wow

It's been months upon months since I wrote last! So much has happened in my life that I'm still trying to figure out. I was woken by the phone early in the morning on Feb.18 by mom with bad news. She was unable to tell me, so her friend Dale told me something that would change my life forever. He informed that my Dad had passed away during his sleep. My parents had been on an amazing 46 day cruise, and my dad made it to the 45th day. I honestly didn't want to believe that he was gone--I kept screaming the word No! I didn't know what to do. I called in for a sub and then found myself driving on the road. I ended up at school at 6:30am. I was in my room and just kind of walked around not knowing what I was doing. A few minutes later the Principal's secretary appeared--she knew--she hugged me as I cried for my dad. She walked me back to her office where I sat until my friend Heather got to work. She ended up driving me to my brother's house where I was greeted by my handsome nephews(they didn't know the horrible news yet). My brother and I drove them to school and then when we got back to his house we were able to talk to my mom. Later that day I flew out to LA to pick up my Mom and Dad. Thank goodness my brother's bestfriend lives--he took care of everything for us. He and his family took wonderful care of my mother and I while we were there. I ended up taking over a week off of work--if I had had more days, I would have taken more time off. However, being a new teacher, the district doesn't give you very many.
During all this time I found out that I was Teacher of the Year at my campus, and yes my dad did know. And I made it to the finalist round. Wow is all I can say. If it hadn't been for my wonderful class this year I'm not sure I would have made it.
It's getting close to the start of a brand new year. I'm looking forward to it, and hoping it's a much better year. But before school starts, I'm heading to Croatia for 2 weeks. While I'm there I will be spreading some of my dad's ashes. Since he loved to travel, we thought it was appropriate.
I'm really going to try and keep up with my blog from now on--I just wasn't ready to get back on here!