Have you ever had a really hard decision to make? You decide to go in one direction and then the doubts set in. You wonder...what if...? and change your mind. Then you ask yourself if this other direction is really the best way to go. Ugh. Sometimes I just wish I had a crystal ball so that I could see which way would really make me the most happy. This type of dilemma happens to me all the time. I am pretty sure that I overthink things, but that is the way I am.
Today, I lucked out! This doesn't always happen, but it sure feels good when it does! A science teacher asked me, a few weeks ago, if I'd like a free trip to Lagoon. That's right--Physics Lagoon Day was scheduled for today and they needed at least two other chaperons. I would just have to ride the bus up to Farmington with the kids and then I'd be free as a bird to ride all the rides to my heart's desire, except when I got to take a break for a complimentary VIP lunch. I'd get a substitute teacher paid for and could hang out with teachers all day. I normally don't pay money for Lagoon--all my pennies are saved for the magic of Disneyland--so it sounded like a chance that I wouldn't normally take. For some reason, though, I couldn't really decide one way or the other. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hop on a bunch of corkscrew rides and then ride a bus back to West Jordan at 6pm on a Friday night. I decided against it. I was a bit sad, but just didn't feel right about it. A few times I started rethinking my decision, but in the end, I held firm.
Well, I got to school today and what do you know? First of all, 120 kids were waiting in the Commons Area at 7:00am. There was a lot of excitement. Kids were in shorts and t-shirts with water bottles and big smiles on their faces. Excitement quickly turned to disappointment, however, when ONE MEASLY school bus pulled up to the school! Oh no! Where were the other two buses?! These kids had all paid $35 each for the bus and day pass. The poor chaperons!--is what I thought. They were scrambling, calling the district, trying to figure out what could have possibly gone wrong??! No other buses were available. The final decision was to crowd half the students into one bus, take them the hour drive to Farmington, come back and pick up the second half. What a nightmare! Kids all said that their parents were going to call the district and complain. This didn't change the situation that one bus was all they had to do the job. The chaperons had to ride with both groups. Now, complicate that with the fact that it had to RAIN today! I cannot tell you how happy I was to hang out in my classroom all day.
When 3:00 hit, I skipped out the door. I came home and opened a nice jar of chips and salsa. This is living!
Sounds like you made a good decision. ;)
ReplyDeleteDid you ever read those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books? You read this adventure and then you come to a point in the story where you have to make a decision and turn to the page it tells you to in order to continue the story. I would read the pages to both decisions and then choose to go to the page(s) that result in the best adventure and ending. ;)
This was a super hard decision that I had to make:
I really wanted to do Vienna Study Abroad in 2005, but it just didn't feel right. Logically it made sense for me to go since I wanted to be a German teacher and it would be good to know the differences (in culture/history, etc.) between Austria and Germany to tell my future students about.
I went ahead and turned in my application, but I couldn't sleep the following night since I had the worst feeling about the whole thing. I didn't know why I was feeling that way? It was so frustrating! But I went ahead and cancelled my application and didn't go that year.
After I got back from my mission, I had a strong feeling I should do Vienna Study Abroad 2008. This time around I was able to get several scholarships to go (funding that I didn't have in 2005). I met some cool girls in my group. I was the only one who had served a mission in the group, so a lot of girls asked me questions about serving a mission and a lot of them ended up going on missions as well. Vienna is also where I met Rainer ;)
Oh I miss chips and salsa so much! Have you ever been to Joe Banditos in Springville for chips and salsa? Those are my absolute favorite chips and salsa! If you ever figure out their secret salsa recipe, let me know ;)
I loved the "Choose your own Adventure" books! Those are so thrilling! I know--I always wanted to read ahead and then decide as well.
ReplyDeleteThat is a cool experience you shared about your Vienna Study Abroad. Sometimes we don't understand the reasons for the direction our life is going until we can look back later. It is so neat to hear how inspired that decision really was!
I have never tried Joe Banditos! I need to definitely put it on my list of things to do this summer!
Hurray! I'm so happy that you are familiar with the Choose Your Own Adventure books :)
ReplyDeleteYes, please eat some chips and salsa at Joe Banditos for me ;)