Today is Tuesday, January 25th, 2005; Karen's Korner #467

   A couple of weeks several of my elementary school girlfriends and I got to together for lunch at a local tea room, complete with chatter of many-years-ago memories and updates of our lives since those days.
 
    Donna had gone on to become a physical education teacher with varsity volleyball coaching duties. She taught and coached for many years in Minnesota, taking several teams to the state volleyball tourney with some players selected for state and national recognitions. Even better, some girls earned scholarships to colleges for their continued volleyball play.
 
    After teaching for a number of years at one school, one of Donna's former principals asked her to apply for a job at a neighboring school. At first, Donna declined the offer. "I had a great sophomore volleyball player with all the makings of state tournament teams in the upcoming few years," she said.
 
    But the prinicipal persisted and Donna reconsidered and went for the interview. She decided to make the switch and move to the new school, a school which hadn't won a volleyball game in a number of years.
 
    The new position was more difficult than Donna had anticipated. "Eveybody was killing us on the volleyball court," she said. "Of course, the school where I had taught previously was one of the schools which beat us resoundly."
 
    So where does a daughter go to whine? Home, of course, where mom and dad lend a listening ear and shoulder to cry on. "I was really putting in a tough year," she said. "Mom and dad were good listeners and never said anything one way or the other."
 
    But it was Donna's 66-year-old dad who brought her to her senses, when he simply said, "I've got the best job I've ever had."  Donna said that her dad was working daily as a janitor, getting up every day at 4 in the morning to go to work. And he was enjoying it!
 
    "I knew right then it was time to zip my lip," she said. And the lack of grumbling thoughts and mumbling words changed Donna's mind, too.
 
    She went back to school and coaching to 'enjoy' what she was doing.
 
    Two years later she took her new team and new school to the state volleyball tournament!


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