handwritten on June 30, 2020
I've been shielded from the worries of cancer in a way.
My mom in my opinion has done most of the work. And my dad.
Always attending the chemo sessions, gritting teeth while in the waiting room.
Watching the drawn faces of people passing by receiving goods news or not so good news.
I can't quite imagine how many sleepless nights my dad has had leading up to the appointments.
It's like equating every journey to the hospital as a new feather. You grow your wings in the process of going through it. And then when it is all said and done, and you are blessed enough to be deemed free of the old feathers, you start growing new ones.
People assume that those feathers leave and they don't. The...
handwritten on June 29, 2020
In preparing for a series of upcoming lessons, I came across this beautiful poem. I have simply fallen in love, and I do hope you can see why.
Pigeon and sparrow,
Perched together
On that
Telephone line,
Do you ever
Talk to
Each other,
I wonder?
Or are you
Just strangers,
Like two people
Sitting
On a bus?
- Yoshiko Uchida
There were two weddings this past weekend, and I found myself referencing this poem watching the love unfold in both cases. Older love, younger love, long relationships, shorter relationships. Regardless, all points of love start with a meeting. And that meeting is caused sometimes by a bit of whimsy but also wonder. For if you don't wonder, can...
handwritten on June 25, 2020
It's always so interesting how we think to ourselves often or perhaps look outside at the grass that has just been washed by the rain and we say over and over again, "I just don't know about.."
I just don't know about this rain or
I just don't know about this weather
I just don't know about the clouds in the sky or that
little chocolate chip we stepped on as we traveled across the floor
or that half finished book or that
meeting we had earlier in the day or
the decision we made to try that new thing
I just don't know. We do though. I think we do know
perhaps that phrase is just yet another way for us to be unsure without being too sure
A little safety net that slips beneath our feet like...
handwritten on June 17, 2020
Sometimes..every so often
we have the opportunity to reflect on what has been
the places we have gone
the moments of laughter and love
and we realize we wouldn't be who we are
without that one shining source of inspiration and light
the one that held your hand through kindergarten
that helped you shut your locker with a bright orange cast
that shares the same values and sentiments
and unlike others
you've never had to walk a single life event
alone
and that's what it is like to be a twin
twice the memories
twice the blessings
twice the joys but also heartaches
twice the miracles
happy birthday
to my better half
handwritten on June 5, 2020
What happened at the end of this school is just heartbreaking for just about everyone. It's not the ending we would have hoped for, it's not what anyone wanted and for some-and ending was never even really an option. When the world stopped...so did school. I count my lucky stars I was able to continue this journey with my beautiful students until the end. I am thankful that my school had the resources to pass out computers, to set up a virtual instruction platform online and to be proactive even though our heads were spinning when we received the news we would not be going back. I will absolutely never forget this year for many reasons. It was my fifth year of teaching. It was my largest...
