Thinking It Through

The day we left to take Job to college, he spent some time alone at the top of the treehouse (well...treehouse in progress). I couldn't tell if he was praying or just thinking, but I could feel the poignancy of the moment. He seemed to be saying goodbye...

To what exactly?

...childhood?

...our home?

...us?

I imagine only he really knows...and that's fine by me.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Hopi Wisdom

This bench, stationed outside of a visionary re-purposed industrial building in Baltimore, really needs no further commentary from me...but being who I am, well, I'll just add a few thoughts.

It sits on the sidewalk at the corner entrance to Charmington's, a unique cafe in the Miller's Court development in a transitional neighborhood in northern Baltimore City, nearish Johns Hopkins University. The building, a former tin can company, was redeveloped in great part to be a place of residential support for recent college graduates who choose to teach in the Baltimore City Public School System. In addition to apartments, it also houses office space for educational nonprofits, and, of course, the Charmington's cafe.

(For more on interesting Miller's Court, check out the following two links: http://millerscourt.com/ and
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/2009/04/baltimore-rehab.html )

Charmington's has been one of the many wonderful local meeting spots for a group of parents working to encourage our neighborhood middle school to incorporate a daily recess break into its rather comprehensive, yet overly rigorous and unbalanced school day. Sometimes it seems that we are "racing to nowhere" with our kids. Sometimes our societal efforts to provide them the best quality education swing wildly to the other side of the pendulum, and we end up "teaching for the test" rather than thoughtfully educating the "whole child." Our children need quality instructional time, but they also need time to "play" and imagine and just talk with one another...and a little fresh air wouldn't hurt either.

Working to help balance the school culture has often felt like more than I bargained for over the past year or so, but we press on...because common sense, and parent intuition, and really listening to our children, not to mention the volumes and volumes of recent relevant research, have all indicated that the short- and long-term benefits for our children are easily worth more than the sacrifice it's taking to get there.

So, at a step along the journey, July 11th to be exact, this bench gave me a bit of a fresh wind.

Let's live this wisdom of the Hopi Tribe.

Much Love. Take Care.

Game Day

Craig really loves Sunday afternoons in the fall.

After church service he cooks up a veritable smorgasbord, dons his purple attire, and 

settles in to watch the BALTIMORE RAVENS kick some football butt!

CAW! CAW!

Today he even made a purple cake...

...which Gommy was only too happy to help him decorate...

...in her own special Gommy-Girl way...

...tutu required, of course.

And of course, we didn't have any difficulty finding homes for all those slices of purple cake!

And by the way, it was the Ravens all the way today, babeee...37 to 7!

 

Take Care. Much Love.

  

Off to Kindergarten!

Montgomery started Kindergarten this year!

(...yes...I know...

...right after we dropped Job off at college...

...I'm not sure I can find the right words either...  ;o)

...soooo...I think we'll just flow with these...)

...Montgomery started Kindergarten this year!

She was verrryyy excited, because this year she gets to go to "big girl" school with Josiah and Johngideon.

I think she had a brief moment of nervousness when we actually stepped outside to head to school, but then again, carrying a big girl backpack and wearing the big kid school uniform for the first time can take a little getting used to.

Johngideon thought it was really neat that Gommy would be at his school this year.

The school wisely has a staggered first day for Kindergarteners, so Gommy went in for just an hour, with just a few other students from her class, to meet her teacher and get used to the classroom a bit. First order of business - unpacking the bookbag.

Then it was off to choose a silly pair of sunglasses...



...so her teacher could take a silly photo of her for the classroom bulletin board...

I thought that was a fun, creative way for the kids to get to see one another, and start to get to know their classmates.

After a crafts activity (making the cheerful hanging nametag in the first photo above) with her new teacher and her new classmates who were also attending that intro hour, Montgomery got to spend some free play time getting comfortable in the classroom.

It was a great first day at Kindergarten, and she left ready and excited to go back for more.

Here's to an awesome school year for my awesome, smart, big Kindergarten girl!

Much Love. Take Care.
 

Off To College! (Part 2)

We took Job up to college on an August Thursday so he could participate in a pre-orientation retreat before the actual orientation began that following Sunday. Only Craig, Maia and I went up for this leg of the journey, and we were packed to the gills with the necessaries of setting-up a dorm room. Getting keys, finding the right dorm, and finding the right room in that dorm was so exciting...for all of us!

Figuring out how to actually work the key card and code thingy on the door took some doing...and finally, after a few unfruitful attempts, some instruction reading.

Maia tried her best to wait patiently in the hallway while Job figured it out...

...but finally I think she couldn't stand another moment of waiting to see what the dorm room looked like and just had to get actively involved!

Success! We finally made it into the room and got our first glimpse of where Job will be spending the next year of his life.  Small but adequate (and actually better than we had anticipated from the college website photos)..but more importantly, totally his space...well, his and his freshman roommate, of course.

Maia gave it a thumbs up!

After many trips back and forth unloading the van, Job realized the job was done at last...

...and headed back inside to his new abode...

...but graciously posed for a picture for his dear old mom, waiting, as usual, with a camera in her hand.

I think this bright young man looks ready for his future...sturdy backpack, black briefcase, glasses, and...uh...is that your ninja sword? Well...who knows what the future may hold, right?   ;o)

The building has some interesting architectural features...

...that Job thought might lead to a shortcut inside...but nope...it's main entrance all the way for this dorm!

After finding his way back to his new neck of the woods...

...he and Maia shared a moment...

...or two...

I think I'd call that a "happy dance"...wouldn't you?

Much Love. Take Care.

Coffee

Heard recently (and quite seriously) from the lips of Montgomery:

"Mommy, does coffee make people cough?"

Chuckling inwardly to myself, I thought,
"No, but it sure does make this person smile...just like your question, sweet baby girl."

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Our Trombonist POP

Josiah and his trusty trombone. 

A POP (Post of Previosity) from December 2007.

The year he first learned to play.

The joy of discovery, and the hand-in-hand joy of musical camaraderie.

What a gift for all the seasons of his life.

Much Love. Take Care.

Wormy

Gommy met a worm friend.

Wormy was very glad to make her acquaintance...he had been getting tired of low-level living.

Wormy could do tricks...

...like making figure "zeros."

Wormy was looking for adventure, so Montgomery took him downhill sliding...

...and skateboarding...

...and cross-country leaf hiking.

Wormy hung out sunbathing on the leaf while Gommy ran inside for a minute...

...and went to the bathroom...

...and had a snack...

...and watched a movie...

...and played with her dolls.

Gommy remembered Wormy was still sunbathing and went outside to visit him...

He was a little quiet...Gommy said he was taking a nap.

Ummmm........

Much Love. Take Care.

 

The Elders POP+

I love this photo of Job and Maia,

a POP (Post of Previosity) from April 1995,

when Job would have been about 21 months old and Maia almost 9 months.

It's one of my all-time favorites!

What I love is that it shows the natural inclinations, personalities

and sibling relationship of these two...even today.

Job tends to be focused on the activity of the moment, and the tools and items related to that activity, which for him in this picture is clearly the sippy cup, the drinking of the juice, and the wearing of the sunglasses. Maia tends to focus on the people of the activity of the moment and relating with them, and thus the items of the activity of the moment are kind of unimportant to her...she was simply wanting to "talk" to the nice mommy lady standing over her with the flashy-light-camera-thing.

Job has usually tended to exhibit a degree of reserve. Maia has usually -- well, almost always -- approached situations with a desire to dive right in. Job has tended to have his mouth closed much more often than it's open. Maia has tended to have her mouth open communicating something much more often than it's closed. Job tends to be methodical. Maia tends to be a bit freestyle.

Yet, with all of their differences, or maybe because of their differences, Job and Maia have always been very close siblings, and I think are even closer now than ever before. Perhaps they balance each other? Either way, as a mother, their special relationship has warmed my heart again and again over the years. And...the funny thing is that in recent years they seem to have started rubbing off on each other. Job is a whole lot more social these days and enjoys getting to know new people in new situations, and actively seeks out those opportunities. Maia is now contemplatively reserved in situations that warrant it, and has a greater appreciation for methods and procedures.

But I still sometimes manage to capture a few photos,

like this one from Job's graduation day,

that take me right back to April 1995...

...classic!

Much Love. Take Care.

This Land

This photo speaks to me on so many levels. As I think about what September 11th means to us as a nation and to me personally, my mind roams to the beauty of the American people in the days and weeks and months following that awful tragedy. My heart fills with more of the joy of solidarity than with the remembrances of grief. Perhaps I have that luxury because I did not lose anyone close to me on that day. Or perhaps I have that remembrance because we are so often a nation divided, but in the aftermath of that tragedy we were so much more a nation unified...unified in supporting each other and helping each other, and in many ways appreciating each other more.

Perhaps I have the luxury of that sentiment because I am not a Muslim American and did not experience the suspicions and backlash of that day.

Our world is very complex and there is much I cannot fathom.

The photo above is of Montgomery playing in the street at our neighborhood's 4th of July bike parade this summer. At the end of the bike parade, our local fire station opens the hose in a primary neighborhood intersection while the kids dance and play in the spray, and a local church on that corner hands out free red/white/blue ice pops to the crowd. Usually the hose is mounted on top of the fire truck (just out of view on the left of the photo) and sprays in the air at varying intensities, creating showers that sprinkle or drench. The kids love it!

This year, however, something wasn't working properly on the truck's mounted sprayer, so the firefighters took turns on the ground holding the hose for the spray action. This is by far not my best photo of that day, but it is the one that compels me to linger for a moment. When I look at this photo, I almost don't even see Montgomery in the foreground, because the scene in the background always captures me.

For African Americans, fire hoses hold many disparate memories, but often the first one that leaps to mind is negative. The horrible images, and for some, the horrible memories, of fire hoses, created to protect and defend, but so often in the 1950's and 60's used to inflict pain and preserve a way of life that desecrated the ideals of our unique nation, are what instantly leap to mind. As a native of South Carolina, that is often the case for me.

So this photo, of an African American firefighter, holding a hose on (at that particular moment) Caucasian young people, always gives me pause. And then my eyes roam to the other firefighters and the easy camaraderie their body language displays, and the relaxed crowd all around, and the mother squatting in the lower right corner to take a photo of her children...and my daughter Montgomery, happily oblivious to anything but the fun of this particular day. There are no mixed messages in her mind when she turns to see the fire hose. She is living the dream of the dreamer, and doesn't even know it: "I have a dream that one day... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Of course, one day I will have to show her the photos and footage from the Civil Rights movement, and plant that awful fire hose imagery in her mind. I will have to do this because a people who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, and in my motherly love and protection for her, I never want her to experience a fire hose turned in her direction for anything other than protection...or a little 4th of July fun. I need her, we all need her, as part of our nation's future, to know and remember all aspects of our country's history, both the wonderful and the awful, so that hopefully, we, as a nation, will never be doomed to willfully repeat the awful.

But...

...not that day...

...and not today...

...and not this year.

There will be time enough yet for her to know the uglies of the human heart.

And, so, on this September 11th, I choose the remembrance of the unification of the American people. I choose to see the silver lining. I choose to hear over and over again in my mind the lyrics of Woody Guthrie's old folk song...

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

While all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me.

And I choose to delight in a photo that speaks to me something of how far our nation has come. We have much road yet to travel...but we have progressed.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Psalm 33:12a

Much Love. Take Care.

Billiard Boys

Josiah went to play pool today with his buddy Emmett...in a real pool hall.

Emmett's been wanting to play for awhile and his mom Karen scoped out a nearby non-seedy, non-smoky, non-early-afternoon-drinking, and non-other-undesirable-stuff establishment to which to take the boys.

They had a great time and want to play again soon.

Karen sent me this photo she snapped on the fly with her camera phone.

Can you almost feel the years melt away right through the photo image, 

and see these guys enjoying a friendly round of pool in their young adulthood?

I can...and it makes me happy...and just a little bit sad...all at the same time.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Off to College! (Part 1)

So...the long anticipated day finally arrived, and our-baby-no-more Job, now a "six-foot-two" handsome and very capable young adult, headed off to college!

I have been negligent here, for some time, by not posting the news of his final college choice, which we were sure of way back on May 1st when we had to "sign on the dotted line" per say, and confirm his spot in the...

Carnegie Mellon University

Class of 2015!

We have delighted with him, over the part several months now, in this decision, believing CMU to be a great fit for Job. And while I must gratefully and proudly declare that he had many wonderful options from which to choose (even the awesome Johns Hopkins University, right here practically in our back yard...no really, I'm serious, it's that close...hmmmm...maybe that's why he sent them a "Thanks for the acceptance, but I will not be enrolling" letter!), we are all very happy with his choice, especially because he is so happy with it.

For Job, the choice boiled down to an excellent mechanical engineering department coupled with an excellent visual arts department, and the opportunity to continue his studies in arguably the country's best graduate robotics program. Knowing that he really liked the campus and the city of Pittsburgh from a 6-week summer program stay there last summer didn't hurt either. Not to mention the fact that Carnegie Mellon has squash courts right on campus, and a 30-something percent ethnic diversity figure. It all added up to a win-win formula for Job.

His parents really like the fact that he is only a four-hour drive away. Yessss!!!

This is how Job's CMU acceptance info creatively came in the mail...

...and this was the letter he found inside...

So, of course we drove up for the accepted students' weekend in April. That was so exciting for all of us. This trip it was just Job and I and a good friend high school classmate of his, Elliott Taft, who also had been accepted, and Elliott's mother, Val. Seeing the huge "Welcome Class of 2015" banner was exhilarating!

Job and Elliott stayed on campus, hosted by current CMU students that weekend, while Val and I shared a room and chilled at a nearby Pittsburgh hotel. We did the full round of accepted family giddiness, from posing with the "Congratulations! Welcome!" folders...

...to posing with the CMU Scottie Dog Mascot...

...to enjoying the various student choirs singing at the welcome dinner....

(that's Job down front in the yellow shirt)

...to enjoying touring all the great eatery areas on campus...

..and posing next to random Carnegie Mellon signage!

The guys had a great time and ran into various friends they knew from the CMU summer program the year before, like this young lady...

Everyone was all smiles. If you've never been the parent of a high school senior, diligently and stressfully guiding an almost-but-not-quite-adult teenager through the minimum six-months-long process of identifying colleges of interest, visiting them all (almost), SAT prepping, battling-senioritis-grades-management, endless applicationing, and finally the brutal and agonizing months of admissions-decision-waiting...just wait...or better still, just trust me...those smiles on our faces were WELL EARNED!

We feel so blessed that our son is able to be right where he wants to be for this season of his life. How awesome! I'll post some photos from dorm check-in day later this week (hopefully!).

Meanwhile, here's a link to a neat little Carnegie Mellon bragbook of ideas and innovation:
http://www.cmu.edu/social/brag/bragbook.pdf

Too wonderful!

And one little Carnegie Mellon fun fact: the university's official school colors are PLAID. Yes, that's right, not green and gold, or orange and blue, or burgundy and black, but PLAID! I just love it!

Enjoy it all Job! You've earned it!

Much Love. Take Care.