Project 365: Day 82 - Fri. August 7th, 2009

Cristina asleep at the kitchen table at 4 am ...

Cristina - la reina de cumpleanos - at 8 am driving back from an all nighter in South Beach. I am KNOCKED OUT in the passenger seat feeling my age.

What the hell were we still talking about at 4 am? And I am in Miami - why am I wrapped up in a Dora comforter?

A live Columbian band in her dining room helping her turn the big 30.

Las dos DIVAS in South Beach.

Happy Birthday Scheck! And Happy Last Day of Summer School!

Today was the last official day of summer school. While I said good-bye to most of the students on Thursday, and told them that they didn't need to come on Friday, some of them still came. I probably had the most students show up ... Clinton, Avory, Sanaa, Constance, Ja'chole, Brad, Victor, Kierra, and eventually Umang all showed up. Umang, the big dummy, had taken his SAT final exam home with him. Who does that???? Umang - that's who. So I called him, woke him up, and told him he had 30 minutes to get it to me before the 990 points was a zero and his B became a C. I figured his dad would bring him but that kid got on his bike and rode like the wind to get it to me. We know he was peddling like the nefarious Miss Almira Gulch (the Wicked Witch of the West) because we passed him on our way to take books back to New Town. Brad had 3 students in his car and I had 3 students in mine and we all saw him and it sent us all into hysterics. It was hard for me to get the "Dididididodo dididididodo" out of my head the rest of the day.

I was actually done ahead of time thanks to all my helpers, and was enjoying a beverage, the warmth of the sun, and a good book by 1:30 that day. I was sad to not be boarding an airplane to go to Miami but this year it just wasn't in the cards to go celebrate my bff's birthday. I was a god awful mess last year at this time thanks to graduate courses and an ex-boyfriend who like Voldemort, shall be the one who's name is never mentioned, and I didn't even call her. This means that next summer I must make it a point to get out there and do something wild and crazy with and for my girl.

One year for my birthday I flew down to Miami for the weekend and she surprised me with tickets to see Chayanne, Mark Anthony and Alejandro Fernandez - juntos en concierto. In all of my life this was by far the most meaningful birthday gift and biggest surprise I had ever been given.

The last time I was able to actually celebrate with Cristina was back in 2006. These pictures were still saved in our Kodakgallery and what a night I've had looking at and remembering all our crazy times. Today, Cristina, I celebrate you, our friendship, our children and our future. I give thanks to God for your life and His wisdom in making sure our lives coalesced as teachers, mothers and friends. My life is simply better having you in it. We have survived bad students, bad principals, bad relationships, bad dates and our friendship has stood the test of time and miles. Here's to you my friend - may God continue to bless the friendship of "las dos Divas".

Project 365: Day 80 - Wed. August 5th, 2009

What we learned in summer school ...

We came together for five weeks for five hours a day and while the final exam may not say we learned everything we were supposed to, this is what we would like everyone to know we learned individually, together, and from each other …

Constance: I learned more than school work; I learned life lessons, like not to judge a book by the cover.

Guadalupe: I learned to read a book in a week.

Micha: I learned to not doubt myself and that if you have a teacher that really cares about you then you can do anything like learn how to spell 99 SAT words.

Chris: I learned to love reading and that sometimes the teacher yells because she cares.

Kierra: Ms. Grosser taught me to work hard and earn what I want in life, that I’m not the only one with problems. It’s not even just her who helped me learn but also the other students. They taught me not to be so judgmental and to try things before I say I can’t.

Thalia: I not only learned a lot about American authors but also about myself. I learned hard SAT words that I now use in my vernacular.

Sean: During these amazon 5 weeks I learned damn near 100 SAT words and I can actually tell you what they mean.

Manny: I learned a lot of these SAT words. I think that I’m more of a visual learner and I found that out here. I never read and I mean never but I did here. I actually enjoyed summer school so I think that I learned something.

Sade: I have learned a plethora of new SAT words and have learned to associate pictures and words as a new way of studying. I have read, understood and summarized four books and have learned how to write and go into detail, writing way below the surface.

Sanaa: I learned to let some personal things go, to really try and not to cheat at all.

Maria: I learned to like writing and reading books; I learned about different cultures and am glad to have been a part of our “united nations”.

Farrell: I learned a lot of new words and to write in more detail.

Brad: I learned that sometimes bad things happen so good things will come. I failed day school but am glad ‘cause I met some of the most genuine friendly people I have ever met in summer school. They have given me the time of day and it will be a sad day when we leave. If I had the chance to go back and graduate on time, honestly, I wouldn’t.

Umang: I learned how to make other friends and to share. I learned ways to understand people and rich vocabulary.

Victor: I learned how to study for vocabulary tests, that I actually like reading books, how to compare myself with a story, and I gained more imagination to write.

Shahrom: I learned how to compare a movie and a book, about the time period in which author’s lived, and how to study for vocab tests and how to be active in class.

Kendra: I learned how bad of a procrastinator I am and that this is a bad habit I need to change; I learned a lot of vocabulary words that I would never have remembered in day school.

Ja’chole: I learned that it’s Okay to write poetry and that I’m good at it, that it’s Okay to be myself and that I have to learn how to adapt to my new surroundings.

Clinton: I learned that a lot of different people could put their differences aside and get along and that learning 99 words in 5 weeks is easy when the right person uses the right methods. Learning is fun if you make it fun.

Ms. Grosser: I learned that when students let go of narrow thoughts the world of friendship opens wide; I learned that reading and writing and learning can unite people in ways that are difficult to explain; I learned that I could grow to love and appreciate 23 young people from distant lands and different schools in 5 short weeks as if they are my very own.

Louise: I learned how to deal with Ms. Grosser (and how to read more and new SAT words).

Avory: I learned how to love a stranger.

The questions I pondered during dinner with my 3 dear teacher friends (Desiree, Kristina, and Maureen) from my Randallstown days ...

where does the time go?
how do they do it with more than one child?
do they know how much I value our years together in the classroom?
have any of us ever worked harder than we did in those 5 years?
have any of us ever found that same incredible team spirit we created and clung to?
what will we look like when we start to see our children graduate?

Project 365: Day 76 - Sat. August 1st, 2009

The two twins - we dressed just alike and didn't even call each other!

Mikey - all tatted up and enjoying a job that doesn't make him wrap them up.

Reminded me of my Mick Jagger fetish back in middle school......

Angels Rockbar

All day long during "my day to myself" I thought about where Tammy and I could go for a fun night out....plan A was to go to the Oriole's game but the only tickets left were for standing room only and well that just didn't sound like the best plan. So plan B was to head downtown to Power Plant LIVE! and just go with the flow. That plan took shape when Mike, an old friend of mine from my Don Pablo days (see photo #2), sent a message on FB that he could get people on the reservation list at Angels Rockbar. This is not usually my scene but I wanted to bring August in with a BANG! So loud rock music sounded like the way to do it.

When we got there we headed for the restroom and had a hard time deciding which door was for men and which one was for women. The small WOMEN sign next to the door told us two things - that other people couldn't read the door sign either and that we were in the right place. But the fact that we walked in and found ourselves staring at a man's back told us that, he too, had a hard time reading the signs. I was afraid that was a sign ... this was going to be some night........

The array of people at the club ranged from obese women in sweats and flipflops, biker chicks, mohawked men, divas in Forever 21 dresses and heels, and some obvious Boston baseball fans. It was the obnoxious Boston meathead that came up to talk to us that was the green light to GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully Tammy suggested we head to Havanna Club which I eagerly agreed to - it was so much more my style. Latin music, older crowd and less the hook up scene. We were in jeans so we were going to have to sweet talk our way in at the door. It was easier than we thought and one step off the elevator to the sound of old school Prince said we were HOME. We ran to the dance floor and stayed put until the heat got to us. On our way back from the bathroom I was beboppin' to the beat and the guy behind me asked me to dance. James was his name and just a few beats into the song it was obvious he was a gentleman and a scholar. It was so nice to have the pick up place behind us and be back in an atmosphere where people come to enjoy music and dancing without all the hidden agendas. The night ended in the right place and on the right note.

Project 365: Day 74 - Thurs. July 30th, 2009

The Night of Distractions...

In honor of my week to myself, Fran offered to treat me to a pedicure. Then LJ said he wanted me to scoop up Fran so that we could all hang out again. Then Chris said he would love to hang out. And then Tammy said she would appreciate the distraction ... So a pedicure for two stressed out single mamas turned into a pedicure dinner party. I will leave you with one guess as to whose feet those are in the first picture.....

That's right - LJ got his first pedicure. He can now officially scratch that off his Bucket List. And then it was off to PF Chang for some rockin' food....

The night's events had many memorable moments and one-liners ... "OK sir you have to put your feet in here ... Does this chair come with a remote control to turn the movie on? ... Is there a curtain we can put around me? ... Once you go ..." Then there was the double feature restaurant side show going on around us ... drinks spilled in a woman's lap and a boy racing back from the bathroom who wiped out and lost his shoe right in front of our table. Aside from all that there was, of course, a lot of teacher talk since all five of us are in education, but there was also some discussion about the colors brown, black and white, and our individual preferences. So it seemed quite appropriate that one of the fortune cookies said, "life is all about the little choices, like white rice or brown rice?" Things that make you go Hhhmmmmmmmmmmm.

It felt really great to go out in the middle of the week with friends and treat myself to a "distraction" - Tammy's word I can't help but borrow. At the top of the list was the treat of my first pedicure in about 2 years! (Thanks again Fran - my feet thank you too!) I think for all of us it was a distraction from the myriad stressors we each face daily. I haven't seen Chris since he left NTHS to go teach at Parkville. Tammy and I have old and new reasons to enjoy each others minds and company. Fran and I clicked like seatbelts the first time we met and we've been helping each other safe guard our minds and hearts ever since. And as for LJ - well he is just plain family. Every day we are each faced with the distractions of emails, text messages, phone calls and to-do lists - but tonight the distractions of spilled drinks, lost shoes, and funny fortunes were strategically placed to make life less serious for just a couple of hours.

So here's to you distractions - may there be more where you came from!

Project 365: Day 69 - Sat. July 25th, 2009

Friends and Rainbows:

The morning started with a phone call to Rick from Verizon. 45 minutes later I had a new friend. he helped me figure out how to get $220 off my now $600 bill and saved me money every month by helping me analyze my calling plan.

Then I jumped out of bed - and the acute pain in my head reminded me that wine is not my friend. But off I went to meet my friend Courtney for breakfast and my favorite diner in Reisterstown. We just had dinner on Thursday but there is nothing better than sharing a meal and some great conversation with my CoCo.

Well that encounter led to the next friendly encounter. A former student of hers -Patrick Williams - showed up to say hello. I laugh now because Courtney is a little behind the technology times but this is testimony to its power. Because she has embraced text messaging, she was able to land herself a Patrick sighting. (I never taught Patrick but this was back in Randallstown's open space days and Courtney's class was right next to mine. The flimsy wall between didn't keep her English lessons from mixing with my Spanish lessons.)

I, of course, wanted to catch the reunion on camera and because of my new habit of always having "Click!" with me, I was able to snap these emotionally charged moments. There he was - Patrick (aka P-Dog) with BIG muscles, tatoos but same adorable smile. We stood in the parking lot and heard all about his new business adventure called the Traveling Gourmet. I told him to remember the little people when he makes it to the food network. Soon the reunion had to end as the ex drove up with the girls. We said our goodbyes and I left to go get Cody from Edwin. Since "friend" was the word of the day, I left a friendly note on my new friend Stuart's door, (see funny story in blog Day 68) and then headed off for playdate #2 with Lisa and the kids.

The weather was perfect for a day at the pool and the sun helped dry up the wine still sloshing around in my head. The kids played hard and made up some fun new game called "Don't Fall Off!" I asked Lisa about her childhood games and friends and we sat hand in hand with the nostalgia of our own childhoods as we watched our children play. "They will be friends forever you know." Lisa was right. Cody and Brady have been friends since pre-school and will continue to be friends for life - just like their mothers. I envisioned Cody and Brady in tuxedos in each other's weddings toasting to their life-long friendship. I envisioned Lisa and I crying over the thought of our two little boys playing pirates in the basement.

I was reminded to thank God that day for my friend Lisa. He sent her to me you know; she was absolutely an answered prayer. My 3 closest friends had all moved away. Courtney was in PA - Cristina was in FL - and the void from Cindy's move to Utah and out of my life entirely had left me well - lonely. I asked God to send me a friend and He sent me Lisa. Little did we know that a playdate would turn into a friendship that would see us both through some very dark times--dark times that stood in stark contrast to this light, bright Saturday afternoon.

We left the pool to go to our favorite restaurant - Noodles & Co. and it was there that Lisa ran into an old friend. The theme of the day had not yet tired from making its rounds. We enjoyed our meals, stopped for ice-cream and then said our good-byes. On the way home the weather was mixing up something interesting. And then Cody saw it - our second rainbow in two 24 hour periods. We stopped and took pictures and talked about how rainbows are like friendship: the good ones mix life's storms with life's sunny days to make something beautiful for the world to see.

Project 365: Day 68 - Fri. July 24th, 2009

GNO turns into a crazy night of coincidents ... see what happened was..........

Project 365: Day 67 - Thurs. July 23rd, 2009

An evening with my dear friend Courtney...

is like finding money in a jacket pocket
is like a vacation from the here and now but a thrill ride through the there and went
is like a face-lift for my soul
is like the first sip of a Venti triple shot mocha latte
is like finding a rainbow - that perfect symbol of when the good and the bad meet to create something powerfully moving and extraordinary.

We used to talk about students, boyfriends, fears and dreams.
Today we talked about students, ex-husbands, fears and dreams.

I love the fact that some things never change - no matter how much time passes, how much pain we have endured, or how many miles stand between us.

Project 365: Day 61 - Fri. July 17th, 2009

The best part about today was my three hour nap and that my girl Scheck taught me a new trick on Facebook. Did you know you can send video messages?!? If your computer has a webcam all you have to do is go to the person's profile that you want to send a message, click the little camera that is under the "Write Something" box and start recording! You are clicks away from sending a smile that is much more personal than an emoticon. ... :) Then one of my most favorite students of all time, Don Leon, sent me a video message when he saw that Scheck sent me one ... the love was flying on Facebook tonight!

Project 365: Day 45 - Wed. July 1st, 2009

Today was Liliana Day!

While my BFF is back in Florida, her 6 year old daughter, Liliana, is spending three weeks with her father here in Baltimore. This marks the longest time Liliana has spent away from her mother and for several obvious reasons is having a hard time. She calls her mom and her Joanie wondering why she can't come home and my heart breaks for her. So I gathered up the guts to call Cristina's ex and asked him if Cody and I could PLEASE take Lili for the day. He said YES! So today I picked her up for our official Liliana Day. We did whatever she wanted. She wanted to play in my house with Cody's LEGOs - CHECK. She wanted to play Wii with LJ at his house - CHECK. She wanted to go to the movies to see Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs - CHECK. She didn't want to go home. uncheck. :(

Spending part of the day with LJ and Lili got me thinking about friendship and relationships. Cristina and I have seen each other through many broken hearts. And while men may come in and out of our lives, we remain constant for each other. We have celebrated the birth of our children together, we have mourned the loss of family, friends and relationships together, we have worked together, we have traveled together, for a short time we even lived together. We may not live in the same state but our lives are forever entwined. Her friendship and her daughter bring immense joy and comfort to my life. I look forward to planning graduation parties, college visits, and weddings. VIVA la Ya-Yas!!!!

Project 365: Day 13 - Sat. May 30th, 2009

Two Oriole's tickets - $54.00, refreshments - $40.00, parking - $10, an evening at Camden Yards with my Aleigh and her family - priceless.

Do you have a friend that no matter how much time passes, you pick up right where you left off? For me, that friend is Aleigh. We lived together right out of college in Indiana. The last time I saw her was at my wedding in 1996. From there life took her around the country with her husband's job and I allowed life to get in between a really special friendship. Soon I didn't know where she was ... everytime I heard the Indigo Girls I would think of her and smile, but then my heart would get heavy because I had lost touch with someone I cared about deeply. And then nearly 6 months ago my long lost friend found me. It was another Facebook reunion. I cried tears of joy as I went through her albums and saw her beautiful three children. She and John looked just as happy as the day I watched them get married. She was now living in Philly and the chances of seeing my long lost friend were very high. We tried for a President's Day reunion but that didn't pan out. My patience was going to have to see me through to summer. But today, out of the blue, came a phone call that made me drop everything I had planned, jump in my car, and meet my friend and her fabulous family at Camden Yards. The Detroit Tigers were John's favorite team and they were playing the Orioles. I was going to see my Aleigh after 14 years....

She found me first in the crowd at the Inner Harbor. And we hugged and screamed and carried on like school girls. Then I hugged John and then looked at her 3 gorgeous children in awe. Zoe - was Aleigh's face on John's body, Little John was a Kozinski but with Aleigh's personality, and Mac was a Joleigh, a perfect mixture of the two of them. I observed the three of them take turns with Cody - they all interacted with him and made him feel like a part of the Kozinski clan. I was impressed with how well the 3 Kozinski's got along. They didn't bicker, argue or tease. They were a team and were real sports to let Cody play for the day.

It was a night of special events...the reunion of two friends from long ago, Cody caught his first baseball, I almost got a concusion from a 90 mile an hour practice pitch, Mac caught a ball, and then all 4 of them got signatures from 2 of Detroit's relief pitchers (#45 and ? - John of course knew them all) then Little John got on the big screen because he was two feet behind the Detroit player in left field who dropped the ball, then a minute later Big John's phone rang with a call from his brother in Michigan who had just seen Little John in his Edwardsburg Eddies t-shirt on TV, and of course there was the Oriole rookie Wieters who got his first MLB hit. It was a night of BIG hits and I drove home exhausted but feeling high from God's blessings - He had just given me a spa treatment for my soul.

Project 365: Day 1 - May 18th, 2009

Can I be honest and say that I cheated on Day 1?! I didn't actually take this photograph but because today commemorates my dear friend Nicole Cathirell's 30th birthday, I just had to have this photo be my first. Nicole has become one of my closest friends. When I left RHS and the women I worked with for so many years, I felt a void. I loved working at New Town and loved the kids but there was something missing. The "something missing" was the daily dose of friendship that had become my vitamin. Nicole is my New Town vitamin - she fills me with energy, love and grace. I am blessed to call her my friend and my coworker.

Today is also my father's 69th birthday. I would be amiss to leave him out. Am I really old enough to have a parent at the cusp of 70?! May God grant him many more years of good health and prosperity.