famous or infamous?

I was at a workshop this summer and found my teacher of the year picture on the wall. A couple of the ladies at the workshop (there were NO men teachers there) came up to me and said they had seen my picture on the wall and asked if I was the famous Solano County Teacher of the Year! It was funny being recognized.

They actually took that picture right after I broke down crying at the end of the video I made. They shot the video asking me a bunch of questions. You know, why did you become a teacher, what lessons do you hope your students remember, who inspired you the most. Well, at the time, my dad wasn't doing so well and I was really feeling stressed, worrying about him being sick. He has always inspired me to ask questions and look at the world through the lens of science. So, when they got to the who inspired you to become a teacher question, I got all sappy and started bawling.

When my dad saw the video, he says, you know your video was really good in the beginning.  You had a great story going there and then you really messed it up at the end when you started crying.  He makes me laugh! Of course, he's never going to die. He will just fix his heart and kidneys and live forever. He can pretty much fix anything so why not this? It's all in the attitude anyways.

He turns 87 in October and three years ago had a 2nd pacemaker put in. The day after the surgery, we climbed to the top of Castle Rock in Colorado. It probably wasn't the smartest thing we've ever done. Once we got to the top of the mountain, I started to worry that they might have to come up and get us down with a helicopter. But luckily, there was an access road for the ambulances and fire trucks and we were able to walk down the easier path and make it back to the car.