handwritten on April 18, 2019
I think the world understimates the power and the beauty of a phone call. A text message just doesn't do it. I always laugh because my far away distant friends I keep in touch with always call when they give me a life update. Something about the hearing of a voice is more poetic and real than simply reading the words. You really cannot hear excitement or concern or hesitation via text. This is probably why half the time (for those who know me) I rarely ever text or answer text messages. My phone is almost never on me.
This past week we had a slew of standardized tests and one of my students happened to miss all three days due to illness. After trying to come in twice during the week only...
handwritten on April 17, 2019
I visited the supermarket after a run this evening, and I was struck by a quick conversation between an employee and a customer I wish to share.
As per usual, I never navigate the supermarket with the focus of a small ant. I almost never go in order and thus I find myself making a few quick laps around the supermarket before I find all that I need. I look at this more as a way to get a few more steps in. Also, had I not circled back to the peanut butter isle for a third time, I would have never caught the story I am about to tell.
The man hurried in and to me, he did not look angry. He tapped an employee who was collecting boxes on the shoulder and she turned around.
He said a bit...
handwritten on April 16, 2019
I woke up today feeling a bit unpleasent, a little sad, discouraged, a bit disgruntled and without the magic feeling I usually feel rising out of my bed and feeling the coming beauty of the day. Perhaps it was the knowledge that today I would be proctoring a test rather than teaching. I hopped in my car and as I crossed the 40th street bridge, I caught glimpse of this sky. Man was it beautiful. It wasn't just the usual changing of color or certain shape of the clouds, it was the movement and the particular lighting. There was almost this visible pink pathway that gradually became threaded with golden light until you could see this small pocket where it looked like a whimsical passageway had...
handwritten on April 15, 2019
Today I awoke to news that The Notre Dame Cathedral in France had caught on fire. Videos of praying hands and singing voices and disbelief bombarded the media. Today the news was full of France. The noise of the Cathedral. The history. Today the world focused on the beautiful church only to forget about the three predominately black Baptist churches to be burned down in Louisiana. Places of worship. Equally important and yet unequally portrayed. The building worth an incredible amount of money. That money unequally distributed.
Both events are tragic. Videos of a fire that looks to be thriving and screaming and yanking down the walls of God. And as I was reading post after post of...
handwritten on April 14, 2019
Well. Today was the day I decided to get "back on the bicycle." so to speak. After five months off due to a knee injury and slowly working up to speed on the treadmill, I'm finally able to run without any pain or strain. Today was the first day running out side in a while. 3.3 miles was hard-I'm not going to lie. With time, though I know I'll fly a little easier. The hills of Pittsburgh certainly kicked me in the butt, but the freedom I felt was unexplainable.
While I was running, I was trying to equate what I was feeling to a children's book (naturally.) And I was brought back to this book my parents read to me when I was a small child. I believe the title was "The Magical Bicycle." This...
