A Glimpse into the Next 30 Years

This week Clark and I started settling in to something that will likely resemble our routine...

Clark had meetings nearly every day at school and got to meet some of his students at Freshman Orientation Tuesday night. He's been pretty busy preparing to teach a new curriculum and helping the Ag. Teacher with FFA activities. He had the opportunity to meet the chapter officers at a meeting on Friday and attended a bake sale at Tractor Supply on Saturday. I had the opportunity to go to Riverheads on Thursday (my day off) to see the school and meet some of the folks Clark will be working with. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and seem to be excited that Clark has joined them. Students start school tomorrow and I have no doubt Clark will do a great job teaching a new subject in a new school.

Wednesday we got to experience what life "on call" is like. The folks at work are letting Erin and I get good and settled in before we are regulars on the large animal on call schedule. However, this week the other mixed animal vet was out of town and he asked if I would take his night on call. I was happy to do so. I eventually had to have my first night on call, so might as well get it under my belt. Fortunately, there were only two calls, and they ended up not being true emergencies. Unfortunately, the second call interrupted dinner with friends. Our friends Laura, Andrew, and their adorable son Curtis happened to be vacationing in the area this week. Wednesday seemed to be the only night that worked for both of us. I prepped them about being on call and kept my fingers crossed. Call #1 came right at 5 o'clock so we pushed dinner back an hour. We had just ordered our food when the phone rang. Fortunately, due to the circumstances and it not being a true emergency we were able to (hurriedly) finish dinner before making Call #2. It was so great to once again have some old friends in town. They did some neat things in the area and told us about some great places they ate at. I can't wait to try some of their recommendations.

None of my pics could truly capture his cuteness!
What a joy!

Thursday we went to the Rockingham County Fair. It was much bigger than the Augusta County fair... almost as big as the Mountain State or Dixie Classic Fairs in NC. Highlights included watching the some of the dairy showmanship classes, eating deep fried country ham sandwiches for dinner (no shame!), Kachunga and the Alligator Show, seeing Erin & Jesse, an antique tractor pull...

My very first tractor pull!

And last but certainly not least...

OK so I took this video of some really adorable duckies going down a slide and I can't get it uploaded :(

I may just have to see if I can get it on Facebook for you to see there

Sorry folks.. technology problems...

Friday and Saturday were small animal days. Honestly, Friday was pretty tough. To simplify: I'm just going to have to learn that I can't save them all, I'm not always going to know the answer, and I'm not always going to please everyone. And this is a VERY hard lesson for me. Don't get me wrong, the greatest majority of my cases and client interactions are going great! But that small percent of less than ideal situations really bother me. I'm a non-boat-rocking-people-pleaser. But the sooner I square with the realities of this career and just take what lessons I can from each situation and move on, the more I will enjoy my job and life in general. I'm certainly learning every day and have wonderful help and support at work that make each day great.

Saturday evening we traveled back up to Harrisonburg, but this time to do a little shopping. The mall there is quite bigger than the one and Staunton and there are lots more stores there in general. We broke our streak of going to local, non-chain restaurants and ate at Outback. But we vow to visit downtown Harrisonburg one day and check out the food scene there.

Today we tried a new church. My coworker had invited us there with her and her family. We went to the early service, Sunday School, and then brunch at Kathy's with them. It was great spending time with her and her family and everyone at the church was very welcoming.

We're looking forward to this week- lots of social activities planned. We're excited to meet new people and get to know new friends even better! Hope everyone has a great week!