Extra Credit, Dean "the Marine", Leave it Better

In the first few weeks of school, Jackson has learned some hard lessons. In his previous school which was a charter school the only grades you received was for work you did in school. There was no grades for bribing kids to bring papers back to school, no homework grades and no participation grades. Whereas in his public high school that is exactly what you get. Just for doing the homework you get a 100% homework grade. If you don't do it you get a zero. The students are given tons and I mean tons of paperwork to complete for the next day. It is actually parent homework. If it is not turned in by the next day, the student gets a zero for a homework grade.

Because of this adjustment Jackson has a lower than expected grade in his environmental science class. I told him he needed to bring it up immediately and he needed to figure out how. His science teacher already had extra credit posted. One of the choices was a stream clean up. We emailed the head of the clean up no response. We emailed him a second time no response. Jackson emailed his teacher to find out if he had to preregister to participate. Her answer was no so we decided to just show up.

Low and behold we arrive at a local park in Matthews, NC about 15 mins from our home and we meet Dean "the Marine". Dean is a 78 year old Marine veteran who served in Vietnam and a few other places. Clearly he is retired but filling his days covering a few acres of Mecklenburg County in Charlotte NC keeping the streams clean. Buried in a very busy retail area with a Costco, Dicks, Old Navy just to name a few is a beautiful patch of heaven. I have lived in this area since 1995 and seen signs for it but really had no idea what it was.

As we walked, talked, picked up trash and cleared the streams I learned more in 2.5 hours than I have in an entire day of everyday life. Did you know just Mecklenburg County NC there are over 3000 miles of streams. You read that right 3000 miles!! There are 3 yes just 3 employees who manage these 3000 miles. Yes 1000 miles per employee!! So the county relies on volunteers like Dean to help keep the streams clean.

Jack and I walked along the entire back wall below a huge retail shopping center and picked up trash so it would not end up in the stream below. We filled, just Jack and I in 2.5 hours more than two contractor bags fill of trash. We collected beer bottles, wine bottles, energy drink cans, soda cans, the paper cups that Costco uses for samples and tons of plastic groceries bags just to name a few items. As we spoke with Dean he also told us another bit of startling news. In all the years he has been doing stream clean only SIX volunteers ever came to help and that included Jack and I. I was speechless. This is why he did not respond to Jack's emails he didn't think we would show up.

For a little while Jack and climbed up and down hills, along a black topped path and circled back around and met back up with Dean at a beautiful stream. We climbed down in the steam and walked down it for a while pulling limbs out of the water, removing the big rocks and pulling trash out of the water. Dean walks this area making sure the water flow is not blocked to prevent flooding.

For local peeps this is the bridge you drive over to get from Costco to the Old Navy,
 Dicks, World Market side.

At the top of the hill where that rock wall is this other side
of the rock wall is the Costco parking lot in Matthews, NC.

A lonely fall leaf floating down the stream. Too many of
these in the steams can cause flooding.

A while back a huge tree fell over the stream. Dean took his chain saw and cut it up in smaller pieces but they are still too much for him to get out. He has turned the logs so the flow with the water and not against it until he can cut the logs up further and pull them up with a winch. I wish I was better prepared and Phil was with me. We could have made quick work of that log and any other things Dean has been trying to methodically do alone with out hurting himself.

The stream we stomped through pulling up sticks
and debris that can block the water flow. Also where
the logs are that still need to be removed.

As we walked back to where we met at the opening of the stream we sat and talked. I pulled my boots off and dumped the water out of them. We talked about some of the dangers of him being out here by himself. He told me how the VA supplied him with an SOS medallion for him to where around his neck. If he falls it will locate him and send emergency help. It also has a button to press if he is able. Something his family was grateful he wears.

Those of you that know us well we are a very busy family. I have a calendar in my phone and everyone is color coded. If you are not on the calendar we will not make it to your event. Knowing this was something that Jack needed to do for school it made the calendar. However, had it not been for that I would have continued on with my life and had no idea this goes on. Don't get me wrong I have seen stream clean up signs but I never stepped up to help. I can promise you this will not be the only time we do this.

Earlier this year when we went to Camp LUCK Family Camp, the theme was "Leave it Better". This is a perfect example of how were can do our part to leave things better. Dean "the Marine" will not be around forever and then what? Who will step up and take his place? Will they care as much as he does? Why do you have to throw your trash around? How long does it take to walk to the trash can?

Sometime in the next couple of weeks we will be doing this again. I hope to get my whole family doing this for a few hours on a Saturday. Please contact me if you are interested in doing your part. I would love for you to meet Dean "the Marine".

Spring 2019

As 2019 started we hit the ground sprinting and have barely come up for air. Since the middle of January KT and Jack have been on the soccer field. We made a deal with KT that she needed to try out for the high school soccer team and let's just see what happens. She was fighting us all the way because she was afraid we would tell her she would not be able to play rec soccer if she made the high school soccer team. As long as she kept her grades up she could play both.

Tryouts were three days long for two hours after school. During PE class the second day of tryouts she threw up in the trash can during PE. Her PE teacher told her to sit out the rest of class since it was her last block and she was going home anyway. Little did the PE teacher know that she would stay after school and complete the second day of tryouts. When Phil picked her up from tryouts she told him what happened. For someone who seemed hell bent on not trying out she certainly displayed her inner warrior and left it all out on the field.

Sadly when she came home and told me I laid the hammer down and told her she was staying home from school. She looked so defeated and then she threw up again. I thought for sure she had missed her chance. She finally decided this was something she really wanted and it slipped through her fingers. I reached out to her math teacher who also happens to be the soccer coach and told him she would miss the next day of school and the final day of tryouts. He sent me her missed assignment and also told me she made the JV team. We were all elated for her.

They have had 4 games and are 3-1 and KT scored a goal in one of the games.

As I see her mature and really show us what she wants I am proud to see a well rounded young lady who will body check you on the soccer field if you double cross her. She is taking ART1 and I am seeing her beautiful eye for art, kind of her hidden talent. She is horseback riding, playing on two different soccer teams and has decided she wants to go into animal sciences as an adult. It will be fun to see her progress.

Her art assignment on shadowing. My favorite to date.

I have yet to figure out how she gets that ponytail to fly but she does it with such flare. I still believe the soccer field is one of her happy places. Win or lose she is at home on the pitch.

                                      

This weekend she started her rec league games and it will be her biggest challenge yet. She is one of a handful of girls playing on against male dominated teams showing them who's boss. When I hear the opposing coach yelling watch out for number 6 she has a leg or number 6 is fast stay with her. The results this weekend were not what we wanted but she scored and the opposing teams know she will challenge them girl or not.

Do you see that face? She is going to kill me!

Jackson has been up to much different things. He has to decide where he wants to go to high school and he has been working on keeping his grades up so he can get in. His first choice is a magnet school that has an engineering program that is very competitive. He is taking high school math as an 8th grader, joined the chess club, plays on the same soccer team as KT and is also working as a referee for the rec soccer league. 

It has been interesting to watch Jackson this school year. He is in a mentoring program, Big Bear, for school with a kindergarten class. These little kids just love him to pieces. One day the kindergarten teacher stopped me in the hall to tell me how Jackson saved the day. She had a kinder student crying and was just inconsolable. She needed to help calm him. Jackson stepped up and taught the writing lesson for the rest of the students. They were engaged with him and the teacher didn't even have to asked him. This is his 3rd semester as  Big Bear. His current Kinder teacher all but begged him to come back to her class. When I am at school with Jackson random students just come up to him and hug him. He knows all of their names and can tell me all about each student.

He loves his Math class and is finally being challenged. One night the teacher sent home a large amount of homework. I did not even have to ask him if he had homework. Some of the assignment confused him. Although I could help him I encouraged him to email his teacher to ask for help. He figured it out before she emailed back but her answers confirmed he had done it correctly. It has been nice to see him maturing trying to advocate for himself.

Jackson's challenges with this season's soccer teams is his height. He has equal skill level but some of these athletes are almost 6 ft tall. He does not have the wing span in his legs and arms to race some of the players down the field. My only hope is that it does not discourage him since he is 13 playing in a 16U league. I hope he is able to learn some good take aways from the season win or lose. Jackson has also taken on the task of part time goalie. He knows his height is a disadvantage but he is trying to work smarter since he claims this disadvantage.

I cannot lie though my favorite part about his soccer season is that KT and Jack are on the same team. When Jack is in the box KT is a defender and does everything to help him. If they are both on the pitch they communicate well together. Win or Lose this is how they come off the field.

Jackson's latest venture is reffing soccer games. He helped out some last season and has been officially trained with a work schedule this season. Yes this is paid job for him. He was so mad at me right after the above picture was taken, he was running to the car to change his clothes and become more official. He was mad I stopped him to mark the event because he did not want to be late just because his mom was taking pictures. I snuck down to the field he was working and took a picture of him on the job. I heard he did a pretty good job.

                    

Then we have Pnut. She has always come with her own set of challenges. She has after school tutoring a few days a week offered by the school. She decided this quarter she wanted to join the Glee club. She has an end of quarter performance coming up soon. Hopefully I will get a few good pictures. 

She is also riding horseback once a week. I believe this is something that has really built her confidence. This week she was taking a trail ride with the instructor and other students and they started going up a small incline. Her particular horse picked up speed going up hill and Madi was not ready for it. The horse bucked her off the saddle and she landed on the horses neck. Trying to get back in the saddle she fell off. She did not get injured and did not think twice about getting back on the horse. She has no fear about most things in life and I am sure she even comprehends the ratio of her weight to the horse. She currently weighs about 55 lbs.

Lately with all of the soccer games she has just been tagging along and being a really good sport about it. I have tried to encourage her to bring toys and remind her she just has to hang out until it is over. She asked me since the car was so close could she just hang out in the car. I obliged and a little while later found this.

She is laying in the van watching a movie.

When the movie was over she found other siblings that were just as disinterested at the soccer game as she was. I found Madi climbing on an old, very large tree truck and she stopped for a picture. This truly exemplifies Madi beating to her own drum. 99% of the time she does not have socks on with those boots. She loves being barefoot, she comes by it honestly.

Someday we will come up for air but I am not sure when. In the meantime I have at least stopped briefly to give an update. 

TTFN~