Nice to meet you, now tell me what's wrong!

A statement most definately not stated in the world we live in, however, just because it's not said, does not mean there's nothing wrong. I've heard many many times in Young Womens, "you never know what someone is going through, so you always need to treat them with respect." And I always thought, "oh, i'm good at that....I'm not quick to judge, or be mean just because." With that in mind, it never occured to me that one of my own teachers could be going through a very hard time in her life, and what I was doing, and how I was acting, was only contributing to the stress she had building up on her back.
My third period, Journalism, can be a very enjoyable class. It's of about 7 girls, and all we do is write articles and play on indesign for the school newspaper. But lets face it. Girls talk. A LOT. and every time we'd start to get loud, my teacher would yell at us for not being quiet. Yes, I know. Every teacher does that. So that was understandable. Sometimes she'd be mad at us for a really little reason, and we were always thinking, gosh! why is she being so mean to us? we didn't do anything!! She would always tell us she was in a bad mood because of the stress she had, and that things weren't getting any easier with the economy, but the other students and I hadn't stopped to think what she could really be going through.
Today, we were all sitting there, having a nice chat about what we were doing this weekend, and after a date was mentioned with a certain person, My teacher said, "he's a good kid. I wish there were older men like him." Having just recently looked at a family picture she had on her desk of her with her husband and kids, I jokingly said, "what, you don't like your husband?" And that's where it all began. She told us how she and her husband were separated and that a divorce was on the way, and that she's been practically raising her kids on her own for 6 years, and that she's given up her prep period to teach another class to earn more money because her husband refuses to help out, and with the economy highly affecting our school, she had the worry of possibly not having a job at all next year. She had to leave the room because talking about it made her cry, and all of the girls in my class looked at each other, because we all knew what we had done. It wasn't our fault she's going through the divorce and having a hard time, but we all knew that we needed to shape up. We saw the teacher that we had loathed for the whole quarter trying to cope with her HUGE problems! She tries so hard at her job, and to raise her kids, the least we could do was cut her some slack and actually respect her as a teacher. I felt so bad, I wanted to cry because I knew that I had been a brat. While we continued to work on the newspaper, Ashley, a girl in my class, and I decided that we all had to shape up. She deserved an awesome class who did 110% on everything that we did. And even though we can't erase what is happening in her life, we can make a little bit of it a little better.
I can now say, I've learned the lesson that I've had in young womens many times. You never know when someone you interact with is having a hard time in their life, especially if they hide it as well as my teacher did. They may seem like the devil to you, but when you see them cry because of a hardship, the only thing you want to do is give them a hug and apologize, even though what is going on isn't your fault. I know I shouldn't have waited to find out about her hardship to start respecting her, and I feel terrible about it. But I can promise her, that this coming newspaper is going to be the BEST one Blue Ridge has ever seen!

What month come after February? MARCH!

A funny little joke my siblings and I would do to eachother. You stand behind the person and ask the question "what month comes after February?" and you have to say "march?" And the person will kick you in the butt until you start marching. Good times....hahaha.
February was an okay month. It is the shortest month of the year, however, it went by very very slow. Nothing exciting happened, and it was all a bunch of stress. But it's over now! I have a new month and I'm looking forward to it. During spring break we get to go pick up Dallin from his Mission in Oakland California! We are all so stoked, especially my dad, since he went to the exact same mission. It will be the first time he's gone back since he came home.
This week has been all jumbled up. and everyday felt like Friday, making it so much slower than it should be. I had the reading and writing portion of the AIMS testing, which wasn't too stressful, since Reading and Writing are my preferred subjects. So the sophomores all went to school at regular time and the freshmen, juniors, and seniors all got to sleep in. I'll have my turn, so I need to shut up about how unfair it was. Thursday and Friday were typical days...I went to a party for my friend's birthday at Red Devil Pizza...and that was.... tolerable. Don't ever invite your boyfriend to your parties if your best friends are gonna be there. Because you won't talk to them, and that's a fact. So let's just say that the party was tolerable.
The weather has been beautiful these past few days!! I'm so excited! Tomorrow I'm going for a walk at the Rim Trail since I love that place so much. If anyone wants to join me, just give me a call! haha!
I just got back from one of my best friend's Court of Honor to receive his Eagle Award, and that was a really nice time! There was a picture of Chris (the friend receiving the award) and a lot of other boys who are in my ward when they were about 10-11 years old. It's crazy to think that I've been in Primary and Sunday school with them since I was 8 years old. Over the years, we've all become one big family. The boys, like Ty Johnson, Chris Brimhall, Garrett Horne, and even Kemish Zielenski are my brothers from other mothers. Most of the time I want to punch them, but I think about all of the good times and the hard times we've been through, and I am so thankful for them. The Young Women are my very best friends and I know I can go to any one of them for anything, including the leaders, and they'd be happy to help me. The Lord knows what he's doing when he inspires the stake president to put wards together. I am so thankful for my ward and the friendships that have blossomed over the past 7 years!
Well, it's sunday night and I just made an applesauce cake, so I'm going to go enjoy that. Enjoy your week everyone! March is going to be amazing!!!

-- Janae Coons