Hello.
Have you ever stood side by side with someone working towards the same cause or event and then something subtle happens and you discover the person you thought was on the same page as you, for the same reasons, turns out to be completely different?
Those types of moments are the ones I call "Face Slapping Moments." I've had a few of them over the years.
When my six-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 12:00 AM on September 12, 1992 (think I remember?), the Asian doctor pulled me aside for what I thought would be a moment of delicate explanation of my son's tumor but as it turned out the very first words out of his mouth were, "La-dee, you had a beet-er chance of winnin the lottry than gettin this toomr."
Face Slapping Moment.
When my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) were soon to arrive at my home for a family outing to the Saratoga Race Track, I checked my e-mail one last time when my finger slipped on a computer key and a history report of the last month's internet use popped up on the screen and I noticed someone had been accessing porno sites...
Face Slapping Moment.
When I watched my beautiful eighteen-year-old daughter stand next to her prom date on our front lawn and looked over to the side and saw my nineteen-year-old son, watching, smiling and clapping while jumping up and down...
Another Face Slapping Moment.
I try very, very hard in my life to not be surprised by people, events, stuff. I have a whole array of defense mechanisms to keep me near enough and far enough from people, events and stuff so as not to feel pain or disappointment. I have a whole array of vocabulary and reasoning methods to ease the FSM. It's really sad.
This morning another FSM occurred. I live in a small and nice sub-division in Saratoga Springs. I am blessed beyond belief to have a home like I have and if it wasn't for my husband's past home ownings, I wouldn't be here; but that's another story. Anyways, there is a small 17 acre parcel across the street from the back of my home that a developer is purchasing and wants to put houses on. As you can imagine there are many questions and concerns about this. I mean, the right kind of home could boost my home's value-right? The wrong kind could do the opposite. (And as I am learning...it's all about defending the borders and the bottom line. Right?) The developer is planning a meeting with the sub-division the Thursday before the Labor Day weekend. Many of us (including me) will be away. I spoke with the developer and he eventually agreed to another meeting in September. I asked him for a date and he said he'd set one at the Thursday meeting. (which doesn't help me cuz I'm NOT going to be at the meeting but alas...) I told him to speak with this fella, who is taking up the lead in our quest for information, and give him the date. I then emailed the fella to ask him to let me know of the date. Well, FSM, turns out this gentleman doesn't want to be volunteered to get a date from the developer and he is pissed I asked him if he'd do it. What gives? I thought we were all on the same page...get info...ask questions...take the next step if need be. And before I say anything more...
You know, you never know.
Have hope?
Donna
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Honey Do-DONE
Hello.
Earlier in the summer I told you about my "honey do" list. I had twenty items on the list and I hoped my husband and I could complete them by the end of the summer. drum roll.....
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the entire list is officially completed. The last "to do" item was crossed off yesterday when my daughter and I walked into the door after a day long visiting our last college.
I took great pleasure in crossing off number 14. I'm leaving the list up on my cabinet door for a few days so I can relish in the pleasure of looking at all the scribble lines over each chore.
Other completed tasks were: building a deck, expanding the driveway, growing grass (yes, we're still at it), cleaning carpets, putting up crown molding, visiting colleges and on and on. Wow, I can't believe how much we accomplished in ten weeks. (I'm sure my husband can.)
So what will I do now? I've already worked out my daughter's "complete college applications" schedule, SAT and ACT sign-up deadline and practice time for Violin auditions. I know she feels less stress when she has a concrete plan to follow. (She's like me.) I'm not planning anything for my husband because he's a school teacher and he's as good as gone from the beginning of the school year until the end. Teachers work as many hours outside of the classroom as they do inside. As for me, I'm hoping to go back to college to take English classes. I haven't heard yet.
Immediately though, my family is going to Cape Cod for one week for a bit of R and R before the Autumn season knocks on our busy door.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I'll write soon about our vacation antics.
Have hope,
Donna
Earlier in the summer I told you about my "honey do" list. I had twenty items on the list and I hoped my husband and I could complete them by the end of the summer. drum roll.....
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the entire list is officially completed. The last "to do" item was crossed off yesterday when my daughter and I walked into the door after a day long visiting our last college.
I took great pleasure in crossing off number 14. I'm leaving the list up on my cabinet door for a few days so I can relish in the pleasure of looking at all the scribble lines over each chore.
Other completed tasks were: building a deck, expanding the driveway, growing grass (yes, we're still at it), cleaning carpets, putting up crown molding, visiting colleges and on and on. Wow, I can't believe how much we accomplished in ten weeks. (I'm sure my husband can.)
So what will I do now? I've already worked out my daughter's "complete college applications" schedule, SAT and ACT sign-up deadline and practice time for Violin auditions. I know she feels less stress when she has a concrete plan to follow. (She's like me.) I'm not planning anything for my husband because he's a school teacher and he's as good as gone from the beginning of the school year until the end. Teachers work as many hours outside of the classroom as they do inside. As for me, I'm hoping to go back to college to take English classes. I haven't heard yet.
Immediately though, my family is going to Cape Cod for one week for a bit of R and R before the Autumn season knocks on our busy door.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I'll write soon about our vacation antics.
Have hope,
Donna
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
College Visit Marathon
Hello!
I am writing this blog blurry-eyed and exhausted from a marathon travel day to visit colleges with my high school Senior!!
I know, I should not have put it off until the last two weeks of summer vacation, but such is the way of the world when one is facing something they'd rather not face. Besides being very busy with the "honey do" list (see previous blog), I have not wanted to make these college visits. Partly because I hate the travel, and partly because I cannot believe my little girl is getting ready to fly from the nest.
This child, of course, doesn't want to go to a nearby college-nearby meaning inside a two-hour drive. She wants to visit two colleges clear across NYS. So at 3:30 AM Monday morning the two of us get on the NYS thru-way and head to Lake Eric to visit a college in Fredonia NY and then to Rochester to visit another. Driving home sixteen hours later was enlightening as I got to see all the roadside attractions I couldn't see in the dark during the "wee" morning hour's drive.
Our visit was a great time for the two of us. I have to admit "road tripping" with my daughter (aside from the hours and distance) was so much fun. She is such a funny kid. When she wasn't sleeping-which was often-she was singing and chatting and burping and other obnoxious things I won't mention here. She has an incredible take on life.
When we started out talking about this trip and planning for it, I have to admit, I was very worried that she wasn't going to be able to hack college. She always seemed so dizzy and spacey that I thought she'd be chewed up and spit out by the college system and course demands within two weeks. Thinking that I didn't want to send her to a place five hours away only to have to turn around and pick her up after ten or so days, I discouraged these particular colleges. Alas, she got her way and we hit the road. After touring the schools and watching her look the places over and ask questions, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. She began to look like a college student to me. She had that sparkle in her eye and I could feel the passion in her spirit as she found out more and more about the Music Education programs at these colleges. She seemed so different to me. On our way home, during one of her many naps, I thought to myself that she was indeed getting ready to move on and become who she is destined to be.
Wow-wee. Where did the time go?
So, now we prepare for our Senior year. I say "we" because she still is our dizzy daughter and still requires prodding and encouragement, but also I say "we" because it's our year of lasts. We get to share our last homecoming dance and prom, our last chamber concerts and our last many other things. It's our year of last hanging outs at the local coffee house late on a Sunday just to gab or the last year to peek into her room before going to sleep to say good night and share a moment.
Oh well. I know, last-lasts, lead to beginning beginnings and that is where I have to keep my focus. I'm proud of her and what she is and what I glimpse she is to become.
Hmmm,
Have Hope,
Donna
I am writing this blog blurry-eyed and exhausted from a marathon travel day to visit colleges with my high school Senior!!
I know, I should not have put it off until the last two weeks of summer vacation, but such is the way of the world when one is facing something they'd rather not face. Besides being very busy with the "honey do" list (see previous blog), I have not wanted to make these college visits. Partly because I hate the travel, and partly because I cannot believe my little girl is getting ready to fly from the nest.
This child, of course, doesn't want to go to a nearby college-nearby meaning inside a two-hour drive. She wants to visit two colleges clear across NYS. So at 3:30 AM Monday morning the two of us get on the NYS thru-way and head to Lake Eric to visit a college in Fredonia NY and then to Rochester to visit another. Driving home sixteen hours later was enlightening as I got to see all the roadside attractions I couldn't see in the dark during the "wee" morning hour's drive.
Our visit was a great time for the two of us. I have to admit "road tripping" with my daughter (aside from the hours and distance) was so much fun. She is such a funny kid. When she wasn't sleeping-which was often-she was singing and chatting and burping and other obnoxious things I won't mention here. She has an incredible take on life.
When we started out talking about this trip and planning for it, I have to admit, I was very worried that she wasn't going to be able to hack college. She always seemed so dizzy and spacey that I thought she'd be chewed up and spit out by the college system and course demands within two weeks. Thinking that I didn't want to send her to a place five hours away only to have to turn around and pick her up after ten or so days, I discouraged these particular colleges. Alas, she got her way and we hit the road. After touring the schools and watching her look the places over and ask questions, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. She began to look like a college student to me. She had that sparkle in her eye and I could feel the passion in her spirit as she found out more and more about the Music Education programs at these colleges. She seemed so different to me. On our way home, during one of her many naps, I thought to myself that she was indeed getting ready to move on and become who she is destined to be.
Wow-wee. Where did the time go?
So, now we prepare for our Senior year. I say "we" because she still is our dizzy daughter and still requires prodding and encouragement, but also I say "we" because it's our year of lasts. We get to share our last homecoming dance and prom, our last chamber concerts and our last many other things. It's our year of last hanging outs at the local coffee house late on a Sunday just to gab or the last year to peek into her room before going to sleep to say good night and share a moment.
Oh well. I know, last-lasts, lead to beginning beginnings and that is where I have to keep my focus. I'm proud of her and what she is and what I glimpse she is to become.
Hmmm,
Have Hope,
Donna
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
College or Bust
Hello!
Today I took my youngest daughter on her first college visit. We drove three hours to Hartt College of Music in Connecticut where we had a terrific lunch and a two hour walking tour of the campus. There were approximately twenty other people in our group-a mix of parents and prospective students. We walked from building to building in a "clump" each dad taking turns holding a door for the rest of us. By the end of the tour, names had been exchanged and polite "niceties" were exchanged. Then we drove home.
It makes for a long day.
Throughout the day I kept thinking about the little things-like-this is where my daughter will get her mail or this is where she will listen to her Ipod. It unnerved me a little bit.
You see, home is where she does all those little things we call "living." The silly conversations or the very messy bedroom, all occur here at our home, on our cul-de-sac. And for all the annoying moments we share-we share them here...at HOME. Soon, she'll be doing her absentminded moments somewhere else. Soon, she'll be having her PMS elsewhere. (okay, that one can go) Someone else will hear her funny giggle as she bats her eyelashes when she tries to coax someone to cut her a break.
I don't think I'm liking this whole college idea. I want to know where the time went and when did she grow up. I remember waiting at the end of the driveway for the three-foot high little girl with the huge red bow on top of her head to get off of the bus. Golly, the time flew.
Soon-too soon-I'll be looking out the window at the driveway waiting for my grown up daughter to pull in and then haul her laundry into the house. Phew. That is going to be strange.
Oh well....
Have hope,
Donna
Today I took my youngest daughter on her first college visit. We drove three hours to Hartt College of Music in Connecticut where we had a terrific lunch and a two hour walking tour of the campus. There were approximately twenty other people in our group-a mix of parents and prospective students. We walked from building to building in a "clump" each dad taking turns holding a door for the rest of us. By the end of the tour, names had been exchanged and polite "niceties" were exchanged. Then we drove home.
It makes for a long day.
Throughout the day I kept thinking about the little things-like-this is where my daughter will get her mail or this is where she will listen to her Ipod. It unnerved me a little bit.
You see, home is where she does all those little things we call "living." The silly conversations or the very messy bedroom, all occur here at our home, on our cul-de-sac. And for all the annoying moments we share-we share them here...at HOME. Soon, she'll be doing her absentminded moments somewhere else. Soon, she'll be having her PMS elsewhere. (okay, that one can go) Someone else will hear her funny giggle as she bats her eyelashes when she tries to coax someone to cut her a break.
I don't think I'm liking this whole college idea. I want to know where the time went and when did she grow up. I remember waiting at the end of the driveway for the three-foot high little girl with the huge red bow on top of her head to get off of the bus. Golly, the time flew.
Soon-too soon-I'll be looking out the window at the driveway waiting for my grown up daughter to pull in and then haul her laundry into the house. Phew. That is going to be strange.
Oh well....
Have hope,
Donna
Monday, August 6, 2007
Rainy Days and Mondays
Hello!
Well, today was one of those slow going mornings. It was Monday and that in and of itself, brings many negative connotations to me. Also, it was rainy. The rain was just pouring out of the sky. We needed the rain for sure but golly to see it falling non-stop made me just want to turn around and crawl back in bed.
As it turned out, the day went pretty well. My youngest daughter is taking courses at a local community college while doing her Senior year in high school. We had to go and pay the bill for her courses. It was fun hanging around with her. Since I was in the tuition paying mood, I drove down the road forty minutes to my oldest daughter's college and paid her college tuition too. She's a junior this year...my how time flies. While I was there, I checked out the course schedule and talked with an English professor. I may take a few courses myself this semester.
I got to spend time with my littlest guy this afternoon. He went with me to pay the college tuition for my oldest daughter. He loves going to her college. He loves walking up and down the stairs and seeing if he can balance on the stone walls by the flower beds. He especially likes to visit the bookstore where he always walks away with a treat-sometimes candy, sometimes T-shirts. What a life.
When I got home, my husband was racking his brain over the crown molding he's putting up in our formal rooms. Crown molding is tough and he was at it all day. So I went out to the garage and together we got one corner to fit. Now only eight more to go.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. No rain is in the forecast. Our schedule includes visiting a college in Connecticut for my youngest daughter. It will be nice spending the day with her. If for no other reason than...it's not a rainy day or Monday.
Have hope,
Donna
Well, today was one of those slow going mornings. It was Monday and that in and of itself, brings many negative connotations to me. Also, it was rainy. The rain was just pouring out of the sky. We needed the rain for sure but golly to see it falling non-stop made me just want to turn around and crawl back in bed.
As it turned out, the day went pretty well. My youngest daughter is taking courses at a local community college while doing her Senior year in high school. We had to go and pay the bill for her courses. It was fun hanging around with her. Since I was in the tuition paying mood, I drove down the road forty minutes to my oldest daughter's college and paid her college tuition too. She's a junior this year...my how time flies. While I was there, I checked out the course schedule and talked with an English professor. I may take a few courses myself this semester.
I got to spend time with my littlest guy this afternoon. He went with me to pay the college tuition for my oldest daughter. He loves going to her college. He loves walking up and down the stairs and seeing if he can balance on the stone walls by the flower beds. He especially likes to visit the bookstore where he always walks away with a treat-sometimes candy, sometimes T-shirts. What a life.
When I got home, my husband was racking his brain over the crown molding he's putting up in our formal rooms. Crown molding is tough and he was at it all day. So I went out to the garage and together we got one corner to fit. Now only eight more to go.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. No rain is in the forecast. Our schedule includes visiting a college in Connecticut for my youngest daughter. It will be nice spending the day with her. If for no other reason than...it's not a rainy day or Monday.
Have hope,
Donna
Friday, August 3, 2007
Don't Know Why
Hello.
I have a friend. Her name is Laura. Laura is from Minnesota. She is a very kind person. I met her through my youngest son. He needed physical therapy sessions and Laura was assigned to be his therapist. Laura has a funny mid-western accent that is lovely to listen to. Soon after I met Laura I knew she was sent as someone special in my life.
This week has been a trying one for Laura. She has friends and family in Minnesota, very near to where the bridge fell into the Mississippi River. Her daughter, Sara, is scheduled to go to college at the end of the month-the University of Minnesota-located right on the shore from where the bridge went down.
Luckily for Laura, all of her friends and family have been accounted for. Having said that, she is painfully somber as she thinks about her former fellow neighbors who may not have had such a happy ending.
As I have written many times, we are all one. No matter where we call home, when tragedy strikes we all have the same cares and feelings. Sometimes, I think, we don't take tragedy to heart when it doesn't strike in our own backyard or to our own "people." It's almost a mind-set that it isn't real or doesn't exist when it is miles away...but that's not true.
Thanks to Laura, she helped me connect with feelings of compassion and sadness as well as gratefulness to the human spirit during this recent tragedy.
I hope I never get so insulated in my life that I don't remember to connect with other human beings in their times of tragedy as well as triumph. I hope you don't either.
Have hope,
Donna
I have a friend. Her name is Laura. Laura is from Minnesota. She is a very kind person. I met her through my youngest son. He needed physical therapy sessions and Laura was assigned to be his therapist. Laura has a funny mid-western accent that is lovely to listen to. Soon after I met Laura I knew she was sent as someone special in my life.
This week has been a trying one for Laura. She has friends and family in Minnesota, very near to where the bridge fell into the Mississippi River. Her daughter, Sara, is scheduled to go to college at the end of the month-the University of Minnesota-located right on the shore from where the bridge went down.
Luckily for Laura, all of her friends and family have been accounted for. Having said that, she is painfully somber as she thinks about her former fellow neighbors who may not have had such a happy ending.
As I have written many times, we are all one. No matter where we call home, when tragedy strikes we all have the same cares and feelings. Sometimes, I think, we don't take tragedy to heart when it doesn't strike in our own backyard or to our own "people." It's almost a mind-set that it isn't real or doesn't exist when it is miles away...but that's not true.
Thanks to Laura, she helped me connect with feelings of compassion and sadness as well as gratefulness to the human spirit during this recent tragedy.
I hope I never get so insulated in my life that I don't remember to connect with other human beings in their times of tragedy as well as triumph. I hope you don't either.
Have hope,
Donna
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