I Play Pickleball Now

 

I play pickleball now.

 

Dan got me a set of paddles for my birthday. 

 

He was probably tired of hearing me sigh every time we drove by the courts popping up all over the surrounding 'burbs.

 

"I miss playing tennis. You never play tennis with me," I lamented. "I wonder if pickleball is as much fun." 

It is.

 

Benny, my seven-year-old nephew, taught me the basics in our driveway while he was visiting one weekend. At one point, the ball rolled into our street as a pickup truck rounded the corner, and I almost got us both run over. 

 

Don't tell his parents . . .

My husband, Dan, and I eventually scoped out a few nearby courts. The trick, however, was finding an empty one.

 

We discovered that if we went to the more conservative neighborhoods on Sunday mornings, especially those close to an evangelical church, we could usually find an open court. 

The courts nearest us were always full on Sunday mornings. I wonder what that says about our neighborhood. #heathens

One Saturday evening, I ran into a friend of mine who attends my church, and we talked about possibly seeing each other between services Sunday morning.

I texted him the next morning, "Nevermind. We decided to go play pickleball instead of going to church again 😆."
 

I also texted my dad a similar message, "We're going to play pickleball instead of going to church. The only way we can find a court is to go to church-y, conservative neighborhoods on Sunday mornings. And we're extending our summer before choir starts in the fall."
 

"Nice. Pickleball is the next step to old age," was his response.

"Dan and I are fierce at pickleball," I replied. "We don't look like the other old people playing around us."

 

Now, who's ready for some badass pickleball? 

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The Coke Machine in the Music Room

After our school got new carpet and paint over the summer, I was not the only one with weird stuff in my classroom. But I was the only one with a Coke machine.

 

#mostpopularmusicroomever

 

I returned to school and found the Coke machine in my room and thought I could get a few of the several district movers, who were in our school specifically to move weird things out of people's rooms, to relocate the machine to the faculty room where it belonged.

 

No luck. None of the 525 workers in our building were allowed to touch it. (I do want to say, they were very helpful with everything else though.) 

 

Only someone from Coke was allowed to move the Coke machine. (We may or may not have tried to shimmy it out the door while no one was looking, but it wouldn't budge.)

 

The school and one of the big bosses from facilities and operations (I had connections, man) started calling the Coke company while I worked on getting my classroom set up around the machine. There was a little over a week before kids were scheduled to darken my door.

 

"Kids can get thirsty! They’re just being proactive," one of my friends commented on Facebook.

"I’m sure loads of caffeine and sugar will enhance the learning experience," said another.

"PTO Fundraiser?" I asked one of our parents who commented on my photo.

"Come on. It would be fun to have all your kiddos hyped up on sugar in class," a friend joked.

"Or fun to have me hyped up on sugar in class!" I responded . . . because that would be the reality.

On Thursday of that week, I returned my classroom from in-services to find it minus one Coke machine.

 

 

I was told our administrative assistant and the big boss from facilities finally got a hold of someone at Coke (after several tries) and "gave them the business!" Nice!

 

So the Coke machine found its way back home to the faculty room.

 

 

Don't worry. We don't have Coke machines for children in our elementary schools, although, if it wasn't moved out of my room by the time school started, I did consider giving each kid a free soda right before they headed back to class. 

 

That's a joke. I wouldn't do that to my teacher friends.

 

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Funniest Stories Thus Far

 

It's that time of year again, time to let you all know how hilarious my job can be before I get old and jaded and tired. 

 

Of course, that's impossible in my line of work. Like the poster on my classroom wall says, "Music Keeps You Young."

 

One of my kindergartners, who is a born contrarian, is always asking, "Why? Why?" or even saying, "No!" instead of following directions.

 

He was told by Copy Cat (my singing cat puppet) that he needed to do what Mrs. Duggan said or he wouldn't get a high five at the end of class. 

 

Suddenly, he looked very serious and said quietly,  “Sorry, Copy Cat.”

 

He had no more behavior problems for the rest of the class . . . at least on that day. 

 

I called on one of my first graders who was patiently raising her hand, and she announced, "When I marry Sonny, I want to be a music teacher." 

 

Sonny, who was sitting next to her at the time, just grinned.

 

This is not the first time she has said she wants to be a music teacher. This is the first time she proclaimed she is marrying Sonny. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

"You have a long time to decide who you want to marry," I told her. 

I think she might be serious about the music teacher thing though.

 

One day,  I sang my typical, "Criss-cross applesauce, pizza pepperoni sauce, ice cream with chocolate sauce, bottoms on your dots" to one of my kindergarten classes.

 

They immediately sang back to me, without hesitation and in perfect pitch, “Mrs. Duggan’s hungry.” 

 

How did they come up with that?! Spontaneously and collectively like that?!  

 

On Monday, I mentioned the Labor Day holiday to my 6th graders. One girl approached me at the end of class.

 

"Is somebody having a baby?" she asked quietly and looked at me like I had a special secret.

 

"Do you think I'm having a baby?" I asked her. My shirt was little large on me. 

 

"Well, you said something about labor." 

 

Sigh of relief! I'm probably past childbearing age.

 

"Oh! Labor Day is a holiday that celebrates workers because 'labor' can also mean hard work."

 

I didn't tell her that's why it's called "going into labor," because it's the hardest work.

 

We were playing a getting-to-know you game, and every year I choose a fun pop song as part of the activity. I tried so hard to find a current song, maybe by Sabrina Carpenter or Taylor Swift. 

 

But I gave up and played a Weezer song instead because I'm a ride-or-die GenX-er. 

 

And so many kids said to me, "Mrs. Duggan, WHAT SONG IS THIS? It's awesome!" 

 

GenX music is The. Best. You've just been schooled, kids.

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End of the School Year Shenanigans

 

You may or may not have noticed that it's been a long time since I've updated my blog.

Actually, I have had this end-of-school post ready to go for a while, but I am just getting around to publishing it . . . even though school starts in a two weeks. 

 

Before I tell you about the end of the 2023-2024 school year, here are a few moments from throughout the year. 

For example, this is a conversation between my husband, Dan, and I, right around the time of my fall program.

 

 

Despite the above panic text, I set an intention to be present during my students' performances this year, to enjoy their music experiences right along side them. I spent the year taking "mental pictures" rather checking things off my list.

 

Here were a few (of many) mental pictures.

 

Snapshot #1

My student actors spontaneously broke out into a beautiful chorus of "Cheer Up, Charlie" when the girl playing Mrs. Bucket was practicing her solo.

 

Snapshot #2

The 5th grade teacher said he greeted his students with "Good Morning" everyday as they entered the classroom, and one student always sang good morning back to him. 

 

Right before the kids' spring musical, she didn't sing back to him one morning. He asked her what was up, and she said she had to save her voice for the program and that she wasn't going to sing until rehearsal. 

 

(This was not an order from her music teacher. She came up with that on her own.)

 

Snapshot #3

During a final program rehearsal, I told the kids, "It’s your show now." 

 

One of the boys came up to me at the end and said, “So what you’re saying, is we can take it from here?”

I also took actual pictures. Here are some of my favorite end-of-the-year memories.

 

Boise Music Week Choir Performance

 

 

Final Spring Choir Concert

 

 

Field Day

 

 

Camp Day Sing Along

 

 

 

Talent Days in the Music Room

 

 

 

6th Graders "Visiting" Me the Second to Last Day of School 

 

 

 

Kindergarten Graduation

 

 

6th Grade Parade

 

  

 

At the end of the year, I had to move my stuff out of the music room for painting and new carpet.

 

 

My guest room is now a music room storage area.

 

On the last day of school, I stopped by the grocery store closest to my house. It happens to be right across the street from a junior high. Middle schoolers were running up and down the aisles with their friends, wild and crazy.

 

All I could think was, They’re your problem now. 

 

(Of course, that's only true for a couple more weeks.)

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Roller Rink Time Warp

A couple of months ago, I went rollerskating at the roller rink in my hometown. Nothing had changed. It still had the same bathrooms, the same concessions, the same late '80s carpeting, and the same smell. And it was still a pretty popular place to be.

 

My nephews were attending a birthday party at the skating rink, and my husband, Dan, and I drove down to skate with them . . . kind of. 

Our youngest nephew, Benny, made a point of buzzing past me several times. He loved being the fastest; you can see in the picture that he's getting ready to fly off around the rink. So, I didn't really skate with Benny. 

 

Desmond skated about my speed. I hung out with him while Uncle Dan tried to catch up with Benny.

 

 

 

During one of my trips around the rink, the music stopped abruptly, and "Cannonball" started to play. I was wearing my Last Splash shirt, and I wondered for a split second if the teenager in the booth switched the music on purpose. 

 

We were in the midst of a GenX playlist, including some rather deep cuts from Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Beastie Boys, and just like that I was a middle-aged rocker on my roller skates.

 

 

The teenager from the booth found me, commented on my shirt, and we fist bumped. Apparently, he knew who the Breeders were (probably from his parents), and my shirt had, in fact, inspired this burst of GenX musical entertainment. 

Dan, the kid, and I skated a couple of laps and talked music and concerts, Alice in Chains being the only concert he had been to so far in his short life. I wondered, again, if he went with his parents.

 

 

Dan and I didn't meet until after college. When we first started dating, rollerblading was the cool thing to do, and we did that a lot throughout our early years together. 

 

But this was our first time "rollerskating" together at a roller rink, which was THE boyfriend/girlfriend activity when you were twelve and growing up in Twin Falls, Idaho.

 

"You better not be making out in the corner," one of my brother's friends joked.

 

"Have you seen me skate?" I said. "I would totally fall over and not be able to get back up."

 

That's my rollerskating story. Fun times were had by all. However . . . 

 

Everyone at the rink caught COVID (except for me, miraculously).

 

Hello, Super Spreader Event of 2024 . . .

 

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How I Spent My Winter Break and Then Some

 

I'm almost caught up, only one more holiday blog post to go! I mean, it's only February, and I know you're all looking forward to my April Valentine's Day post. 

 

Maybe I'll skip blogging about Valentine's Day this year. Now that I've been married for twenty years, I'm running out of material.

Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all about the rest of everything else (besides Thanksgiving, Christmas, Twentieth Wedding Anniversary) that happened during the months of November, December, and January.

 

Hadestown in Seattle

 

My husband, Dan, and I had tickets to see Hadestown in December in Boise, but as we approached the date, it looked like I might have a schedule conflict. 

 

So . . . Dan and I bought tickets to a Sunday matinee in Seattle in November. I had a rehearsal that Saturday. Dan picked me up right after rehearsal, and we drove to Seattle. 

 

We woke up early Sunday and did some sightseeing in downtown Seattle before the show. Then we drove back to Boise, pulling into our driveway by about 1:30 a.m. 

Was it worth it? Of course. #spontaneous #nokids

 

Even better, my scheduling conflict worked out after all, and we were also able to see Hadestown in Boise.

 

Hadestown in Boise

 

Hadestown in Boise

In December, amidst all of the elementary music programs, choir concerts, and Christmas Eve services, I performed in the super duper fun and awesome Elf the Musical. 

 

Next year, I'm going to be channeling my inner Rosemary Clooney in White Christmas!

 

As Emily Hobbs in Music Theatre of Idaho's Elf

 

Dan and I enjoyed a few Greenbelt runs in the snow. However, the snow ended up being pretty light in Boise at this point. Snowpocalypse was still a month away . . .

 

I spent two days during winter break casting my school's spring musical.

 

Before the school break, I received some fun Christmas gifts. 

 

One of my colleagues gave me a Woody Guthrie beanie, and I've been wearing it everywhere. And I received A LOT of coffee cards this year. These kids know me so well.

My neck pillow ended up being my favorite gift from Dan. I'm totally showing my age.

 

 

Dan's favorite gift was a book on how to win at Chess because he has been trying to beat our six-year-old nephew (who is kind of a Chess master) for a while now. You know, life goals . . .

 

 

Google sent me a collage on New Year's Eve. My nephews, Dan, and photos from my stint in Tick Tick Boom last summer made the cut. 

 

My first thought was, "How cool is it that Google knew how important these things were to me this year." 

 

My next thought was, "How does Google know how important these things were to me this year . . . ?"

 

 

After New Year's, Dan and I relived our junior high days at a roller rink while visiting family in Twin Falls. (Everyone, except me, got COVID, but that's a blog post for another time.)

 

When I returned to school after winter break, Boise was greeted with Snowmageddon 2.0 and a couple of snow days. 

 

Anyone remember Snowmageddon 2017? (This one wasn't quite as bad though.)

 

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Anniversary #20 Or Two Decades, Really?

If you read last week's blog post, you know that I'm behind in my holiday posts. Today I thought I would write about my twentieth anniversary . . . a month and a half later.

 

My husband, Dan, and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary this year. I like to tell people we were married at fifteen.

Our anniversary falls during the Christmas season, and since it's one of my busiest times of year, filled with school concerts and music performances (I am a musician/music teacher, after all), Dan and I often celebrate it in pieces throughout December. 

So, how did we celebrate our anniversary this year, twenty years into our marriage? 

 

Mostly, the same way we celebrate it every year. And that's fine with me.

 

BTW, how could it be two decades, already? Oh yeah, we were married when we were fifteen.

 

Anniversary Activity #1: We visited the Indian Creek Plaza lights in Caldwell.

 

Anniversary Activity #2: Dan created a special "Anniversary Playlist," consisting of songs that were popular twenty years ago and songs from "pivotal" (according to us) rock concerts or musicals we attended throughout our marriage. It took us weeks to listen to the whole thing.

 

 

Activity Anniversary #3: We used to eat at our favorite downtown Boise restaurant, Asiago's, but it closed last year. This year, we ate at Alavita, another great downtown restaurant full of pasta.

 

 

Activity #4: We didn't get out to the Botanical Gardens, but we did drive through "Christmas in Color."

 

 

 

 

Activity #5: And of course, we spent about a week in Sun Valley . . . before Snowmageddon. As you can see from the pictures, there wasn't a ton of mountain snow at that time.

 

 

Fun Fact: Dan and I spent our honeymoon in Sun Valley twenty years ago. 

 

I guess, for us, it really did happen in Sun Valley. 

 

And I don't mean that in a dirty way . . . 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.