i have absolutely been neglecting my loyal readers. (gloria, john mcdonald) and i apologize. all i do is grade papers. it’s fun. i’m loving my college kids, but really they’re not different than the middle schoolers who will always have a place in my heart. some real bright…….some not so much……..some polite and hard working…….some too worried about being cool to give it their all………some full of excuses……..some never miss a date to hand something in or a class for that matter.
i think what i like best is something that a wise person said to me once. her name is marilyn. i worked with her for many years at 27, and she was one of those teachers who worked for MANY years (why put a number on it?) and was still giving it 110 percent. she still gave all her preps to the kids and cared about them and the school. she still dressed professionally and was always looking for new and intersting ways to teach french.
anyway, she put it like this:
“if you have all week to do the laundry, it never gets done.”
and it’s true. if there’s no rush to do things, they just get pushed back. now that i have more going on (teaching tues and fri, basketball and soccer games tues and sunday) there is more structure to the week.
evenings are mostly spent grading papers, b ut i don’t mind that either. it HAS to get done, so other things that i may have put off during the day must get done.
it’s a whole circle.
so thanx marilyn. i have been thinking of you lately!
in halloween news, h and j were beauty and the beast. it was a chewbacca costume, but he was the beast to h;s belle. we had a fun day yesterday.
i really love halloween. fall too. you KNOW you’re getting old when you TRULY appreciate the foliage. i used to mock my parents when they drove me to siena and would comment on the foliage. whatever man. LOVE IT!
i dont’ know hwy i love halloween. my birthday is near it.
you would think i would hate it because of that. i had a truly awful experience in the seventh grade. it was over a halloween party. basically, it was a john hughes movie. i invited the “cool” and the “uncool” people to the party. uncool in the eyes of the Queen Bee anyway. to make matters worse, the COOLEST boy, again, in the Queen bee’s eyes, did not come to said party. found out later he was not ALLOWED to go to boy /girl parties. parents were super strict.
anyway, pain and heartache ensued. my cool friends not only disowned me but mean girls’d me for the next few months. chanting hateful things in the locker room, sending pizzas to my house, threatening to beat me up.
i think it all made me who i was as life continued.
never wanting to join a clique fully–
afraid to alienate someone maybe but in the meantime,
always being on the outskirts of them all.
deep thoughts for a sunday nite……………
i’ll try to be better……….and certainly work on a wish list for those of you who have been asking………
been crazy busy but wanted to put up some photos. been sick for about two weeks. we’ve all had it, but not H. i think i am finally getting over it. combine that with the fact that at explains where i’ve been for a month.
i love it btw.
work. it’s just enough to get me out of the house a bit and to have to use my brain and grade at night…..speaking of which, i have to get back to that……..but lemme put up some photos and hopefully find some time tomorrow to put up a proper post!
btw, the beautiful purples worn in this last photo were MADE by grandma. pretty amazing, huh??
this really is turning into a place where i wish people happy birthday.
i’ve been really busy lately. not only did i start teaching tues and fri at a college
(it’s a writing class so it’s a ton of grading)
but i’m playing on a soccer and a basketball team and finishing up a boot camp–it’s an outdoor fitness
class. very hard and tons of fun (if you’re into pain)
busy is good.
it breaks up the week,but if you feel neglected, that is why.
don’t take is personally.
so now that i’m playing sports so often lately, it’s funny how when the game is over i want to talk immediatley to my dad. he’s the only one who cares (or pretends to) and i love chatting with him about the specific plays each game, the refs, the dynamics on the team, etc. i’ve said it before, but i wish i was able to LISTEN to advice as a kid about playing to have fun and doing my best and straying from a specific play if something better was on the court. i remember HEARING him, but i certainly didn’t listen. now it’s my main concern: working up a good sweat and having a blast–which i am doing. my other concern is making sure that i don’t look like this while playing sports. good look, i know, but i’m not ready to bring it back–not single handedly at least:
my dad is awesome.
if you know him, you understand immediately.
he was a bit intimidating while we were growing up, but now, such a mushball. . all he wants to do is help. he’s the best.
he’s the type of guy who always looks for the best in people–never wants to see the negative, or maybe is just able to look past it.
that’s how i strive to be.
doesn’t always occur, but that’s my hope.
his grandchildren adore him. he notices everything they do. he interprets everything they say, whether it is actual words or sounds (like jack) and wonders why they do and say certain things. he plays princesses tirelessly, takes walks where he visits the tree face, and still works on my always in need house.
pop pop, you’re the best. i love you.
and in other birthday news,
grandma had a birthday! and shelby’s was celebrated too. so happy birthday to you guys as well. hope you are enjoying yourselves! october birthdays are the best!
When we were little, i would time him.
“Timmy! Go get me a drink! i’ll time you. ONE, TWO, ……….HURRY UP!” And the beautiful little boy that he was would drop whatever he was doing and get whatever i needed. it was sad when he stopped doing it once he went away to college.
now that i’m a mom, i can see that very soon, j. will happily oblige h. in anything she asks. he looks at her so lovingly and is so proud to play with him. h. worships him too. she will often tell me to speak more gently to him (like when he bites me, i scream) and she’ll say
“mom, he;s just a baby. he doesn’t know.”
i don’t look forward to the time in the future when they will argue about stuff. right now, they are just so darn cute. and i don’t look forward to when H. thinks she’s too cool for her little brother and says, “j, get out. we’re playing the king game.” because i look back on that stuff with timmy and i’m so sad that i was so mean to him. i know, it just goes with the territory, and i know my awesome brother understands that, but it still makes me sad that i ever hurt his feelings. he was such a cutie.
my baby brother has just started his teaching career. i wish him luck, although he doesn’t need it. he will excel, like he does with anything he puts a little work into. he’s one of those people who did well in school without doing, well, anything, and remembers all sorts of minutia about everything from seinfeld to the kennedy administration. annoying, in a jealous sort of a way.
what he doesn’t know is how much his opinion means to me. When i had to quit a coaching job due to some prejudices others had, i received an email from him. nothing major. just a few lines saying he was proud of me for doing the right thing. it made me so happy and i printed it out and saved it.
or when i first met mitt and although he grew up nine houses away from me, he was moving to md and i didn’t think it was going to work out. and timmy said something along the lines of “anything worth having is worth working for.”
or how when i was dateless and sad at a wedding, he danced silly style barry white with me…….and it became our thing…….but it was all because i was sad and he knew that and wanted to make me laugh.
i love you baby brother.
you are awesome.
i’m sorry to have been such a suck big sister at times. but i love you so much and look forward to u2 tonite.
you can buy the first beer.
i’ll time you.
Lele,
i hope your day is amazing. it was great to talk to you this morning. you always make me laugh and also make me realize how bad i am at keeping in touch. but that’s the thing about great friends, time can pass and no judgements are made, no questions asked–just pick up where you left off.
so cool.
so in case you haven’t met her, this is beautiful, smart, fun, and funny, and ORGANIZED lele
and these are our kids, who we learned today will be in the same grade in school. possible prom dates?
and what would a birthday be without a silly photo from the past?
hope it all works out and that we get together soon!
the other beauty in that last pic is liz (uhbuhsuhbuhluh).
liz made the journey recently to my country up here. thanx liz. you’re the best. congrats on finishing nursing school. i loved having you in my neck of the woods.
When we were little, i would time him.
