Irony: A definition

I was targeted at work to give an overview of proper dress code attire to the girls at my school. (Since spring has sprung - the ratio of fabric to skin is decreasing daily). As I walked up the stairs to bed tonight, Husband (who was walking behind me) pointed out that I was wearing fairly visable red-striped underwear beneath my beige linen pants. Do as I say, ladies, not as I do.

Lots to Learn

Yesterday we (Melissa, Beth, and I) threw a baby shower for our good friend Laisa and I served Spanokopita - a greek filo pastry filled with spinach and feta cheese.

Feta cheese. As in, one of the foods that pregnant women are not supposed to eat.

Prom, Raleigh, and Other Happenings

Saturday night was Prom Night for school . . . and then Sunday I left for a conference in Raleigh, NC. Still here (here=Raleigh). Details to come soon.

Words - but none that do justice

On Wednesday, April 8, the phone rang and the news was bad. Amy had been tragically killed when another driver ran a red light. The world had lost a truly wonderful and beautiful young woman. The students at DeMasi Middle School lost one of their favorite Language Arts teachers. And my close friend Greg lost his wife.

It pours on the day of Amy’s funeral. The kind of drenching, sopping, wet rain that soaks you to the bone. We stand as one unit, Russ, Sarah, Dustin, Mike, Adam, and myself, huddled beneath umbrellas, sending every thought and every prayer – hoping that something, anything, can provide Greg and his family with the strength they need to survive this day.

After the funeral, there is laughter. About Amy’s incessant list-making and her obsession with visible vacuum lines. But after every story, there is a lull. A gap that is quickly filled by the reminder that she is no longer with us. And that Greg is left to bear a cross which no one should have to carry. He’s not even 30 years old.

We rally. We rally around our friend. We support those that we love during their darkest hours. We remind ourselves how lucky we are, that we can kiss our husband goodnight; that we still have the privilege of the mundane – picking up his dirty laundry, or sending a quick text message from work. And we revel in the realization that these things are not to be taken for granted.

Under the very worst of circumstances, it was a good trip. There were stories, and memories, and celebration of life and friendship and love; a stark reminder of what is really important.
Amy continues to teach us all.

Grieving

Anyone who has ever written – in any form – understands that writing can be cathartic, liberating, cleansing. But what happens when there are simply no words . . .

You Said It

The sign outside the Mauldin Pub (this TOTAL dive near our house) currently reads; "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beer Holder"

Touche, Mauldin Pub, touche.

Picture to come soon if the sign is still up on Thursday.

Great Expectations

I have the day off from work (we have an extended holiday for Easter - have I mentioned how much I love getting holidays off from work that have no real meaning in my religion and are therefore just freebie days? Well it's swell.)

Being that the rest of the world is still functioning as normal today - I hope to get a lot of things done. My wish list for the day includes:
Gym - week 4 of "Couch to 5K" plan begins today - ugh
Costco to buy bulk toilet paper, paper towels, and gas
Publix to buy food - lots and lots of it
Ann Taylor Loft to buy clothes - lots and lots of them
Coffee with Ashley - a fellow Wheeler High survivor

It not the prettiest day here in G'ville . . . but I'm excited to have it to myself!

Community Seder

Passover is one of my favorite family holidays. This year, 1st and 2nd night Passover seder fell in the middle of the work week - so I didn't make the trip home to attend family seder at Grandma and Papa's house (very disappointed). Instead, I registered to attend a Greenville Community Seder at the Hyatt, hosted by the conservative synagogue in town. Husband had to work - so I went on my own (very brave).

Things that my first community seder lacked
* Grandma's matzah ball soup
* My adorable dad leading the seder
* Answering "springtime" whenever my dad asked a question about symbolism
* The Wasser Boys reading the parts of the Four Sons
* Uncle Neil passing me forks underneath the table
* My mom joking about her love of Maneschevitz wine and then singing "Frogs on his nose and frogs on his toes" (the wine and the singing are actually not related)
* Uncle Mark singing Dayanu (he's really the only one who ever knew the verses)
* Retelling the story of my brother's 4-year-old version of the story of Moses ("And she dwew him out of the wahter, and she loved him like her vewy own")
* Eating those delicious fruit gels that my Grandma Susie loves

Things that my first community seder had
* An 80 year old woman who had, either mistakenly or purposefully (I'm not sure which), dyed her hair purple
* I'm pretty sure that the shank bone on the seder plate was a ham hock
* A rabbi who did a "Passover Rap" to tell the story of the Exodus
* A brief audiovisual disaster that involved 14 Jewish men simultaneously asking "Can you hear me now?"
* A heated argument between 2 elderly women and the manager of the hotel regarding the merits of a hotel regulation that prohibited us from taking leftover food to go.
* The above mentioned elderly women smuggling several slices of brisket and half a roast chicken into their respective purses (the brisket was in a ziplock bag that had been brought for this purpose, the chicken was wrapped in hotel napkins).

Overall - I missed my family terribly and had to hold back a few tears when they talked about the importance of being with those you love during the holidays . . . but in the absence of family - I'm glad that I went. Ham hock and all.

[silence]

Since when did a shoulder shrug become an acceptable answer to a question? My students love to give this as an answer to any number of questions. . . .
"What kind of college are you considering?"
"Have you thought at all about the University of South Carolina?"
"How's your Algebra grade looking this year?"

The shoulder shrug seems to loosely translate to some combination of "I haven't given it much thought, I don't really know what you are asking, I'm not sure I want to answer that question, and I'm pretty indifferent to the situation at hand."

Sometimes it is accompanied by a noise that has a similar intonation to the phrase "I don't know" but involves only a sound coming through pursed lips and no actual words. But that's only if I'm lucky.

GSP by the numbers

At the airport now. (Gotta love the Blackberry.). A few numbers of note:
5 - parking spaces open on the first level of the parking garage.
2 - minutes it took to walk from parking deck to security.
0 - people in line at security
10 - (not an exaggeration) security officers on hand while I went through the metal detector.
3 - gates in the terminal
75 - minutes left until my flight.

On another note, Greenville-Spartenberg Airport has the second highest fares in the entire country. But clearly necessary in order to maintain the 10 to 1 employee to passenger ratio here.

TGIF

I can't wait for tomorrow.
I. Work should be fun
a. It's a Friday
b. We have an in-school talent show
c. And a shortened class schedule due to above mentioned talent show
II. I'm going to D.C.
a. Getting on plane right after work
b. Get to spend weekend with my closest college friends
c. Get to see Baby Emma
d. Get to enjoy lots of laughs/memories over good food and wine