I will gladly import a photo from the Paoli Jr-Sr High School facebook page. Hope I don’t get chewed!

This is Emmett Dunn, Class of 2020, Paoli High School.  With him are Mr. Greg Walker, superintendent of Paoli schools and Dr. Sherry Wise, PHS principal.  This photo was taken earlier today at the Washington County Courthouse in Salem, Indiana.  This was a graduation ceremony for area graduates that have enlisted in the Armed Forces.  When their schools finally get around to a graduation ceremony they won’t be here.  They will be serving all of us.  I wish I had been there today.

Not long after this ceremony, I exchanged emails with Emmett.  I told him to make sure I have his mailing address when he gets to where he is going, Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Thank you to Mr. Walker and Dr. Wise for being there.  And thank you to Emmett’s parents.  I know a thing or two about these circumstances.  Our son, Jarrett, an Army vet, is working at the US Embassy in Iraq as I type these words.  He was due home April 17th.  I know he will get back home eventually.

I will never be able to thank Emmett and his family enough.

To be a school counselor for a graduating class I have yet to introduce myself to, my first day at Paoli was to be March 30th, is the most surreal professional challenge of a long career in education.  The students and parents I have met via phone or email or video conference have all been most gracious.  I can’t thank them enough.  Y’all have made an ocean of lemonade from this place and time we are in.

With that said, I would be remiss if I did not give a HUGE thank you to the folks at Paoli I have worked with from afar.  Dr. Wise, Rachel Robinson, and Sara Parks…I so appreciate your effort and your patience and your passion for helping kids.  Thanks also to the teachers I have spent time with in meetings, be they general faculty or specific conferences.  You are pros!  All of you.  And don’t get me started on the football coaching staff!  We could be here for a while.

Oh what a difference two months can make.

In March I wrote a post about the walking path I have been using for, well, two months.

The time has gone by quickly at times.  Most of the time it has not.  These are tough times.

I walked six miles today.  With the help of an American Top 40 rebroadcast from July of 1988 and Justin Hayward’s Spirits Live album, I kept pushing.  I did not come in for a drink of water.  When I got to the kitchen after my walk, I was like a water buffalo refilling.

During my walk I reflected on so many things.  I thought about the school business, of course.  I am so glad I made the move to Paoli.  Even though I have yet to spend a day in the building, I know I am where I belong.  When we eventually get there like we are used to, it will be a true celebration.

I thought about my Uncle Roger in Georgia.  Earlier in the day I emailed him quite a few words.  I was ashamed when I looked back at my email at how long it had been since he and I had been back and forth.  He had been the last one back…in March.  During my walk I checked my email on my phone.  I was delighted to see that he had responded.

Earlier in the week my brother Darrell put together a video of a song I wrote a long time ago.  I gave him pictures and Darrell did what he does and made magic.  It has been well received via facebook.  I was singing along to the song last week and it just struck me.  This is a song for the times we are living in.

The video is here…. I hope it works for you.  I am not a techno wizard.

And so it goes.

Take care of each other.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson