Facie’s Ramblings

To quote a 10,000 Maniacs song above, lately the weather has been freaking me out . I cannot believe the death and destruction in this country as a result of tornadoes and floods. It is jaw-dropping to see pictures of neighborhoods that have been leveled. And it is so sad to think about the lives lost, many of whom went to bed the night before as they always do, never to awaken again. Wow. Two nights ago, while lying in bed, I listened to the wind howling. A few times I closed my eyes tight, hoping the roof would not lift off. My heart was pounding, and I was praying that one of the tall trees in our backyard would not come crashing through the roof (or our year-old windows, for that matter). Fortunately, when I walked around the house the next morning, the only thing I noticed was about a dozen tree branches scattered throughout the yard and our ladder that blew off the side of the house (really wish Brian would put that thing away!). Then last night, after going to bad happy that...

In an hour or so, I will be heading to J's school to make copies of a survey I put together with the help of a small committee. At a tuition meeting two months ago, about 10 or so of us said we wanted the school to see better days. We wanted more for our money. Most of all, we didn't want to just complain; we wanted to help make things better. So about a month ago, I brought up the idea of a survey for the parents to fill out, and I presented a rough draft to the group at a follow-up meeting for the 10 or so parents at the tuition meeting who wanted to make things better. I received some input from some group members, and I am happy to say that most of the group was very complimentary and thanked me for my work on the survey (I put in hours and hours, believe it or not). The idealist in me likes to think good things can come from us. But am I just kidding myself? Some people hate surveys. They loathe the time spent filling them out. They are afraid their comments will have ne...