Farewell, my friend

It was just last week that D rolled into my office, crashing into the doorframe on the way, with a piece of paper on his lap.  “What’s that,” I had asked him.  His quick response…”It’s a picture of you.”  He held up the piece of paper, and this was the picture. 

That’s the kind of quick wit and humor that made D so lovable.  From the first day I met him in 2009, we had an instant connection.  Might have been the fact that we were both sarcastic and understood each other’s sense of humor.  Might have been the fact that he was always in a good mood and could always make people smile.  Whatever it was, right or wrong, he was one of my favorite people to work with.  When I was working at my first jobsite, he would drive himself (in his power wheelchair) into my office every morning and ask me when I was going to start working.  Never mind that I had been there since 7am and usually had 3 things going at the same time.  And every day, he would ask about my daughter, how she was doing, what new things she was doing, if I had any new pictures of her, and when I was going to bring her to visit.  I spent countless hours working with him in the small store in that building, helping him make change and wait on customers.  It was during those times that we had some of our best conversations. 

I transferred to a new jobsite in April, and D shortly followed me to that new site.  Ok, so he wasn’t really following me, but he was there due to some medical issues and some decline in physical abilities.  But he was the same old D, quite-witted, funny, and constantly harassing me.  His passing was unexpected and quite a shock, and I think it will take a while for the reality to set in.  I already miss him visiting my office, whacking me as I pass by, and telling me to get to work.  However, I am blessed to have gotten to know him and will never forget his smiling face.  Rest in peace, D, and know that you will be missed!

I miss.....

Recently, I've been missing some people, more than usual.  Living in a city where I have no family, or at least no blood relatives, is definitely not an easy thing.  There are days when I wish I could just hop in my car and have dinner with my mom and dad, or have a piece of my grandmother's pie, or spend time with my brothers.  The reality is, that's just not possible.  Yes, there are only 5 hours away, but everyone has busy lives and jobs and responsibilities that make visits fewer than I would like.  Trips home (yes, I still call it "home") have to be planned.  Most trips home revolve around a holiday, which is great for seeing everyone, but not so great for actually spending quality time with them, if that makes sense.  It's difficult to really talk to people when there are over 20 of us crammed into my grandmother's house, including several small children.  Don't get me wrong, I love these holiday get-togethers, I just wish there was more time for catching up.

Thinking about how much I've been missing my family has led me to think about other things I have also been missing...

I miss sleeping!  I can't remember the last night I slept well.

I miss scrapbooking and many of the people I used to do it with.  I definitely need to get back into this hobby and find people to scrap with.

I miss some of the families and kids I used to work with as a Special Education teacher.  Thankfully, technology and Facebook have allowed us to keep in touch and reconnect!

I miss being able to fit into some of the cute clothes in my closet.  I'm hoping this will happen again soon though (I've lost 29 pounds so far...).

I miss some of the people, both staff and clients, at my old work site.  While the switch in job sites I made in April was the best thing I could have ever done, there are definitely a few people I wish I could see on a regular basis.

I miss the care-free days of college.  Why was I in such a rush to be a grown-up???

GBE 2 Challenge-Hidden

This is definitely not the easiest topic for me to write about, as I tend to be a pretty private person.  In thinking about what to write, I have realized that I keep many things in my life hidden from almost everyone.  Political feelings, what's going on in certain relationships in my life, the full stories behind things that have happened, diagnoses I've received, personal struggles, just to name a few.  I don't talk to many people about personal things, simply because there aren't many people I'm that comfortable with.  I think that's one of the reasons that I've always liked to write.  Writing has always been an outlet for me, a means of "talking" to someone about everything. 

That being said, there is one person in my life who knows absolutely everything there is to know, who has been there for me through thick and thin, who I would trust with my life.  I have the most amazing best friend in the world!  When there's big news in my life, she's the first one I usually tell.  We've been friends since 7th grade, having met in the halls of our extremely small school, and we clicked from day one and were pretty much inseparable.  Even though she changed schools halfway through 10th grade, we remained close, often spending weekends at each other's house.  We played softball for opposing schools, meeting on the sidelines after games to talk.  We talked on the phone on a regular basis.  After graduation, I moved to Rochester for college and she left for Virgina.  At that time, e-mail wasn't readily available like it is today, so we relied on old-fashioned letter-writing.  I always looked forward to getting mail from her and hearing about what was going on in her life, so far away.

Today, 20 years after high school graduation (yes, 20 years!!!), we are still the best of friends.  Time and distance haven't done anything to our relationship, and today, I feel like we are closer than ever.  I am thankful to have her in my life!!!  

Thank you, Kim, for everything you do for me, for all the love and support you give me, and for accepting me for exactly who I am! 

Day at the Zoo



watching the rhinos



 We spent a great afternoon at the Seneca Park Zoo on Sunday, July 29th.  Brynn loves the animals, and she got to spend time with her cousins at the same time.  Kathy is here from the Netherlands with Mink and Nola, and the kids don't get to spend a lot of time together, so when they're here, we try to get them together as much as possible.  This was our first trip to the zoo since the new African exhibit opened this spring.  The lions were sleeping right up against the glass, so Brynn got a close-up view of them.  We got to see the rhinos, elephants, snakes (ewww!), and a bunch more animals.  I think the kids ended up having more fun wading in the stream than actually seeing the animals, but as long as they have a good time, that's all that matters!



Mink, Nola, and Brynn checking out a big lizard



lion sleeping right by the glass



on the statue outside the African exhibit











wading in the stream



Today-All About Brynn

Age:  Turned 3 in May

Hair:  Blonde

Eyes:  Most days, hazel-ish

Height/Weight:  35", 25 lbs. 

Favorite Foods:  Pasta, strawberries, goldfish crackers.  This child could eat pasta for every meal, every day, if I let her!

Favorite Color:  Pink!  Everything must be pink lately!  One day, she even asked me if I thought the construction workers would paint the Bay Bridge pink. 

Favorite Movie:  Winnie the Pooh, with Tangled a very close second

Random Things:  Loves to draw and color, especially on a dry erase board while sitting at the coffee table.  Has an unbelievable memory.  Puts puzzles together so quickly, she's up to 48 pieces right now.  Likes to talk to everyone on the phone, especially all 3 sets of grandparents.  Loves to color in everyone's birthday and holiday cards before we mail them. 

This little girl makes my heart happy, so I just had to share a few tidbits about her :-)  Thanks for reading and allowing me to share!

Breathless

So this is my first official completion of a GBE2 blog challenge, let’s see how this goes…

This week’s challenge…”Breathless.”

I wasn’t sure how to address this topic when I first saw it, but decided it would probably be easiest to hit on a few key things, rather than write a long diatribe about a single thing. 

• My daughter saying “I so love you, Mommy” or “Mama, I love you really much.”  Side note…for some reason, instead of the word “very,” Brynn says “really.”  For the longest time, I wasn’t sure I would ever hear those words from a child of mine, so now, no matter how many times a day she says them, or how much she’s trying to use those words to get out of trouble, they still leave me breathless
• Hearing my unborn child’s heartbeat, seeing her on the ultrasound, and hearing the very first cry of my newborn baby, and so many little things between that day and now…see above reason!
• Getting a call in the middle of the afternoon and seeing my parent’s phone number on the caller ID in March.  My parent’s NEVER call in the middle of the day unless something is wrong, so that’s something that always makes me catch my breath.  Just hearing my dad’s voice on the other end of the line confirmed my initial thoughts that it wasn’t good news.  “Your mom’s in the hospital” was the news.  Just writing this now still brings me to tears, even though things are looking up.
• A beautiful sunrise or sunset
• Driving on icy roads in the winter…yes, I grew up in NY and have lived in the western part of the state for nearly 20 years, but I still don’t like the winter weather and will likely never get used to it.
• Weddings…the beauty of a bride walking down the aisle and the pure joy on her face are priceless.

Write

I want to write, really, I do!  Just seems like I never have the time.  As you can see, my best intentions of writing with the prompts from my 31 Things class hasn't gone so well.  Oh, I write daily...in my head!  I can't tell you the number of blog posts that have been started in my head.  Bits and pieces of my daily life, things about Brynn, things about work.  But all those bits and pieces seem to add up to a crazy life, with little to no time to sit at the computer and actually post.  A friend recently suggested that I join a daily blog challenge for the month of July (thanks for the suggestion, Amy!).  My reaction...ha!  How can I post daily when I can barely seem to post monthly?  Now that I think about it, I feel bad complaining about how little time I have to post, when this lady manages to juggle 2 children with special needs as well as write insightful posts every day. 

I'm going to try to be better about writing on a regular basis.  Right now, I'm going to shoot for 3 times a week.  We'll see how it goes....  In the meantime, I'm giving up the idea of using 31 Things as inspiration.  I think there are things in my daily life that will make for better posts, whether people actually read and/or comment or not.  At least writing will make me feel like I've accomplished something, and documented a little bit of my life for posterity sake.