A Poet I am Not

Going on a little holiday.
To where I've yet to say.
Trees and seas I'm bound to see
with one I love and he me.

A poet sadly I am not
but books to read I surely got.
This little blog will have to wait
until some food carts I have ate.

So if you see a plane overhead
smile and wave at the girl in red
That'll be me looking down
waiting to land in my favorite town.

Before the Beginning of Time

Sometimes it is hard to watch children grow.  It is not that I want them to stay little forever.  But each morning, as I hug them and watch them walk into the doors of their school to a life separate from me, I feel a little pang of letting go.   I can't run in and make sure they are happy.  I can't be there at lunch to make sure they have someone to talk to and tell them they are special.  Their lives are becoming increasingly independent as their horizons expand.  Sometimes life feels so fast and so fleeting.  I want to hold onto the days, but then they slip by and it is night again.  While life feels so fast for some, for others it can feel so long.  I spoke with a woman in our church who lost her nine year old to cancer and she said, "Life just feels so long.  The days stretch endlessly in front of me until I can be with my daughter again."

We miss people who are not in our daily lives anymore, and sometimes we even miss the ones who are as we let our children grow.  This morning I read this verse which makes me think of that day when we will sit by the river of life and really know people, love them fully and purely, and worship because of what has been planned since before the beginning of time.  May you know the love of the One who is before and outside of time and yet came into the limits of time that we might know Him.

...God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life- not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. - 2 Timothy 1:9-10

Tuesday

 I love these little people.

Today the temperatures climbed into the sixties for the first time in a LONG time.

Where was I?  Stuck inside in a windowless room taking a Pharmacology midterm.

I know, whine, whine, whine.

But the rest of my family went outside after school to enjoy the sun and 40+ mph winds.

 My brain has felt pretty jammed full lately with Biology.  I think my cerebral cortex might be made with a special sort of Teflon that makes scientific facts slide right off it- like NOTHING wants to stick.  When I think about becoming a nurse some day I get excited.  When I think about the hospice floor I visited with a very committed volunteer who goes to our church, I get hopeful of future opportunities.  When I think about memorizing lists of drugs I sort of want to poke my eyeballs out. This is what I've been doing lately (the memorization attempt...my eyeballs are still intact). That, coupled with retaking Anatomy & Physiology after dropping it during our last month in Portland (arrghh !@#%!*?! why did I do that???), has meant lots less time for reading good books and writing.  

But 

A little break is in sight!  One more midterm to go and let spring break begin...

I need a good book.  Suggestions anyone?

The Big Red Bag

The Big Red Bag.

Since 1990 the flagship American Girl store has become as iconic for Chicago as the Hancock Building or Lake Michigan.  Red bags in the hands of little girls bounce down city streets declaring, "Welcome to Chicago, folks.  Yep, you're in America now."

I'm not sure how we've lived here a year and a half and not darkened the door of the place. A year and a half ago my girls had little knowledge of these dolls.  When a very generous teenager in our church decided to pass on her dolls to my girls... the love affair began.  They've listened to the entire series (on library listening tapes) of almost every historical doll from Native American Kaya living in the 18th c. American West to Jewish American Samantha living in turn of the century New York.  They are hooked.

We decide to treat our own little American girls to some birthday fun 

this week by visiting the famous store. To quote Rynn,

"Daddy, this is an experience of a lifetime."

Want to go inside the store?  Read on...

Ice Skating

This Christmas Grammy & Pops gave the girls ice skates.

I've been putting off a post about ice skating 

with hopes of snapping some good pictures of the local outdoor rinks,

 a Midwest phenomenon that continues to amaze this Southern girl. 

 Every winter, once temperatures consistently stay below freezing, 

 local fire departments flood parks to create 'natural,' outdoor ice rinks.

Jason skating last winter (January 2011) at Gillson Park in Wilmette.

Strike a Pose

I reach for the last bag of toasted wasabi seaweed on the top shelf of the snack aisle at Trader Joe's.  Over the speakers a voice belts out, "Life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone. I hear you call my name, and it feels like HOME."  Thinking more about reaching to the top shelf than the music that is playing, I sing out loud without realizing it.  I catch the eyes of a middle aged employee stocking the shelves.  He laughs at me. 

"ARGHH, she's everywhere this week!," I reply.  "Haven't we had enough of Madonna?."

He laughs again and says, "She's going on tour again. They just announced it yesterday.  Come on, people!  What's the appeal?."  

"I know!," I exclaim, "I can't believe MORE people tuned in just to watch Madonna at half time than watched the actual Super Bowl. It's crazy!."  I respond emphatically, not wanting to admit that I was dancing in my living room during the whole show.

The song ("Like a Prayer") is in my head the whole way home.  It's been a long day of classes.  The children are in bed.  Jason greets me with a warm bowl of chili, a hug, and then returns to his TV show.  I retreat to our condo's bathroom that, in true 1990s style, is about the same size as our bedroom.  With a bit of space and a large mirror it is perfect for a little dance practice with an air microphone.  I'm not sure how long I've been practicing my Madonna moves to YouTube videos when I spy Jason standing at the bathroom door laughing.  This makes twice in one night I've been mocked because of Madonna.   

The Changing Face of Education

 Education is changing.  "The jobs your children may have one day probably don't even exist yet,"  Rynn's teacher tells a room full of parents in September.  Today I wonder whether the college education they may have in ten years may not exist yet either.

Last fall I straddled two very different educational experiences. With one foot soaking up a literature class under the ivy towers of Northwestern University,  I planted another foot in the world of community college online education. By taking an online Chemistry class I finally complete nursing school prerequisites.  With a box filled with chemicals, test tubes, graduated cylinders, and matches I set up a Chemistry lab in my kitchen.  I log on to the college's server once a week for a 'virtual lecture' with a 'white board' upon which the teacher works out chemical equations and answers our questions.  I scan homework and labs to upload, complete a group project, and turn chemicals blue with fire in my kitchen.  All this is accomplished without ever laying eyes on a human being.  Convenient?  Absolutely.  Logging in from the waiting room of the hospital when Jason was sick, I am able to multitask by learning acid/base calculations, take a quiz, and watch daytime TV all at the same time.  Did I learn Chemistry?  Sort of.  Did I learn and understand it to the depths that I probably could have in a classroom?  No.  Is this the way of the future?  Many would say- yes.