My wife….there are a lot of words to say about her. She’s not perfect but she works so hard at it. Married life with her has been interesting and fun. There have been roadblocks and stumbles but at the end of the day, we are us and we are together. Always together. I can’t even keep track of all the adventures and awesome memories we have shared. It’s amazing to look back at the photo albums from our first years and just see conversations and moments come rushing back.

This year for her professionally has been a bit rough. I guess it started with the social media age but nobody confronts anything head on. They go around and around instead of through (maybe to a possible solution). If they knew my wife, they would know how much this eats at her. Eats at the very soul and core of who she is. How her stress level from this can rise enough to shut down her immune system. Teachers (high school ones in particular) have to put up with a lot. Administrators, department leads, parents…and oh yeah, students who are 14-18 years old and are testing the limits of everything daily.

I may be biased because my mom and many of my aunts and uncles are teachers or educators but I have such respect for their position. E and L are gonna be in trouble because I’ll probably take the teacher’s word over theirs. I can guarantee you though – there won’t be any anonymous letters or secret meetings with the administration unless I talk to the teacher first and am ignored or don’t feel respected (and I probably won’t have to jump in because wifey definitely knows how to speak her mind).

Becky’s job isn’t easy. It’s stressful for all of us. But it enables her to serve people in a way that she’s really good at. Seeing kids come together and have a support group and show their talents – theater invigorates and energizes like nothing else.

It’s why 19 years later, I have forgotten most of my high school teacher’s names except for Ginger Hilbun, Karen Dean, Leonid Mazor and E. Frank Bluestein.