The shout-out post

First of all I want to say that you are reading the blog of the wife of the Chapin Alternative Academy Teacher of the Year.

HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Yep, the Evil Genius Husband, just 30 years old and who has only been teaching for five of those years, has won his school's Teacher of the Year award. AND, get this, they have a middle school and high school programme there and no middle school teacher has ever won the award before.

I'm more proud of him than I can put into words.

He's usually the first there in the mornings and often one of the last to leave, he takes up any slack and does whatever job is needed. He goes to school when he doesn't feel well, when the weather's impossible, and takes the Saturday detention when he can. AND he's going for his National Boards.

*Bursts with pride*

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Dad came down yesterday. He drove himself here and walked into my house under his own impetus - sans crutches.

I'm just stunned. Stunned and grateful. Grateful for his amazing recovery and grateful for the folks who made it happen. I wanted to take a second and give a holla to those people who helped. Helped me, helped him: the folks who stepped up and did what they could; the ones who helped us get through what was a nightmare ... a little quicker.

First of all to the B family who suffered the most horrible loss but who helped me out at every turn and who were there for Dad steadily from the get-go. I can never express how sorry I am or how grateful.

To KH who smoothly stepped in and took care of Dad's pets with no fuss and no drama and with the determination to do so for as long as she was needed.

To KK who, with her precise mind and organizational skills, was on top of the situation in a flash and helped me out more than she will ever know.

To JT who was the soothing voice of support (and reason!) no matter what. What a great deal of strength (and everything else) she gave me!

To DR for her help and support and emails: another shoulder I knew I could always cry on.

To Dad's dear friends DR and wife MR who carefully co-ordinated their visits to be with Dad in W-S when I couldn't.

To RJ and JC and all the other guys at UNCC who helped keep the students updated with info and who took care of Dad's classes for him.

To Steelman (KW) who was always so cheerful and upbeat and brought cool computer goodies for Dad to use.

To TR who made me laugh and showed me a detour around the Charlotte traffic that cut almost a hour off my drive time.

To WK (of the grabby clutch) and AK who found me a Cingular store and saved me from a trip to Hell Mall.

To AG and his TechnoGeek wife, MG, who came and took dad out for some desperately needed fresh air when he was staying here (and helped us fix our network).

To those long-time friends of Dad's who reached out to me even though some of them hadn't seen me since I was Bitty Girl's age: ST, TR, BT, JP, JR (and his wife JW), RP and KP.

To CB who was working so hard on Dad's behalf and who called me "Hun" like he'd known me forever.

To the lovely women who work with Dad at the University and who beat the bushes and got info for me when I couldn't figure stuff out.

To the students and ex-students who wrote, emailed, and commented on this blog. Every voice, every word, helped.

To the medical staff at Wake-Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem where he couldn't have gotten better care and to the other staff, especially Monique, who put up with my repeated phone calls and dumb questions and helped me no end.

To the staff at Oak Summit, especially the young and probably underpaid techs who had to do the hard and dirty jobs and who were sweet and attentive while Dad was there.

To SR the no-nonsense physical therapist who dragged Dad toward getting well whether he felt like it that day or not. Girl, you rock.

To my aunt ZH whom I knew I could count on and who was close by if I needed her.

To my Mum who jeopardized her job to drive the hour to my home in the wee hours of the morning every other day and watch her bad grandbabies.

And finally, to Evil Genius Husband who put up with it all: the disruptions, the stress, the crying, the anger, the exhaustion, the phone calls ... with quiet aplomb.

Thank you.