truetech

Today I am thankful for my pets.

September 11, 2001, is a day that I will never forget. Aside from the obvious reason, it’s also the day we brought our dog Jack home from the Humane League. I had taken off from work for the morning so that I could go with Jen and Grace to pick him up (we had chosen him the prior Saturday), but with the attacks, I ended up taking off the whole day. We took him home and gave him a much needed bath, but not before he tried to run away for the first of countless times.

Despite his (now dormant) tendencies to attempt to escape, I’m very fond of Jack. He provides us with nearly endless entertainment and companionship, he warns us of intruders, even if they’re just other family members returning home, and he keeps my feet warm at night.

And then there was his act of valor. Grace would be be furious with me if I didn’t mention it. One night, in our old house, Jack repeatedly kept waking up and barking hysterically. He seemed to be beckoning us to follow him, like he had found Timmy down in the well or something, so eventually, tired of being awakened over and over, we followed him. He led us down to the basement, to the unfinished part where the gas furnace stood. Every few minutes, the furnace was belching flames into the open air. Not just a spark, but dragon-like bursts of fire. We immediately shut it down and when the repairmen came to replace it, they said we were lucky it hadn’t exploded. Because of that, Jack gets a free pass on all sorts of antisocial behavior.

He is not, however, as antisocial as my cats.

The older cat, Jill, came to us at church one Sunday morning. A member of our congregation had brought in a litter of kittens from the outdoor cats that hung around his home in the hopes of finding new homes for them. Despite my allergies and Grace’s allergies, she and Jen somehow convinced me to allow this cat to come home with us. I gave them two conditions. First, since the dog’s name is Jack, the cat must be named Jill, Diane, or Beanstalk. Second, I will not change the kitty litter.

Nobody seems to remember the second condition except for me.

Jill is a very pretty cat, and she can be quite loving. Too loving, sometimes, bordering on creepy. Her relationship with me is unhealthily codependent. There are times when she won’t let anyone but me touch her. She can bite one of the kids, and then turn to me, purring and making eyes at me. Very creepy. But when she’s in a good mood, she can be very friendly. The good moods just don’t happen very often.

The younger cat, Maddie, just showed up one day. My kids were outside with the neighbor kids and Maddie just wandered up. The neighbor kids’ dad stood stronger than I did, and Maddie ended up in our home. Part time, at least. She wants to spend most of her time outside, only stopping in occasionally for a meal, to crash on the couch for a bit, to use the litterbox, and maybe check her mail or something.

It’s a struggle to keep Maddie inside. She has actually hidden under the dog and snuck outside when we let Jack out. Many is the morning I open the sliding door to find Maddie waiting to come inside, having been who knows where all night. I know that lots of cats do things like that, but I worry about her getting stuck somewhere or picking a fight with the wrong wild animal, because I’m a softy like that. But as Jen likes to say, “You can’t take the wild out of a stray.”

So that’s our menagerie as it currently stands. The children have been informed that if they want any more pets, it’s a “one in, one out” arrangement from here on out.

But despite their quirks and, in Jill’s case, stalker-ish tendencies, it’s always nice to have another creature in the house that we can share our love with.

I am thankful for my pets.

Today I am thankful for the Etown Survivors’ Guild.

But perhaps this needs some explanation.

From February of 1998 through September of 2009, I worked for the Elizabethtown Area School District. During my time there, I had the privilege of working with lots of good people. A few of us became good friends and keep in touch to this day, even though we don’t see each other as often as we’d like.

When I started at Etown, I worked with Joe Way, whom I’ve known since Kindergarten. There are very few non-family relationships in my life that have lasted longer than my friendship with Joe. For the duration of our time together at Etown, it was just the two of us handling all technical work (there was someone else in our department that handled professional development, but that’s a series of unfortunate stories for another day). Joe left for greener pastures, and considerably more money, in the fall of 1999.

Joe’s departure left room for the return of David Mancuso, who had worked at Etown prior to a stint at Manheim Township School District (where I now work). Dave and I immediately became fast friends. Through the years, he’s been like a big brother to me, whether he was getting a forklift stuck in the mud or driving us all crazy because he decided to take some Aderall that wasn’t prescribed to him. I confess that I have tormented David somewhat mercilessly over the years, from repeatedly changing the language settings on his computer to Catalan, to the time we stuffed a towel into his vent to block the air conditioning from coming into his office.

Dave and I recognized the need for another tech person in the department, so when the after mentioned professional development person departed, we moved to hire Mike Williams, who was, at the time, working for Manheim Township. Mike, whom I’ve known since Middle School, joined the team in the summer of 2000. We love to tease Mike about his temper (but never for too long at one time), but the guy would give his friends the shirt off his back when needed. It was comforting to know that if I ever needed to have someone’s kneecaps broken, I could count on Mike.

Dan Baver joined the team a few years later. We made fun of Dan for being a hippie (he wasn’t), and because he was a vegetarian (he was, at least until the day he ate some pepperoni pizza for lunch), but everybody loved Dan. Except the superintendent at the time, who was apparently unaware that Dan was a paid employee; I can only assume that he thought Dan was some sort of full-time volunteer. But he wasn’t; he was an employee, and a darn good one at that.

Shortly thereafter, through another series of twists and turns, we hired Tom Crawford. Tom and I hit it off right away because of our mutual love of music (Tom is a monster on the guitar, and probably even better on the bass) and staying up late, when we would inevitably wind up on iChat, discussing any random topic that might cross our brains. Our offices kinda sorta faced each other, so we quickly developed a kind of unspoken shorthand which allowed to exchange sarcasm and snark without uttering a word.

I know that lots of people develop friendships with their co-workers. It’s only natural. After all, you’re with each other for many of your waking hours, so why not make the best of it? But I like to think that we really had something special with that team at Etown.

None of us is there anymore. Joe, of course, was the first to go. Dan was next, although he did come back for a short while, after which he ended up with Joe at Exeter. Mike left for the IU in 2007, Dave took a teaching job in 2008, and I landed at Manheim Township in 2009. Tom held out until 2011, when he moved over to the School District of Lancaster.

And that was that.

But we still stay in touch, and we try to organize semi-regular gatherings where we all get together. The six of us went through a lot together, and even as life pulls us in different directions, we’re bound by the time we spent in the Technology Department of the Elizabethtown Area School District.

I am thankful for the Etown Survivors’ Guild.

Today I am thankful for my grandparents.

Where to even begin?

I remember big family vacations to Florida, Ocean City, and more.

I remember spending every Friday and Saturday night at their house for years and loving it. We’d go out for dinner, go shopping, watch some tv, go to church, and wrap it up all on Sunday afternoon with a big family dinner.

I remember them buying me my first new car as a college graduation gift: a 1996 Geo Tracker that I miss to this day.

I remember Grandma’s banana cream pie being the best food in the world.

I remember trips to Nags Head where I was the only kid and I felt like one of the most special people in the world.

I remember them showing up unannounced to plant a tree in my yard once, because they figured it needed one.

I remember them regularly traveling to their home town to take care of their elderly relatives.

I remember family holidays with so much food that if you went hungry, it was your own fault.

I remember watching Pop-Pop mowing the yards of his (sometimes much) younger neighbors, just to be neighborly.

I remember that their lives are, and always have been, marked by service, contentment, and patience.

I truly would not be who I am today without them.

I am thankful for my grandparents.

Today I am thankful for my nieces and nephews.

I love kids. Jen and I have been working with kids, together and individually, for a very long time. Of course, we have our own kids, but we have also taken great delight in our nieces and nephews.

I remember vividly when our first nephew, Christopher, was born in 1996. Jen and I were housesitting for my sister and her husband while they were at the hospital. Chris is now, unbelievably, sixteen years old. He has become a monster of a young man, at slightly under eight feet tall. I exaggerate, but he is seriously tall, like his dad. I love that Chris and I can talk about nerdy things like PHP and JavaScript and CSS.

Chris’s younger brother is Ben, who was born a few months after my daughter. Ben was built like a barrel as a baby, and I predicted he would be a linebacker. I wasn’t too far off, as he is definitely an athlete, although he prefers baseball and basketball. But, lest you think he’s just a jock, I’ve never seen anyone dominate the Nintendo Wii the way Ben can. That and Bop It. Watching Ben play Bop It can be a zen experience.

My niece Emmi was born shortly after Jonathan moved in with us. I take great pride in having been Emmi’s favorite between Jen and me. Any time the extended family was together, Emmi would see me across the room upon arrival and shout, “Uncle Brad!” before making a beeline straight to me. That used to drive Jen crazy since she’s used to being any kid’s favorite person. I honestly think it’s because I’m bald and I was easier to pick out across a crowded room.

Which brings us to Cate, Emmi’s younger sister. She definitely stands in contrast to her sister. Where Emmi is bold and adventurous, Cate is more reserved. Where Emmi is rough and tumble, Cate is (usually) more gentle and delicate. She’s a beautiful child, and she has a wonderfully adorable voice that can alternately bring me to laughter and tears.

Naturally, I love my own kids with all my heart. But these four – Chris, Ben, Emmi, and Cate – I love them, too.

I am thankful for my nieces and nephews.