After weeks of early Saturday morning practices, the big day finally came. There she was on the stage...looking more beautiful that I could ever image. My little princess ballerina. I watched as her face lit up when she spotted us in the audience. She had no idea how very proud I was at that moment. I was the mom of the most beautiful girl on the stage.

Farewell but not Good-bye

Moving to a whole new world, a zillion miles away from everything that we had ever known as “home” was not the easiest thing that we have ever done. You welcomed us with open arms. You took us in as if we had always been part of your family. You never let us feel like we were alone. You told us about all the fun things to do in our new world. You introduced us to all your traditions and let us make them our own. You invited us to your parties. You always said hello when we saw you at Jewell. You sent us Christmas cards. You called us your friends. You were our first new friends.

We can’t take you with us on our new adventure but we’ll tell you stories about it. I know it’s not goodbye. We’ll always be friends. But I also know that it won’t be the same. We won’t share the same playing field anymore. Our path’s will cross, but not near the underpass. We’ll go to parties together, but not school musicals. We’ll call each other but not to ask about tonight’s homework assignment.

Farewell our Jefferson family. Your friendships have been and still are a blessing to us. We look forward to our continued friendships but will still miss being part of your school family. We look forward to middle school where we can all be together again!

Plain or Peanuts??

As I watched my daughter make friends effortlessly at the park today I realized that I had a problem with her that I had never had to face with my son. My son will barely talk to his friends a the park much less approach a stranger. While we have warned her about talking to strangers, we probably haven't driven the rule as hard as we should. I called her over and sat her on my lap and began to talk to her about "stranger danger". She said "but mommy, these people aren't strangers, they're nice". Oh boy....I had my work cut out for me. I explained to her that not all strangers are nice and that some strangers that seem nice aren't really nice. She looked confused. I decided to teach by example instead. I asked her what she should do if a stranger tried to talk to her. She said "run to my mommy". Okay....good....we were getting somewhere. I told her that sometimes strangers act nice and then they steal little girls and boys from their mommy and daddy. Then I said, "if a lady that you didn't know offered you some M-n-M's, what would you do?" She looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, "the plain kind or with the nuts?. Looks like we'll be spending some more time talking about strangers!

Backup files?

Yesterday, I had a very scary experience.

I stopped at Panara Bread on the way home to pick up some bagels. When I arrived home, I couldn't carry the bagels and all my other "stuff" inside all at once. I chose to take the bagels and my purse inside and left my laptop bag and school books in the car. Even though we live in a safe neighborhood, I lock my car out of habit (not to mention that the few crimes that do happen around here are theft of personal property).

I came inside, said my hellos to everyone and then sat down to eat dinner. I had prepared dinner ahead of time and my wonderful husband had been so kind as to heat everything up. The table was even set...what's better than that? I am getting to the scary part...stay with me!

After dinner, Brian took my car to go pick up something at the drug store. Here comes the scary part...When he got back, I went out to get my laptop and books out of my car and my laptop bag was EMPTY.... Not gone, just EMPTY. No laptop in the laptop bag. I ran inside to ask Brian if he locked the doors when he went into the drug store. "I think so" he said. "I think so?" How can you "think so"? Either it is your fault that my laptop is gone or it's not. It's a simple question. "Are you sure that you brought it home?" he asked. Now tell me, why would I bring home an empty laptop bag? Obviously, I would have noticed that the bag was lighter than usual. "Go to your office and see if it's there" he suggests. At this point, I am already trying to figure out how I will tell my boss that my laptop has been STOLEN and that it happened because my husband left the car unlocked (NOT because I left it in my car).

It is a short drive to my office. It is only 2 1/2 miles. It was a VERY long drive last night. It was during that two miles that I saw my future flash before me. My identity would be stolen for sure. My credit would be ruined. There would have to be zillions of letters sent out to zillions of people to explain it all. All of my confidential information from work would end up on a blog somewhere. Who had I written up lately? I would have to spend countless hours reconstructing the reorganization plan that I have been working on for months. What about my pictures? Oh wait ...I put everything on CD's a few weeks ago (ALREADY LEARNED THAT LESSON). Oh, but a lot has happened since then...the third grade picnic, pre-k graduation...those could not be replaced. Oh God...maybe Nicole's mom can send me her pictures. Oh no...my contact list. How would I ever remember all those email addresses? My friends could be lost forever. What about my "favorites list"? How will I find Heather's blog or the Oprah reservations page? Oh this is bad...very bad.

I finally arrived at my office. I took the long elevator ride up to the 11th floor. I opened my office door and there she was....sigh.....I sat down for a minute to pull myself together. Then I took her off the docking station and placed her safely in her bag. "Don't ever do that to me again" I said. Then I picked up the phone and called Brian and let him know that he had been wrongfully accused. "apology accepted" he said. I could hear the relief in his voice.

i CAN do Math!

Why is it that I have learned more in 1 year of grad school than I learned in 4 (OK,maybe 5) years of college? I am sure that it has nothing to do with all the parties in college. I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that a late night pizza run was more important than reading chapters 6-8. It is definitely not because I lived in a co-ed dorm with lots of distractions. No, it is definitely none of those things.

I think that it has more to do with the fact that now I see the importance of everything they are teaching me (“they” being this institute of higher learning and all the professors there within). I can see now why I need to know how to calculate a return on investment (ROI). I can now see why I need to know about all the different personality types that belong to the delightful group of people that I manage. When I was 23 the most important job that I had ever held was one that required me to worry about “the clean up in isle 9”. How could I comprehend that I would someday need to know how to put together a marketing plan for a product that might make me rich?

Yes, I am sure that it is those things that have given me my aspirations to actually learn something. It might also have (a little) to do with the fact that I am getting 3 balanced meals a day and none of them contain Ramin Noodles or beer. Who knows!

And by the way, Mrs. Johnson.....you were wrong.....I AM good at Math!

Everything is better with Chocolate

I woke up this morning to the faint hum of the Cicadas (faint only because the windows were closed). This is my favorite time of year in Chicago. While people everyone down south are beginning to roast in the heat, we are enjoying mid 70's and backyard barbeque's. It is the time of year when friends and neighbors emerge from their homes after a looooong winter. It is the time when we take advantage of all the wonderful parks and forest preserves. Not this year. This year has been claimed by the Cicada's. Thoughts of eating outside are quickly banished by the thoughts of the big-eyed little creatures that have taken over our summer. Thoughts of back yard barbeque's are followed by thoughts of "how will be hear each other the sound of the mating locust?"

Tradition overcame the threat as the third grade parents took a stand against the cicadas. We rallied on and held our annual outdoor celebration of another year survived. It's the one time each year when you see the parents of your children's friends, without your children and their friends. It is a place where you can share stories of child rearing adventures without being interrupted to break up a sibling rivalry. It is a place where you are reminded that you're not alone in the everyday challenges of being responsible for another human being and their contribution to the world. It is a place where you find out that even the cicadas aren't bad with a little chocolate!