A Special Birthday Greeting for Eddie!

Today is my cousin Eddie's birthday. Eddie is the youngest of my Uncle Bill's seven children. Bill was my mother's youngest brother. He grew up in San Francisco and is really closer to my kids' ages than to mine.

There was a time when his family didn't know if he would make it to another birthday. Eddie's story is truly an inspirational one and I am proud to be able to write this post about him today. Eddie has overcome many issues in his life and he should be commended for doing what he has done.

In March I wrote about Romy, his sister, and her daughter, Angie. Angie is Eddie's biological daughter. Because Eddie had some very serious addictions, he was unable to care for Angie. Romy got guardianship and later was able to adopt Angie. Giving Romy custody of Angie was probably the greatest gift he could have given his daughter.

Eddie's addiction caused him many problems. He spent time in jail and eventually in prison. I know that the last time I saw Eddie, I was very concerned about him and about his future, as was everyone in our family.

About five years ago Eddie was released from jail to a drug and alcohol treatment center in San Francisco called Delancey Street. Delancey Street is considered the country's leading residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-cons, homeless, and others who have hit rock bottom. This program has been a salvation for Eddie. He spent three years in the facility in San Francisco. He was so successful that he was moved to the facility in New York. The past two years he has been in charge of the program in Brewster, New York.

Two of his sisters, Romy and Lena, along with Angie, went to New York last October to see Lena's daughter, Sam, who attends Wagner College. Sam is a volleyball player. While they were there, they were able to visit with Eddie. He even came to one of Sam's games. Lena told me that it was wonderful to see him so at peace with himself. Eddie has an incredible personality and such a loving side to him. It is so great to hear that he is doing so well.

Before I wrote this post, I asked Lena about what to say. She told me that his siblings are so incredibly proud of what Eddie has done to turn around his life and that she knew he would like to have his story shared. As I write this, I have to say that it made me a bit teary.

I know that I have thought about Eddie so much over the years and this is so wonderful to hear. The prayers that have all been said, especially those from our Aunt Teresa, along with the tremendous support of his siblings, have all helped Eddie get to this place in his life. However, the key to this has to have been Eddie and what he has done for himself. He is an inspiration and I know his parents are looking down on him with pride.

When I do a post, I try to find a song to go along with what I write. I think this song fits what has been written about Eddie and what he has done with his life (Mariah Carey's "Hero"). He has overcome some substantial set backs and his made his life better. I am sure he has also enriched the lives of others at Brewster House.

I hope that this is a wonderful birthday for you, Eddie. Lena says that you miss San Francisco, the Giants, and the 49ers and that you can't get a real burrito in New York. So, Eddie, when you get back to this side of the world, I will go out to San Francisco and fix you all of the burros that you can eat!!! We are all so proud of you and what you have done. It hasn't been easy, but your tenacity speaks volumes for who you are and the family you come from!!

April 8th--A Great Day in Family History!

Today is my cousin Marion's birthday. Marion is my Uncle Matt's and Aunt Gyp's third daughter. Marion is six years older than I am and I always looked up to her when I was growing up. Our Phoenix cousins spent a lot of time in Douglas during the summers and we had so much fun. They always let me hang out with them and I loved every minute of it. I am sure I was a pain in the "you know what" at times, but those summers were great times.

During those days the Southern Pacific Railroad was in Douglas. Our grandfather had been a conductor on the railroad between Douglas and El Paso. The Sunset Limited came in to the train depot every evening at 7:00. I remember going to the depot to watch the train come in at night. The depot is only about six blocks from 858. Marion, Cecilia, our neighbor, and I were able to go to watch the train. I was too young to be allowed to go by myself.

I mentioned in the post I did for Cecilia's birthday that we had a club called the Death Boys. We had a clubhouse, fake names, recipes, and a chant to go along with our club. We were talking recently about all of our names and we can't remember who we were. (At least we all haven't gotten old enough to not remember who we really are!!)

Marion and her husband Ron have four children (Marty, Scott, Nate, and Maggie) and six grandchildren. They live in Turlock, California. Marion comes to Phoenix often and it is always so good to see her. I look forward to her visits. I know she loves to come visit her sisters and I count myself as one of them. Their youngest--Maggie lives in Gilbert now so Marion comes to visit even more often.

My mom and your dad (and mom) have to be smiling down on us and be so proud that our family relationships continue to be so incredibly strong. I know it makes our Aunt Teresa very happy!

So, Marion, I hope you have a wonderful birthday!! I love you and I am glad that we are not only cousins, but friends!!! When you came to my party last month, it meant so much!!

Blame It on the Bossa Nova

I have a wonderful group of friends who are and were administrators in our district. Jill, Susie, Sharon, Bev and I try to get together for a "Girls' Weekend" as often as we possibly can. We go to Susie's cabin in Pine, or Jill's house when George is out of town, or find a nice hotel or resort in the valley for these outings. I know how much I look forward to these weekends.... It is a time for us to laugh, talk, and solve all of the problems of our world and the district. And believe me, we always have all of the answers!! It is a time to unwind with very good friends!!

Bev retired several years ago from Gilbert and then went to work in Chandler. Jill and Sharon retired at the end of last school year. Susie and I are still plugging away (and we are both hoping we can for a few more years). Jill is officially in charge of planning our get-aways and Sharon is in charge of the food. After all, they have all of the time in the world for this!!!

At our last Girls' Weekend, Susie and I had spent the day interviewing people at the district job fair while Sharon, Bev and Jill spent the time planning and getting ready for the two of us to get there!! Jill and Sharon have been taking tap lessons since they retired. We always have a laugh about it. The best part this time was that they were actually going to have a recital.

So today I went over to Susie's house around noon and met a couple of other friends to go to the recital at Sun Lakes. Susie had our tickets. They cost $7.00--this was going to be a real event!!! They had a 2:00 recital and a 7:00 recital--big time!!

When we got to the ball room at the clubhouse in the Sun Lakes Retirement Community and got to our tables, all I could think of is that when I retire I just can't imagine myself taking tap dancing lessons and being in a recital. I remember doing that 50 + years ago when I took tap and ballet from Mrs. Bond in Douglas!! I am sure those of you who know me can't imagine it either.

There were four groups of "tap dancers" and Jill and Sharon were in the "Taps R Us" group. The recital consisted of the tap dancing groups, as well as various other singers and comedy skits. The first singer between tap dancing sang "Blame it on the Bossa Nova," hence the title for this blog. I couldn't decide between that for a title or "Just Shoot Me!" The recital was kind of like a cross between "Dancing with the Stars" and "The Lawrence Welk Show."

Jill and Sharon were the stars of the show as far as I am concerned. They did an awesome job!!! After the show was over, Jill said that last year at this time when they had completed AIMS testing, she couldn't imagine that this year they would be performing in a recital. I can tell you I didn't think that would happen either!!!

So thanks for the laughs and fun today, Jill and Sharon. I am glad you are enjoying your retirement so much. You both deserve it. However, today will make for great stories for our future Girls' Nights Out--lots of material there!!!!

(In order to view this video, go down to the player and turn off the playlist music. All you have to do is hit the = and it will turn off. There is music that goes with the pictures on this post.)

Rambunctious Rabbit Relishes Role as Rebel or Bunny Suspended for Disrupting Testing

Earl, the fourth grade bunny, was suspended from school this week. He was sent home from school on Monday for being disruptive while the children were trying to take their AIMS tests. Earl did not realize the importance of this test and was unable to refrain from making noise during the test. Earl continually tries to draw attention to himself which is absolutely not acceptable when it comes to high stakes testing in schools. Even if he is the class bunny, this is behavior that will not be tolerated!! Obviously, Earl needs to be tutored on test-taking strategies.

On another testing note, one of our wonderful teachers told the story of her second grade daughter getting dressed for school this week. As they were picking out her shirt to wear, her daughter was very concerned that the t-shirt had words written on it and didn't think she should wear it during testing!!! Classrooms have to cover the alphabet and any posters or word walls during testing week and this little one was worried because her t-shirt had writing on it!!

Although both of these stories are humorous, they are also sad in a way. I think testing has caused us to lose our perspective as to what is important!!

Albert Einstein said, "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts." Something to think about......


A P.S. to this post: Then to top it all off, my wonderful administrative assistant didn't have time to check a PTSO flyer that was put in all of the teachers' boxes. The flyer was advertising the jog-a-thon that will be held next week. The flyer says, and I quote, "Your student should ASS everyone they know to sponsor them for every lap they jog." Fortunately, one of the students noticed it and we were able to get them all collected before they went home. WHEW!!!!!!!!!

Miscellaneous Musings and a Little Grumbling!

Tomorrow is the first day of AIMS testing in our school district. This is the annual rite of passage that our state has mandated to determine how our children are doing academically. The children are tested in reading, math, and writing beginning in third grade. These tests have taken on a life of their own and have become so incredibly important as far as the state and federal government are concerned. Our entire school year is geared towards this week.

Now don't get me wrong....I truly understand the importance of accountability in schools. It is very important that we prepare our children for the future--they are our future. However, the AIMS only exams what they have learned about our state standards. It doesn't measure how far some children have come academically. It doesn't measure character, and what good will our future be without citizens with strong character? It doesn't measure how far some children have come behaviorally. It doesn't measure how much English some of our students have learned at the same time trying to master the curriculum. Yet, every day in our schools we deal with everything that is happening in our society, both good and bad.

I have seen so much added stress on families recently with the downturn in the economy. Some of our children's lives have been turned upside down. That is something that I don't even totally understand, yet we are asking our children to put all of that stress aside and do well on the AIMS test.

We also ask our special education students to take this test on grade level without accommodations. I truly believe that this is so wrong. Children in special education struggle academically and socially for many reasons and depending on what their disability is. Yet they are expected to perform at grade level.

On Friday, I went around to all of the classrooms and talked to our students about how proud I am of them and how I know how well I know they are going to do on the test this week. I have never done this before because I have felt that there is such a fine line between stressing the importance of the test and stressing them out. We had ordered bracelets in our school colors that have "GO TIGERS" embossed on the bracelet. I told them that this was my present to them to say thank you for all of their hard work. I asked them to wear them this week when they are taking this test so that they can be proud of being a Tiger!

We only have around eight weeks of school left for this year. I am not looking forward to the next few weeks as our district will be grappling with what are going to be very severe budget cuts. So much is still up in the air because the legislators haven't figured out what they are going to do as yet. I have seen many ups and downs over the many years I have been doing this, but nothing like what is happening right now. I am very worried about the impact that these budget cuts are going to have in so many ways......

On a lighter note, Saturday night we had our family over for dinner. Brendan, Chris, and his girlfriend, Bridget, were here from San Francisco. Brendan and Chris are the sons of my cousins, Lena and Rosemary. They were on spring break from college and were in town for spring training and the basketball tournament game yesterday. Teresa was thrilled to see them and as always, we were so glad that they were here.

Cecilia was giving my "Little Lucy" pug a hard time, so Lucy sat on my lap and growled at her for about half an hour. It was hilarious!!!

Our family is truly amazing in so many ways. It is always so good to get together!! Thanks for coming to visit us, guys!

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Cyberspace on this Blog!!

Just got back from two days in Las Vegas with my cousins, Jay and Cecilia. Cecilia called on Tuesday and asked if I wanted to go. Of course, I jumped at the chance. So Wednesday morning, I drove over to Glendale to their house and we drove up to Vegas.

I love to play the slot machines. Sometimes I am a bit lucky and other times, not at all. This was one of those other times.

We stayed off of the Strip at a hotel called the Southpoint. It was very nice, but they were doing something to the elevators so everyone in the hotel had to use the service elevators. When we got to the 24th floor, we had to walk through the laundry and storage area. Every time we got on the elevator, we stopped at EVERY floor and we were packed in like sardines. Because we started at the top, we were always in the back. I took this picture of Cecilia being pressed against the wall behind Jay.Going anywhere with Cecilia and Jay is always a fun time. Cecilia is always up for a good time. I thought of the title for this blog on our way up there, just in case......... With Cecilia, you have to be prepared!!!

We decided to try to get tickets to Jersey Boys for Thursday night. We went down to the Strip to try to find 1/2 price tickets. We ended up in the downtown area where we found out that it isn't one of the 1/2 price ticket shows. So we decided to splurge and go anyway.

Jersey Boys was as good as Marion said it would be. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. Cecilia kept checking her phone during the show as we were waiting to hear from her son, David. His wife, Meg, was in the hospital set to have their second baby. When we got out of the show, Monica called to let us know that Cecilia and Jay have a new baby granddaughter. David and Meg have another little girl, Bisbee Scott, who is 2 1/2 years old. Needless to say, Cecilia and Jay are absolutely thrilled. So congrats to David and family in Idaho!!

On the way back, we stopped in Kingman to eat lunch and to watch the second half of the ASU basketball game. Go Devils!!!!

Our trip to Vegas certainly doesn't compare to the London trip that the kids are on, but we had a very good time.

Marion, I was going to put "Viva Las Vegas" on, but changed the song at after getting your email!!

Spring Break is almost over and it will be back to the last nine weeks of the school year on Monday!! I don't think people who work in the "real world" truly understand why we have to have these breaks during the school year, but it is so important to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit and unwind.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

St. Patrick's Day has always been my very favorite holiday. When my kids were little, it always seemed to be when we had spring break and we would go to Douglas. We always had ham, cabbage, and boiled potatoes. I made bread and dyed it green. The kids always had some kind of juice that we also dyed green.

Right after we had our pool built, we had a St. Patrick's Day party with all of the cousins. Our pool light changes colors, so we were able to keep the pool green that night.

One year we spent St. Patrick's Day in New York City. I didn't think that could be topped, but it was last year--spending it in Ireland! Even with having a leprechaun "try to pick me up," it was so much fun and something I will always remember and cherish. This year, it will be quiet as Kerri, Cameron, and Patrick are in London!!! Teresa, Judy and her family will be over for an Irish meal and a few toasts.....

May your mornings bring joy
and your evenings bring peace...
May your troubles grow less
as your blessings increase!

BEANNACHTAM NA FEILE PADRAIG!
(which is Gaelic for)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!