Mobility - Mom on the Move!

During the past month, I've had an opportunity to spend a great deal of time thinking about the importance of mobility.  My husband, Don, had his second back surgery (a three-vertebra fusion, this time) a few days into the new year and after a one-week stay in the hospital, he was confined to our home for four additional weeks.  Not only was his mobility limited during this time, the round-the-clock care that he needed required the entire family to stay at home, as well.

While we were at home, I spent a great amount of time contemplating my own mobility and how much it means to me.  As a result, I have decided to change the direction of this blog (to a certain extent) to reflect this theme. 

The word mobile is defined in a variety of ways. 

SPA City Race 2012 (Maddie and I both placed 2nd)

Mirriam-Webster defines the it like this: "capable of moving or being moved."  While my husband was bed/chair bound, I was afforded more time to focus on my personal fitness goals because we were all homebound.  Everyone who knows me knows that I am a health nut.  I work out seven days a week for a minimum of one hour and 15 minutes per day and I try to follow a nutritious diet (most days).  I want to spend more time writing about fitness and health and how important these topics are to women who are busy working and taking care of their families.  Busy women frequently fail to take care of themselves because they spend so much time focusing on others.  During the past month, my children also became ill with stomach bugs and colds.  I remained healthy.  I truly believe that the healthy lifestyle that I choose to follow helps me to better ward off illness and also keeps me mentally sane.  One of the threads for my future blogs will focus on the importance of being active!


SWOW Team (before Don's back surgery)

Dictionary.com defines the word mobile as, "digital technology; pertaining to or noting a cell phone, usually one with a computing ability, or a portable, wireless computing device used while held in the hand."  Don and I spend much of our time planning and providing technology-related professional development to educators in and around the State of Arkansas.  We have started our own organization, Schools Without Walls, which focuses specifically on mobile computing.  We do our best to stay abreast and keep others informed of the value of mobile computing and its application in the classroom.  The second thread within the theme of mobility will focus on this area.

The Temple of Zeus, Spring 2012

Finally, Thesaurus.com lists numerous synonyms for the word mobility, but one in particular is of special interest to me.  My undergraduate degree is in social studies with an emphasis on world geography.  There aren't many things that I love more than traveling to new places, meeting new people, and experiencing new cultures.  I enjoy introducing students to these experiences as well and have had several opportunities to take students abroad.  Next month, I will be taking over 50 people to the Western Carribean on a cruise.  Many of them have never been out of the U.S.  Last spring, I took 44 students and faculty on a trip to Italy and Greece.  Next year, I am taking a group to Ireland and Scotland.  In addition, to student travel, I especially like the process that goes into planning a family vacation.  Right now, I am spending a lot of my free time planning an upcoming trip to the Mediterranean Sea that includes several days in Rome and then another cruise with port stops in Spain and France.  I think that these types of experiences are invaluable to us today because we live in a global society and function within a global economy.  Without global experiences and the 21st Century skills afforded by these experiences, students will not be prepared to be successful in adulthood.  So, my final thread will focus on this time of mobility - travel :)

My goal is to post once a week from this point forward on one of these threads.  I plan to post my first entry next week so please stay tuned!

Kids are like tech gadgets...

When the iPhone first came out, several of my good friends ran out and purchased them.  We decided to wait for Apple to work out all the bugs and for our current phone contract to expire before making the transition.  This was extremely difficult because ALL that our friends wanted to talk about was the iPhone.  No matter what we were doing (dining, driving, watching a movie, using the restroom), the iPhone with all its superpowers, somehow wormed its way into the conversation.  At first I was jealous and felt out of the loop, but I soon began to hate the iPhone and everyone who owned it.  My friends stuggled to learn to use the newest apps and plagued us with discussions of their trials.  While attending a conference in Houston last year, we were forced to rely on a friend's iPhone for restaurant reviews and driving directions to Galveston.  The iPhone misadvised us about a restaurant that we had looked forward to visiting and confused the hell out of us as we tried to exit the city limits for an excursion to the beach.  My hatred grew exponentially.

Before proceeding, I must admit that I couldn't help but compare these individuals who talked incessantly about their iPhones to parents who can't shut up about their children.  Think about it.  The expression, "Check out my new iPhone app!  Isn't it cool?" is a lot like, "Look at the latest pictures of my kids.  Aren't they cute?"  There are plenty of other analogous phrases, but you get my point.  When you don't have little kids or an iPhone, you really don't care to hear about "what their poop looks like" or that "you can use it horizonatally AND vertically."  Its all the same when you can't relate.

Well, needless to say, I have turned into someone whom I despise.  I have a toddler at home now and I catch myself boring others to suicide by forcing them to look at her latest picture or listen to a funny story about her.  I still don't have an iPhone (that contract still hasn't expired), but I pre-ordered an iPad and it was delivered to the house on Saturday.  I have taken it to work and parties, forcing others to watch it do its tricks.  But today, I became someone even more horrific than the individuals I described above: I cornered several coworkers and forced them to look at all the cool things that my kid can do, all of which had been uploaded to my new iPad.  The torture was twofold.