Milestones

The last days of January I took ill.  Very ill.  Intensive Care Unit for days ill.  I was in the hospital for 10 days in a country where insurance companies see to it no one stays in the hospital longer than 2 days that says something.  I missed 2 weeks of work and the third week was a school break for everyone, lucky for me, because I needed that time to rest and go to what felt like too many doctor's appointments.

So first off, I am fine now.  However, during that time I missed some milestones.  Such as this blog's 1000th post and 600,000th visitor.  Turns out iPads for Our Rooms, written when I was ill but not quite ill enough to go to the hospital yet, was the 1000th post.  The 600,000th visitor happened sometime in the past 48 hours or so.  I hope you enjoyed your visit whoever you were!

Another milestone, this one I didn't miss, was yesterday was my 34th birthday.  It turned out to be quite an excellent birthday as it was also my first day back in the classroom after 3 weeks of being away.  My wonderful co-workers remembered a tale I told them about a favorite kind of ice cream cake and managed to track one down a state away for us to enjoy!  Lack of a freezer in the classroom meant we enjoyed our little party at nine in the morning as the fridgid New England temperatures they we counting on to keep it frozen in a car truck weren't going to cut it.

Even better though, perhaps the best gift, was just being back with my students.  One student came in off the bus and gave me the biggest, most loving and welcoming series of smiles I have ever seen!  That my friends, is why I teach.  (Even if that smile was far surpassed when I let her "taste" the fudgy ice cream cake later!)