Port Barre Elementary School in Port Barre, Louisiana has a story to tell.
This school has an amazing principal.
It is not so much the way he leads his school as much as the way he got to lead his school.
Port Barre Elementary School’s principal is the quintessential role model to his students.

Joseph “Gabe” Sonnier planned to go to college right after high school.
However, when his parents separated, he knew that his mother needed help paying the bills.
Gabe Sonnier’s mother was a housekeeper.
Her pay was not enough to make ends meet.

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My husband and I went out to dinner.
We wanted to try a new Mexican restaurant that had just opened in our area.
As we got out of the car, the town square where the restaurant was located looked so lovely.
Lights hung from the trees and were strung all around the gazebo.

The atmosphere was enchanting.
We walked on the brick path to get to the restaurant.
Once inside, I took a seat facing the inside of the restaurant.
My husband took a seat facing the outside.

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I will never win any fashion awards on my morning walk.
Especially in the winter, my attire is all about warmth.
I wear my same periwinkle blue, Columbia jacket with a hood.
On most cold mornings, that hood will be on my head.

I always keep gloves and tissues in my pocket.
I have my phone in one pocket and my keys in another.
Since it is early morning and my walk begins facing east, I wear sunglasses.
I realized that just the oval of my face is visible.

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When I was a little girl in early elementary school I loved learning new words.
I remember learning the word, observe.
We were told to observe the color of the leaves and observe their different shapes.
I used the word, observe, far too much as I was trying to make that word my own.

I remember learning a phrase that I wanted to try the next time I hung up the phone.
A friend called about a homework question.
At the end of our conversation, I said, Good riddance.
I remember my mother giving me a disapproving look from the kitchen.

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I am not a football fan.
I am interested in football if it is my hometown team that is playing.
However, the football game, that is the culmination of the season, is not that important to me.
Having two sons and a husband, I learned to be somewhat enthused.

That day was always the day for a Super Bowl party.
Often that party consisted of just our family when the children were little.
There was still enough noise, and groans, and cheers to fill the house.
I was usually in the kitchen preparing the food that could be eaten as they watched.

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Everything they did was loud.
They spoke loudly.
They laughed loudly.
If truth be told, they even whispered loudly.

It was hard to tell if their loudness was simply the tone of their voice.
Annunciation and voice projection was never a problem for them.
There was one problem; however.
No matter what they said, they sounded angry.

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What a wonderful weekend it was.
My house was bursting at the seams.
I like having a revolving door in our home.
This weekend our door revolved quite a bit.

My son and daughter-in-love came home for the weekend.
One of their friends was getting married.
Many of their college friends were also invited to the wedding.
A whole group of those college friends stayed at our house.

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Right after New Year’s Day, I got a cold.
This usually happens to me right around the same time every year.
We women have so much to do around the holidays, that it is bound to catch up with us.
For me, once I started to feel better, I went back to my old habits.

Old habits such as going to bed later than I should.
Old habits like not giving myself enough down time to rest.
My cold came back, with a vengeance.
Old habits die hard.

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I am not a vegetarian but I easily could be.
I do not like red meat.
I will always choose chicken or fish above meat when we go to a restaurant.
Better yet, I will choose a salad and vegetables.

Years ago, my husband needed to be in California for work.
He was gone for five weeks.
We only had our two daughters at the time.
I traveled out to California for a week to be with him.

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We still have a landline.
I asked my husband to keep our house phone even though I know he wanted to get rid of it.
I explained to him that it was a way to keep my cellphone number private.
I give my cell phone number out very selectively.

The house phone rarely rings for personal calls.
However, during the election season, the phone rang incessantly.
I never answered the phone since I can screen those calls with caller ID.
Why do we still have the landline? Was my husband’s legitimate question.

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