Bob's Community

Back in the Saddle Again

2006-10-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is us. Actually was us - just a month and a half ago. Little Miss Rayah Lynn Rose Bressette in the loving arms of her mother, Chrystal. The once-little-tiny baby, born August 12, 2006 at 1:52 AM, weighing in at 8lbs 1oz, has now grown to a shade less than 13 lbs. Ahhh, the wonders of Mama's milk. She's quite the looker - sharing many of her sisters' qualities, and her Dad's dazzling good looks. Okay, stop laughing now. Her sisters absolutely adore her, and love to help out when needed. We're very happy with her, and hopefully she reciprocates.

Anyway, I'm back teaching Grade 7 again. My ultimatum worked (I guess). Let's be honest - this has been the worst year in all 8 years of teaching - and it's only the beginning of October. Let's review September. We started on September 5. By the second week, I've found my students passing baggies of weed. I've got the school's "public enemy #1" as seen by the students and the community in my room, and just last week, one of my student's baby (2 weeks old) suddenly passed away. I've got parents crying because they don't know what to do with their kids' transformation into teenagers (testosterone? estrogen? attitudes? experimentation?). The staff's morale is below ground zero. I know that there are some students in my room that do truly look to me as a positive role model, but I've had it with the stress of this job. Let's not forget the recent rash of school shootings in the last two weeks. I always knew it wasn't a career for me. I'm seriously looking into either a career change, or going back to school for my Master's Degree, perhaps in Applied Kinesiology.

There's my rant, my beef, my b!+c#!ng, etc. Thank you for listening.

It's been a while.

2006-06-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sure, sure, I know. Don't take that nagging tone with me. Why have I procrastinated so much from this site? I'd love to tell you . . . at a later time. I call that the Procrastinator's Creed. Any way, "What's been happening with Bob?", you ask. Well, I guess lots. I had to step up to the plate and tell my principal that I will only sign a contract for next year if I maintain my Grade 7 teaching position - a position I started 2 years ago when I defected from a different school. She wanted me to teach Grade 5 "because (I'd) be a good fit for a class of difficult boys." Well, truth be told, I have already taught 4 years of Grade 5, and a move back to that grade wouldn't have made professional or personal gain. Been there, done that, wrote a blog about it. See, the principal was acting on "directives" that included a major cabinet shuffle, which made no logical sense whatsoever. We were at loggerheads for a couple of days, and the atmosphere was very tense. Finally, I was presented a contract for the Grade 7 position. It was important for me to get this, as I felt that I had much to do as a Grade 7 teacher, and that it was my objective to complete my assignment. I really don't like to leave things hanging - unfinished. So upon my receipt of said contract, there was much rejoicing.

next:

I was the recipient of a freaky scare - I thought the sight in my right eye was deteriorating. I came in from a phys.ed. class that we had outside. I took off my sunglasses, and thought there was a smudge on my lens of my regular glasses. I took them off and wiped them clean. I put them on again, only to see it as they were still smudged. I can only compare it to looking through a smoky room, but with one eye seeing clearly (similar to a non-smoky room, and one seeing the smoky haze, but with full colour.) Trying my best not to panic, I walked to the health centre (conveniently located next to the school). They really didn't have the answers that I needed, but kindly called to the ER in Sarnia, telling them that I needed to be seen. So off I went - my dad had to look after Aurora after daycare, my wife was still at work, Autumn was with Chrystal's mom, so that left my mom to drive me (it's convenient that the school I work at is in the community where I grew up, and that my parents work at the administration building next door.) I waited in the Emergency department for 4 hours until being seen by a doctor. By that time, my eyesight improved, but I was suffering wave after wave of headaches. Basically, the doctor told me that it could be the onset of migraine headaches, but wanted me to see an ophthamologist to rule out any minor retinal detachment issues. I'm still waiting to hear from the eye specialist to set up an appointment. What about the headaches? They are still there constantly, but not severe.

You can tell it's June in a school. Attendance plummets like a rock. However, two boys in my class have a legitimate excuse to miss the next few days. It seems their uncle took it upon himself to jump from the Bluewater Bridge on June 13th. While they haven't found him yet, as of today, the family pretty much knows the end result. I know their uncle, as he is just 4 years younger than I. These boys in my class looked just devestated, and you could tell they wanted to find a place to go and cry. They live close to the school, and I sent them on their way to be with family. My thoughts go out to them and their family.

Nobody ever said teaching was easy, and if anybody did, they haven't actually taught for long. Gone are the days of teaching just the 3 R's (sic), as now we're judges, lawyers, police officers, referees, punching bags, seudo-parents, grief counsellors, mindreaders, doctors/nurses, etc., but to see the lightbulb light up above their little heads - that's the payoff.

Bressette, out!

D'oh! Stupid Grammatical Error!

2006-05-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

The title of my previous post was "My Kid's Mother" - I meant to write "My Kids' Mother." As I have 2 kids plus one on the way, I know it should be a plural possessive, not singular. I'm such a boob sometimes.

My Kid's Mother

2006-05-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

People say "take note, this is what you should do for your wife for Mother's Day" - seems to me, I guess I did. I let Chrystal sleep in this morning seeing as the everkicking baby that is growing within her tires her out like crazy - well, that and working pretty well full time. Aurora and I got up, went downstairs, and started preparations for a pancake breakfast. We cut up a large Navel orange, mixed up the batter for pancakes, got out the chocolate chips (Chrystal wanted chocolate chip pancakes), poured the orange juice, and set the table. Autumn ambled downstairs a short time later, and I told her to get Mommy's Mother's Day presents we bought yesterday. Shortly after 9:15, Chrystal came down for breakfast. I cleaned up, they went upstairs to get ready for church, and the day hummed along. By the way, the kids got their mother some rechargeable/solar lights that can be hung out on our back deck, and a new diaper-bag type backpack for the new baby.

After church, we came back to the house to do some work before meeting my parents for supper at a nearby Chinese restaurant in Forest. Chrystal's parents stopped by to say hello - it happened to be their anniversary today, in addition to being Mother's Day. Chrystal planted some plants while I pushed the kids on the swing, or they played in our driveway. The sun started to peek out around 3:00, at about the same time the kids found a nice slightly-green coloured toad to play with (we told them to leave it alone, so it can enjoy the day, too)

We cleaned up to go to Forest for our Mother's Day dinner with my parents. I happen to enjoy Chinese food, so it turned out to be a very nice day all around. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in the world!

The Love of My Life

2006-05-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Eight years and counting. Let's go back 8 years ago in my personal history. It was a drizzly Friday. The temperature was seasonably warm. I woke up at my friend's house in a rural (go figure) part of North East Lambton County knowing that the upcoming day was going to be a total blur. I quickly showered, shaved, put on my tux avec long tails, and ordered a bunch of roses to be delivered to a house in Alvinston, where another flurry of activity was occurring. All this time I was hoping the rain would end, and that the weather would turn out as it should for occasions such as this. My groomsmen had all appeared and were busily preparing. Pictures were at 3:00 pm in Watford. I needed the day to clear up, just as a teenager wants the dreaded blemishes to clear up before the big dance. Bryan, one of my groomsmen and the MC of the evening, volunteered to drive us in his little BMW. We arrived at the site of our pictures, and now the waiting game. When would I get to see my very-soon-to-be bride? It didn't take long for a limosine to pull up. It seemed close to this time that the sun peeked out of the sky as if to say "I was just waiting for the right time." Pictures went well and without a hitch - because "they do the hitchin' at the church."

The groomsmen and I hopped back into Bryan's little BMW, and drove to get some gas. The bride to be and her band of merry women took a ride in the limosine. We got to the church around 4:30. We met the priest, exchanged the envelope of money, went over the plans, and I paced, peeked, and profusely sweated for a short time. I looked out at the gathering families and friends. It was good to see so many come from distances afar and near. Some even travelled internationally (my former roomies and their girlfriends-to-be-wives). Sidenote: I was just in Michigan, packing my room up to move back to the homeland on the 5th of May, as that's when my last exam was to finish out my Bachelor of Science at Central Michigan University. All I had to do was pack up my beloved black beauty of a truck, race to the border, and back to my parent's house. Now that's close.

The bridesmaids strolled in, followed by the Maid of Honour. My wife's father was at the back of the church ready to bring her down the aisle. Along the way was her stepfather, who also walked with them. My heart races, my face beamed, and I was happy. While I do remember some of the rest of the day, I must admit that the past 8 years have raced by like the Indianapolis 500, while at other times have been slower than slugs trying to traverse an acre. As much as a Hallmark (or Dollar Store) card this may sound like, we've had sad times, bad times, and some mystically wonderful times (like when our daughters were born) While our marriage is 7 years longer than the average Hollywood marriage, okay maybe 5, but we're still not masters. We aren't perfect, we won't be perfect, and that's perfectly okay.
This picture is an "unofficial" photo taken at the church - Behind us are a couple of locals who stopped by and gave us some lovely pumpkins as wedding presents. It must be some sort of local good luck gesture.

I dedicate this wonderful day to my beautiful wife. Happy Eighth Anniversary Chrystal Anne Marie Bressette! I love you.

Bob

Okay, so this DOES work

2006-05-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

These are kind of neat. Some day, I'll get some pics going on this page. On with the show. Here I am - Bob Bressette - a man built for comfort rather than speed. I have achieved much over my life - completion of 2 post-secondary degrees, 8 years of marriage (with my awesome wife Chrystal) and counting, 2 lovely daughters (Autumn and Aurora), with an unknown gender on the way (c'mon boy!, but will be lovingly accepted if girl - kidding, kidding) in August. We bought a house in the booming micropolis of Alvinston soon after we married. Despite my never wanting to own a mini-van, we happen to own one now - well, we own 3/5 of it while the bank still owns 2/5 - we still have 2 years of payments. I drive a nice GMC Sierra Extended Cab truck, which replaced my old wonderful black beast of a truck (RIP, baby) which was stolen from a less than pleasant teaching practicum. We have a dog, a standard poodle no less, a cat, some fish, and two tadpoles. Sounds like the average white-picket-fence life, eh?

Here's my comment of the day: God, I miss my friends - whether from elementary school, high school, or university - wish you were here.

Bonjour! Hello, Boozhoo, Howdy!

2006-05-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Testing...testing...1...2...3... Is this thing on?