SAND? Surfer DUDES? Yes, she was in Calafornia,(the best of two worlds) where on one side you have the beach, on the other the mountains! FTM trudged on looking for brenda,(who ever that is)and unbeknownst to her, her friends had in the mean time found land, and obtained a boat, in an effort to find her floating dead water sogged body. Completely unaware that she was heathy as a horse they fought wave after wave, storm after storm in their efforts, because they were truely loyal. Anyway,only they knew that she held a secret key in her pocket that unlocked a chest that nessie had been guarding for 9000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years. Nessie was quite old. Inside the box was something truely wonderful which will only be devulged by someone else in this silly story. As the 2 friends neared the land of C. FTM spotted them immediately, and was overcome with joy! She whoopped so loud and long that she completely lost her voice and could only stand on the beach with the tears running down her sweet face. Oh what gladness at such a reunion!!! Just as she was about to catch her breath after the second whoop, a large ------- snaked out of the water and wrapped it's suckered appendage around her leg...

To add a little more info to what I posted last night I must say that the meeting was much more calm than I had anticipated. DS's math teacher was very mild mannered in my presence and seemed a bit nervous. The Principal took her side where the confrontation between DS and she were concerned. Not too surprising there. I do know that DS can be hot tempered and his frustration over his learning disabilities gets the best of his at times. He needs to learn to control himself. The Principal said that he had complaints from other students about how DS had spoken to the teacher. There may have been students that complained but I rather expect that it was students that are in the clicks of the "Holier than though" group that are very judgemental and the DS doesn't get along with on a daily bases any way. This is a Christian school and what we have found is that if you don't have money, don't play sports and aren't on the honor roll you don't fit in. Never mind that those kids may very well be the biggest drinkers and the most sexually active in school. Not what I was expecting a Christian school to be. I have told teachers there that they can teach the students the Bible, insist that they memorize the verses but cannot insure that it becomes embedded in their hearts......off on a tangent there...sorry. Last night DS felt like he had lost the war since he was really hoping that I would yank him out the school. I had to explain to him that he had to look at the big picture in little increments. He had won one battle thus far and that was to be taught by his tutor for this class. As soon as he decides which school he wants to attend we can move forward there. So it is one step at a time. I also told him that even though he didn't get everything that he wanted he was learning valuable lessons here and that it was a growing experience. I was happy with his coach. I was happy with his counselor. They both complimented DS on his kind heart and ability to express his feelings in an articulate manner. I told them that for him to be able to humble himself and apologize is a big deal for him. That although it doesn't have anything to do directly with his outburst towards the math teacher he has a great pain in his heart from his father and the fact that they have not spoken in over 3 years is just under the service for him and is something that I feel fuels his anger. He also will not just say the words to apologize, he will search his heart until he come to mean it and then he will speak to the teacher. To get him to graduation is the goal. I feel that he has many teachers at this school that have grown to really love him. His math teacher is new, only having taught a couple of years. He has been a challenge to her and I think she has been caught totally off guard by his situation. Do I think she could have done a better job? Yes. I was in college for a few years in education. I was headed in the direction of working with the kids that were hard to reach. As a teacher's aid I worked with the pain in the butt kids in class and had wonderful results. They did not intimidate me. I think DS did intimidate her. I'm sorry that DS hates school sooo much. He may not be completely happy in another school. I told him that he has to look beyond that and have faith that if he places his trust in the Lord that God will guide him. There is a plan for him and this time is just a flash in the pan but necessary to help ready him for future situations. I told him that at his age kids think that "When I am ..... years old I'll finally know everything." That is not true. He is expected to continue to learn his entire life and he will learn that some of what he thought he knew was incorrect or that there is so much more to it than he ever imagined. I told him that God designed it that way and that when he stops learning he will stop living and that won't be for a very long time. He is a good kid. He has more challenges than most but he can do it. I will be beside him, behind him and sometimes in front of him his entire journey......He is my son and I adore him....blemishes and all.

I'm going to give this a bump. Barb

So sorry, won't be able to attend after all, last minute trip out to see our daughter in TN. Hope you guys have a wonderful visit and I'll bring tons of stuff to the fall trade to make up for missing this one! Hope to see some of you at the 2 iris shows in June and at the EIS rhizome sale in late July!