2023 in Review: Dr. and Mr. Croupe

This post will cover the last of my top three moments from 2023 (again, in no particular order). If you are interested in the other two, click here to read about my trip to Gold Bar, Washington or click here to meet the two newest Croupe family members. Just like my other two posts, I'll provide a little background on how I got to this point.

Some people would make excellent professional students. They enjoy research and study and want to attend classes with others interested in the same things. My husband is one of those people. I am not. I always did fine in school. I didn't hate it or anything. I understood that to be a teacher I had to go to college, so I did all the right things and got my BA in English in 2003. However, and my undergraduate GPA can attest to this, I wasn't the best at being a student. My study skills kinda stunk. I was not great at making to every class. I had this paralyzing fear of speaking with my professors about anything. Therefore, I would need extrinsic motivators to sign up for any more schooling in the future. Turns out, the district I taught in required a Masters which motivated an MLA in 2010. Excellent. Done. Right?

Enter a brisk, Saturday morning in the fall of 2018 during a paraprofessional learning conference, I stood in the hallway between sessions chatting with my Director (Instructional Technology) when she casually drops the question: "Why don't you have your Doctorate?" The easy answer was I don't do student-ing very well, so I avoid the potential of failure like the plague. The more complicated answer (that I realize now) is that the Imposter Syndrome that taunts me daily, had me believing I was not the type of person who deserved a Dr. at the front of her name. That was for distinguished people. That was for highly intelligent people. That was for people who could contribute innovative ideas to the world.

Me in August of 2023:

Exactly 20 years after I graduated with my BA, I now have my EdD in Educational Leadership. The journey was awesome. I still wasn't the best student, but I found something I loved to focus on for my study. Even now, when I read through my study I am quite proud of what I accomplished. (A great way to shut up that Imposter Syndrome - BTW.) What it really took was someone, my Director, who saw me as the type of person who deserved that Dr. in front of her name. She believed that about me, and then I did too. (Actually, it turned out a LOT of people believed that about me. It is amazing how we can be harder on ourselves.)

I'm still not used to addressing myself as Dr. Croupe, and I've had people point out how jerky it can be to correct people who still call me Mrs. Croupe. However, neither of those will keep me from saying this: I look forward to the day the mail starts coming in addressed to Dr. and Mr. Croupe.

PS: If you've earned a Doctorate, be proud of that. I'll gladly call you Dr. I'll also correct others on your behalf if they don't. 

2023 in Review: Fur Babies

Time to continue my top three moments for my 2023. These are in no particular order. You can read about my trip to Gold Bar, Washington by clicking here.

For some context on this next post, I'm going to back up to Thanksgiving 2022. We said good-bye to our sweet dog, Stevie, who had lung cancer and was no longer able to sleep or eat. With Stevie gone, we were without a dog for the first time since 2007. I wasn't sure how long we'd be without a dog as part of the family, and then one day Benji said, "You know what I miss? Having a dog excited to see me when I get home."

Benji expressed wanting a Pug he could name Donut, and Will shared his desire for a Corgi he could name Edward. Around the end of January I started following various rescues and checked city shelters almost daily. Going to a breeder is not an option for us. Every dog I've ever owned (as a child or now) was a rescue or adoption of some sort, and even with such specific requests I planned to keep it this way.

You know how sometimes you get a feeling and you just know something is meant to be? Around February, I saw a post on DFW Pug Rescue of a lil guy named Odis:

It only took one look. It was undeniably clear to me at that moment that we had to adopt this dog. Within a week, he was ours and renamed Donut:

I continued to watch the rescues over the new few months for Corgis. This seemed a more difficult task as many of the available Corgis needed to be the only dog in the family. Then around October I saw a post for Miss Mayhem (Sugar) on Forget Me Not Rescue - Texas's page. The name "Miss Mayhem" intrigued me, so I reached out and 48 hours later...

She was initially a little mischievous, but nothing the Croupes couldn't handle. Additionally, she is two-years-old like Donut! Their dynamic was my main concern. However, I had nothing to worry about. There are times they both get the zoomies and it is pretty nuts watching them run around the living room and kitchen, but in the end they are both super sweet dogs. Oh, and instead of renaming her Edward (which I told Will I was fine with since we'd had a Freddie and Stevie who were both female dogs), the boys chose to call her Biscuit in keeping with a British feel while matching Donut. By Thanksgiving 2023, we were a complete family. 

By Christmas 2023, we are still a complete family full of all the puppy love we could hope for.

PS: Both are dogs also have Instagram accounts: my.pug.donut and my.corgi.biscuit

2023 in Review: A Breath of Fresh Mountain Air

As 2023 winds down over the next couple of weeks, I will share the top three moments (in no particular order) for me from the year.

For this first post, there are a few things to remember (or know) about me:

• I am a believer. I definitely believe there are moments God calls us to something and we cannot fight it.
• I am what my husband describes as "indoorsy." Nothing clean happens outside. I do not camp. I do not hike. When I choose a vacation location, I want a big city like New York, LA, or London.
• I am an Enneagram One which basically means I am riddled with anxiety to get things "right" or "perfect."

Earlier this year, I told Chris we needed to take a short vacation somewhere in the mountains. Somewhere in the mountains near a stream or river. Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, the call was that specific. God put this on my heart, and I had to make it happen. God was so explicit with His request, I used a text to image generator to show Chris where I needed to go:

We decided on Gold Bar, Washington. We would fly into Seattle (a new place for me) and check it out for a bit then drive on to a cute, mini cabin on the Skykomish. (Don't worry - the mini cabin had electricity and hot water. Let's not get crazy.)

For three days I soaked in the beautiful weather. I looked at the stars at night. I drank my morning tea on a deck overlooking a river running by mountains. I even made my way down to the river and sat on the rocks to watch the sun rise one day and set on another. I breathed the fresh air and listened to the birds. We even saw an eagle fly by!

Additionally, I went on TWO hikes. God called me to this place, but it was my Guardian Angel working overtime on my stupidity. Chris and I decided to see Bridal Veil Falls. Remember how I am "indoorsy?" Well, we didn't have any kind of hiking equipment. We had no idea what this would actually entail. WE HIKED UP A MOUNTAIN IN FLIP FLOPS. No water. In jeans. Was it worth it? Of course! However, we understand how incredibly lucky we were to make it down in one piece.

That doesn't me we learned our lesson. The next day we went up to Heybrook Lookout. Still in flip flops mostly because someone said they had done it in slippers. It was supposedly easier and much shorter than the Bridal Veil Falls hike. Y'all...if I never hike another day in my life, it will be too soon.

So why did God call me here? Why on Earth would He ask ME to go someplace so outside my preferences and comfort zone? 

Because I needed to stop. I needed to breathe. I needed perspective. I needed to let go of so many anxieties. I needed to know that I CAN step away from the day-to-day and things won't fall apart.

The trip didn't "cure" me of anything. I still wake up with 1 million things on my mind. It did remind me to take a moment though. I use the Calm app for soundscapes or meditations. I sometimes drive in silence to appreciate the quiet. I have a little more confidence when I want to take a risk.

In the end, I had to let go of control and trust. Two things I don't do very well. God knows this. That's why He knew I needed a reminder.

So there it is. One of my top three moments of the year.