[1/23/12] Monday Memories: The Meltdown and Kam

This is what I got in the mail on Saturday:

It was from Kam. And oh, how she has impeccable timing.

Kam and I spent a good amount of time on the phone last Wednesday. We were both having a bit of a meltdown. Tears were shed. We tried to offer encouraging words to each other.

Kam's meltdown reasons: her 8 (8!) credit practicum class; her first day of teaching at the elementary school where she's doing her practicum, which was on Thursday; and a few other things that I won't go into. :o)

My meltdown reason: that awfully horrible English class I'm taking. The class I was told to expect to spend at least 18 hours a week on. For a 3 (3!) credit course. Yes, I've taken hard English classes before that I thought I wouldn't survive (I'm being a bit overdramatic here). But compared to this one, those were like a walk in the park on a perfectly sunny day with the most perfect Chocolate Extreme Blizzard (made with chocolate ice cream, of course!). And the Blizzard would be calorie free.

Get the picture?

Anyway.

It's very easy to tell from reading our class discussion boards that some of the students in my class have taken more English classes than I have. Lots more. I've had to make good use of my online dictionary to understand some of their posts. I've been taking my classes in numerical order. Obviously, they haven't. In our discussion boards we're supposed to either add to, agree with, or argue with/criticize whatever point(s) the poster is making. There are very nice ways to argue with/criticize. And there are not so nice ways to do this. I happen to have had a girl in my class do it in a not so nice way on one of my posts. I happened to be talking to my sister, Janine, later in the day after this happened, and I was venting a bit. Okay, a lot. And I was feeling a bit shaken up and on the verge of major tears. She wanted to see what the girl wrote. So I gave her my log in information and she looked. And she was not happy. It just wasn't that the girl had done it to her big sister, but that the girl had been very critical and not nice. And it had totally thrown me for a huge loop. The thought of dropping the class had even entered my mind.  I was on the ledge, so to speak, ready to jump. Janine was able to talk me off of the ledge. She also read my post and said I was spot on, and although every post can be added to/improved, this girl was totally out of line. And although Janine helped me feel a little better, that girl's comments have still been on my mind all week. I've allowed her to influence me when trying to write my first paper, which will be submitted later today to the editorial board this girl's on, so she might read my paper. I hesitated to post on the discussion board this week because this girl might criticize me again.

It's been a bit of a rough week.

The inside of Kam's card said: "...that you're Truly Awesome."  She wrote me one of those notes that Moms save forever which I won't share, and then this for the P.S.:

"Don't worry, you'll kick that English classes' (and that stinker girl's) butts!! Like always. :o)

And Kam knows that dark chocolate and raspberries are two of my most favorite things, so the M&Ms were a huge hit with me!

What a daughter I have.

And I'm so thankful for her.

P.S.: Since I forgot to take my camera cord with us to Kentucky last weekend, here's the only picture I took:

This is the farm where John spent most of his growing up years. It had snowed that morning so everything was peacefully white. The farm house is almost 200 years old, and is on the National Historical Registery (not sure if that's the official name, but it's close). At the bottom of the hill is a small bridge that goes over a lake. The bridge is a bit scary to drive over in the ice or when there's been a lot of rain.

It's pretty cool. :o)