokers have used! But, apparently, I am attracted. Annoying. 

So, I've been spending the past few days Febreezing my car and stocking it full of fresh air fresheners. The September heat (90 degrees, what?!) is only helping to intensify the smell, but I'm hoping it will dissipate sooner rather than later. At least, that's what happened in my last car (I think. It was eight years ago! I don't remember how long it took!)! 

Here's hoping! 

Sickety sick sick

Today, I'm writing on a beautiful Labor Day. The sun is shining. The weather appears perfect. And I am writing from the couch. With a sinus infection. Sickety sick sick. 

This weekend was supposed to be one of those ultra productive weekends where you accomplish absolutely everything on the to do list. In short, we were going to clean the entire house, run a whole lotta miles, buy and sell a car, and get some wedding planning done. Ummm, yes, well... 

...pretty much none of that happened. Instead, perhaps THIS week will be the week we get all of those things done! 

We were able to drive to a few car lots today, but the two we were most interested in were CLOSED while most of the others were open. Harumph. I know I'm in the market for a small SUV, as the drive to and from work last year was a bit dicey in my little Honda. We most like the look of the Mazda CX-5 and the Honda CRV, so I think that will be our jumping off point. 

Okay, soup's on, Vitamin C popped, and papers need some grading. Here's hoping for some relief soon. 

Question of the day: What's your secret to getting better faster?