Tag Archives: Respect

Weekly Photo Challenge – Beloved

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I met my beloved husband Lynton in a church group for single parents. It was the last meeting before summer break. The group didn’t meet again until the following fall season. We exchanged phone numbers and that was the beginning of our twenty-four years of relationship.

One of our first dates was going to a Motivational Leadership Conference. I know, it wasn’t too romantic, but we both were interested in administration and management. When the conference was over, on our way to the parking lot, I thought, it would be nice to keep an admission ticket as souvenir. I turned my head and looked at him. Before I said anything, he reached out to his pocket and took out a ticket, asked if I would like to keep one. It impressed upon me that our antennas received signals from each other already.

Lynton has been supportive of me in many practical ways. I had the administrative credential seven years before we met. For various reasons, I didn’t feel I had the strength to hold an administrative job. An administrative job is a twelve-month, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. position whereas teaching is a ten-month, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. position. When I was promoted to the administrative position in 1998, I was ready to accept it because of Lynton’s support.

He was a great cheer leader when I decided to get my doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. I went to school full time in addition to my full-time job. All my evenings and weekends were spent on assignments and projects and dissertation in the final year. For three years, he watched television wearing a headphone. I worked on assignments in my office with the paper and books laying on the floor. And I did my reading in the living room where he watched television. At least I was in the same room with him. I dedicated my doctorate degree to him.

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We now both are retired, we go to the gym together three times a week. As I mentioned in the previous posts, he is doing all the cooking, doing dishes, and working on many house projects.

We remind each other again and again that it was a divine appointment in which we met. It’s His guidance and our respect for each other that sustain our relationship!

Weekly Photo Challenge – Beloved

Working Together

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We haven’t had the interior of the house painted for also ten years. Some paint got scratched off or just looks old. Our house faces north and south, so do most of our windows. That means we don’t get the sun when the sun rises and we don’t get the sun when sunsets either.  The good advantage of it is that the house keeps cool. The disadvantage is that the house is not too bright with natural sunlight. We have several skylights, that helps to bring some sunlight into the house.

I do want my house looks brighter, so we don’t need to depend on turning the lights on all the time. My husband finally agreed on the color I picked for the major rooms where we spend a lot of our time. This time I really want to paint in lighter beige color with a warmer tone rather than yellowish tone.

The projected has started today. Since I’m the picky one, I do the detail work. We just had new doors and new door trims several years ago. I don’t want the paint accidentally touches on the trims. So I use the 3M tapes to tape the trims. All my husband has to do is to paint the areas that are not covered by the tapes. He knows his strength and tolerance. He stopped working before he gets too tired. When he gets tired, he gets frustrated. I want this to be a pleasant project. Something we could work together.

He is happy with the arrangement. We had a good day working together on the first day. Hopefully, we could finish the big project by Friday. I promised to treat him for a nice dinner at any restaurants, After all, he would be doing most of the work!

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Silver Bell

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I used to be a strict teacher. I thought smiling would make the students think that they could goof around in the classroom. Therefore I wore a straight face often. Somehow after I became a mom, I was more passionate toward my students. I loved them, smiled more, and kept in mind that, “What if this is my child?”

 When I asked questions in class, I allowed creative answers, and tried to find some good points to compliment them. I allowed funny but polite answers. Other students might laugh at the answers. I laughed with them. Then I asked additional questions to help the students think. They might come up with more reasonable and appropriate answers. I was generous to praise and point out thoughtful answers.

Many students thought that they were my favorite students, because I praised them. They always offered to help. During recesses, they would knock on my door and asked if I needed help. Sometime I was happy that they offered to help. Other times, I needed to take a break. So I gently told them to come back the next day.

Once in awhile, a teacher on different lunch schedule may come in to talk with me. As soon as my attention was away from the students, they would start talking.  Every teacher used different technique to quiet down the students. I preferred using a silver bell. The bell was old and sometimes the clapper got stuck. I had to cover the lip of the bell and jiggle it a little bit before I could ring it softly. The students responded well with my silver tone, musical sound of the bell. They were very good at quiet down respectfully.

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Seven years into the retirement. Seventeen years away from the classroom, with ten years in administration before retirement. I still have the silver bell.

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Daily Prompt: Jiggle