handwritten on July 17, 2024
Sometimes when you are a youngster and you cannot fully comprehend when a transition is going to happen, you tend to do best when there is a fair warning or a signal. For Luna, this is both wind chimes and a habitual "goodbye" to every object in the environment we are currently departing. It's almost like a goodbye moon sort of variation of life but it makes me smile when we "say goodbye to our morning walk" or "goodbye to the park" or even "goodnight to LA" approximately 15 minutes before it happens. For those who are educators and also parents, it is incredibly interesting to find the parallels of life lessons that worked inside the classroom and those that work just as well outside the...
handwritten on July 8, 2024
This week's outside our neighborhood was a beautiful start to our "new" every day life for this year. And I think above all, what I was reminded of this week was the beauty in our collective stories. For those who have visited California, you are probably aware of the homeless population, and it certainly makes your heart ache when you see the amount of it that exists (in every city) but more noticeable here in LA because of how big the city truly is. And anytime I do see someone homeless when we are driving in the car, I always say a prayer and wonder about their personal story. What led them here? How are they feeling? What are they thinking about?
This week we had our first three days...
handwritten on June 30, 2024
I've decided that it is best to write reflectively on Sunday evenings. This forces me to get in a groove but also very meticulously reflect on the week that was had as well as the week that lies ahead. What a week it has been. It's amazing that with one plane flight, we are suddenly in LA and out of Pittsburgh to live out a year of whimsy, unknowns and new adventures. I'm reminded that we can do hard things. Luna had a horrible two nights of sleep but with a new bedtime between 7:40 and 8:00 as well as a very strict bedtime routine which ends in the ringing of our wind chimes (I know so whimsical) to ring in a beautiful sleep, we are now going to bed with absolutely no crying. See? We can...
handwritten on May 29, 2024
There have been so many interesting transitions over the past year. One of those transitions being the retirement of my dad and now the retirement of one of the greatest teachers in all the land-Mrs. Amoscato (the original.) I wrote a poem on her behalf that I wish to place here as the second post in living "Outside the Neighborhood." Let's face it, the end of any vocation (be it good or bad) requires a shift in order to live outside the neighborhood you have been living in for so many years. However, in shifting times, it is also so important to celebrate the person undergoing the shifts and also leave time for tears-always a reminder that what was accomplished was life-changing in so many...
handwritten on April 20, 2024
We landed in Ann Arbor, Michigan this evening as we begin to really sift through job opportunities and options as a family, and I couldn't help but become completely mesmerized by our daughter Luna's excitement and approach to change. As someone who likes to know what is coming next, I would be remiss if I didn't confess the fact that I am terrified of "what comes next." Because honestly-we have no idea. I like my goals, I like the comfort of my own home, and I like my routines and so the fact that we are moving across the country in two months, don't have a place to live yet and just spent the past 24 hours boxing up the last seven years, I feel like i'm in some sort of twilight zone....
