California Here I Come

So I'm flying cross-country (it's the only cross-country I can do with my knee issues) this Sunday. I'll be attending a symposium on The American West thanks to our brilliant (no sarcasm here--she really is brilliant) S.S. Director. We'll spend 5 days learning about the history of the American West and gathering authentic teaching tools for our students to better learn history. Looking forward to checking out Palo Alto, the Bay Area of San Fransisco and the City of San Fransisco itself.

Now, I do not enjoy long flights. I haven't always been this way. As a teenager I traveled with the Long Island Youth Orchestra to places like Morocco and China. I had no trouble with flights that took forever. It took a return flight from Vegas to panic me. We were enjoying a weekend with about 30 of our friends and families celebrating our friend Rami's 40th birthday. On the way home (Southwest-coach bus style- 3seat/3seat split) we hit turbulence that kept everyone seated for a good 4 hours out of the 5. The plane would drop and then soar--Dave slept through it, Ali and Cassie had their headphones on and were in 'the zone' and I sat gripping the armrests ready to jump out of my seat, open the door and freefall down to Earth. After that, I swore I'd never fly again.

April 2008 had us in Orlando-the flights were just fine. The only thing drawing me to a long plane trip again is the joy of learning and being able to teach my students in a more creative, confident fashion. So off I go into the wild blue yonder...Maybe I'll slug a nice drink at 8 am???

Crazy July

So, July has been a haphazard month. The first full week started out easily enough--relaxing and getting things done around the house.

Then the second week came and it's been non-stop ever since. We spent a week in Wildwood, NJ with our two nieces and two nephews, Dave's sister Kim and then we were joined by Dave's brother Chris and his fiance, Monica, and her son Sergio. Dave's family has been going to Wildwood since before he was born and we've been going every year since we've been together (starting in 85!). It just has so much to offer with the beaches, a 2 1/2 mile boardwalk and 5 piers with rides (from kiddie to giant roller coasters to extreme rides where bungees and cables shoot you around a hundred feet in the air). The kids are all old enough to head up to the boardwalk unsupervised and we'll stay back for a while and play cards, or LCR and eventually meet up with them for some Paul's Idaho French Fries. The week we went, the weather couldn't have been better.

We returned on Saturday the 19th and then the girls and I set out for Dave's sister Kim's house from Sunday-Thursday. The girls were singing in the Long Island Masterworks High School Honors Choir. Adelphi University has graciously given over their facilities and some of their professors. Ali got a solo in 'Seasons of Love' from Rent and we were blown away when she opened her mouth on Friday evening. It was nice to finally hear her let it out. Can't wait until Cassie is confident enough to do the same.

We returned Friday night, the 24th around 11pm and got Ali to the airport for her flight to Washington DC. She's spending a week with HOBY (Hugh O'Brien Youth World Leadership Conference--Hugh O' Brien was the original Wyatt Earp on TV and went on to become an amazing humanitarian).

Now, when she returns, I leave a day later for California! After my return, we're really not going to know what to do with ourselves! I'll probably start thinking about and prepping for teaching this fall.

Cassie will continue to keep us busy with her soccer team though and her knee doctor appointments. Sadly, she got my knees in the gene pool. She has a 40% rotation of her kneecap on her right knee. A lateral release is a temporary solution and her doctor recommends that she see another specialist to discuss a Fulkerson procedure (not always successful). Her PT is working on taping her knee so it may gradually release to it's correct position without surgery. There's never a dull moment when there's kids around.

Empty Nest Syndrome-How do they do it?

Last week, my daughter, Ali, went away with her best friend and her family. She was away for a week and it was really weird. Especially when my daughter, Cassie, spent a couple of days with her best friend. I found myself thinking that this is a vision of two years from now when Ali, then Cassie a year later, head off to college.

How do parents do it? It's a natural progression of life, but I can't imagine my children not being a part of my everyday events. I find it strange that some of my peers can't wait until their children leave the nest. I feel the total opposite!

I think I may need some good antidepressants to get over the hump of my kids leaving me. I guess I would have more time for work (oh goody!), and I might have to find other things to keep me busy. Why must I think of this now??? Enough of future worries! I'll focus on enjoying each and every day as it comes.

Totally Clueless

LOL! This first time blogger is laughing now. I thought I had added an entry, but lo and behold, it must be lost in cyberspace! I coudn't find my way back to posting for a while and ended up clicking somehow on 'next blog' which brought me to some gorgeous family photos and a beautifully set up page. Some people really know their way around a keyboard.

Anyway...I had originally written that I started this blog after sitting around the house for almost a week with bronchitis and the utter horror of feeling like I'm going to cough up a lung at any moment. I've been a huge fan of howsrobb blog and am so amazed at what a great job Lisa and Robb do at keeping up with it. I'm hoping to be at least a 10th of how dedicated a blogger they are.

If I can only get this to show up on my page, I'll be happy! I clicked on publish post and it didn't show up. Maybe I'll try post options next UGH!