I spent the summer losing my hair, developing ulcers, and sleeping poorly. I had lost my own position and was worried about supporting myself and my daughter. In the 11th hour, though, another teacher left my old school in my department and I am going to be taking his place. I will be teaching my favorite subject (English), working at the school I love, and teaching challenging (yet rewarding) students.

It’s all good and in the end I learned how little I was trusting God to work things out for me.

I was a little nervous that the kids at the party might not know about the whole sock monkey phenomenon, but was greatly relived upon the opening of the gift to hear several of the children exclaim “Sock Monkey!!”

So, the gift was a success. And, the party was fun. Unfortunately, I somehow did not hear Chloe’s mom tell me it was a POOL party. On the upside, we only live about a mile away and I was able to run home quickly and get Gigi’s suit. Gigi had a blast. I got a sunburn.

What if we have to leave on the tail of global disaster? What if only a handful of people can go to colonize a new earth? Logically, one would assume that scientists would take many, many DNA samples so that the future population of the new world would be diverse and healthy, vibrant and worthy?

So, who would be chosen to donate their DNA for such an endeavor? I am sure there are as many opinions on this as there are people alive today. However, I lean more toward the intellectuals, the thinkers, those who invent and expand our humanity.

And me. Don’t forget me. I can see the endless benefits of my DNA being passed along to those who leave to advance the legacy of the human. I cannot imagine not being able to pass along my wit and wisdom and my amazing timing in when it comes to telling inappropriate jokes.

So, it is apt that Crystal River is the place where a public meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was held to talk about protecting the endangered manatees. Much of the states’ human-manatee interaction takes place in and around Crystal River. As the manatee population grows, so does the number of people who want to experience swimming with the big mammals.

The meeting was held to help Federal officials draft a 15-year comprehensive conservation plan for the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. Many people came to the meeting to point out that stricter rules are needed to help protect the manatee population. Some cited the widely circulated videos showing people deliberately harming the animals. Many agree that the number of people in the water should be limited and touching manatees should be outlawed.

Then, there are those who think that the manatee encounters that encourage the petting of the animals serves to create new manatee fans who will in turn stand up to champion manatee safety.

And there is the issue of rental boats in the water. Boating accidents still account for most of the manatee deaths locally.

Fish and Wildlife officials will continue to seek public comment for the next 30 days. Then they will start to draft a management plan. The final plan should be implemented by late 2010.