memories

I have so many memories floating around in my mind. I always do, but even more so tonight. Jack and I have been looking through pictures and memorabilia from my brother Tom's life. Yesterday, Tom's widow, Ann, dropped off  at our house 7 boxes full of memories. Ann has remarried, as I know Tom would have wanted her to, and I think it must be awkward to have boxes full of Tom's things in her new home.

We are happy to have these boxes, even though going through them brings back some very strong emotions.

I loved my brother so much. I love my siblings. We were blessed to be raised by parents who loved us all, not one more than the other (though we always complained that Tom, as the only boy, received special treatment...) Tom loved us all so much. As we went through some of the boxes tonight, I was struck by all of the sentimental things he kept. A depth chart from Wayne's sophomore football team, heat sheets from one of Sally's swim meets, pictures, notes and newspaper articles of Arne, Dane and Kjell. A very touching note from my mom on his 50th birthday. Little did we know what the next five years would hold for Tom. Shaking my head. 

And Tom handled it like a man. Faced it with courage, good humor and trust in our justice system and in the people he loved.

Such a loss.

As Jack has said, Tom's life had high highs and low lows. 

Love you so much, Tommykins.

No work obligations today!

Today, July 21st, was the first weekday this summer that I had no work obligations. It was a vacay day!
I need to add that I am very grateful for my summer work and those opportunities. I truly am.
It was fun to come back from my early morning walk and not have to rush to get ready for the day.
My plan for the day involved catching up with some of my family. I just have not had enough family time this summer, so I needed to start working on that. I picked up Sally and we went out to Jenny's and spent the afternoon with Jen, Beth, Abbie, Nina, Charley and Jake (Kjell's stepson). I had not seen Charley (now 4 1/2 months old) since Mother's Day in May. Seriously. That is just wrong.
It was a fun afternoon. May I just say that Charley fell asleep in my lap? Yes, she did and then she slept for almost 2 hours. I still have the touch.

Having some fun now!

It finally felt like summer this weekend, as in really hot and sunny. Yaaay!
Our presentation went well on Friday. We did do two "brain breaks" and got the class moving.That helped in getting folks engaged and more alert. Doing the presentation with Kristen was a good experience and good for PR for the special education organization that employs us.

On Friday night, our old friends, John, Kim, Betsy and Sam were in town from Champaign and they came over for dinner. Jack grilled some brats and burgers and we had a nice evening catching up. Sally and Otto came over, too. Sally and Betsy were BFFs from age 3 til their family moved when Besty was 10. Betsy just got engaged so we had fun with wedding talk. Sam will be a sophomore in college, but in my mind, he is still 3 years old. As we prepared for their arrival, I swear that I actually thought, "Should I get out some special toys for Sam?"!!

selfie stick, natch

On Saturday, I watched one of my young coworkers get married. I love weddings and it was special to see Jane marry Tim.

here comes the bride!

Also this weekend, Jack and I went to the city to have dinner at Don and Susan's. They split their time between their home in Hilton Head and their home in Chicago. They moved into their current home in Chicago almost two years ago (I think?) but we had not seen it yet. Oh my goodness, it is so beautiful and warm....just like Don and Susan! We had the most delightful evening. It was a beautiful summer night and we had the best time catching up on our families. As we drove home around 10, we could see the fireworks off of Navy Pier, then drove by Soldier Field where the Taylor Swift concert was going on.

seriously? Pull up a chair!

the view from one of the balconies

love these two!

Fun summer weekend!

Hello, Summer 2015!

My summer break is finally here!
Pretty much, anyway.
I am doing an hour presentation for a speech pathology grad class tomorrow morning. It's a presentation on teaming and I am doing it with my favorite young school psychologist. Kristen and I did a similar presentation last year and it went well, but we realized we needed to engage our audience a bit more. I think we are going to add a sensory break this year. That means get folks up and moving a bit so they are ready to listen. A little movement helps.
It has been a productive summer.
I am just so darn blessed to have a profession that I love.

here comes July!

It was the shortest holiday weekend ever, at least for me. I had to work summer school on Friday. Yes, I did! Can you imagine that I had to work 3.5 hours on the morning of an observance of a national holiday? AND I had to do a presentation first thing this morning for a school district. I know, you must be feeling sorry for me. Not at all.
After my recent rant about how I over-committed to work this summer, I have to admit that it has not been that bad. It has been enriching and I have met some great teachers and kids. It has been time consuming and I have not had as much time as I would like to do summery things, but then the weather has not been conducive to doing summery things. But I did get to go into the city to have a spur of the moment late lunch/early dinner with Lauren and Sally last Thursday. That satisfied my appetite for summer fun for now.

love this girl!

Our Fourth of July was good. One of the things that I enjoy about this blog is that I can go back and look at what we did last year and the year before. It is easy to forget.  Last year, the kids were all out of town as were several of our friends. We had a fun evening last year, spending it with Bucky. We even convinced Bucky to sign up for Facebook last Fourth of July!
This year, we had the kids in town and all four of them (kids + spouses) came to the parade, just like the old days. Jack and I had stocked up on hamburgers and bratwursts and other cookout fixings and were ready to have folks over. Lauren came (she skipped the parade and enjoyed some chill time by herself in the morning) and Christy and Steve stopped in for a bite to eat, too. It was fun and relaxing. We missed Bucky, though, as he was out of town.

parade watching

Otto weathered the cannon and gunshots. Brave boy

A picture of Jack taking a video of his favorite, Uncle Sam on stilts

Julie's sister and bro-in-law and nephew were at the parade too!

No fireworks this year. It was early to bed for Jack and Patty.

Setting records

I think I set a record for the most times dining out within three days. It is quite a contrast to how my social life has been in the recent past. I am not kidding you, I dined at a restaurant four times in 3 days.
On Thursday night, I went out to dinner with the Birthday Club to celebrate Trish's 60th birthday. Pam was in charge of organizing. It was delightful. On Friday, I worked summer school in the morning and then met with Sally and Mary (Matt's mom) to work on the baby shower. Love love love. We picked out invitations and had a lovely lunch. On Friday night, Jack and I went out to dinner with our (not currently) next door neighbors, Joe and Michele. Their good friends, Matt and Amy, came too. On Saturday afternoon, we went to Caitlin's (Christy and Steve's daughter) graduation party at a cool bar/restaurant in the city named Citizen. It was super fun. Then we met Sue (as in Aunt Sue) and her fiance Don at Gibson's for dinner.

We were planning on a quiet Sunday, but ended up being busy. Jack and I went to the final mass for our favorite priest at our parish; Father Edgar is leaving for a new parish and will be very missed. I didn't expect to be so touched  by the mass. I cried four times. The homily about fear, the beautiful music, the humility of Father Edgar...it was moving. 

Speaking of moving, no pun intended. Jack and I went over to Sue's to pick up a few things. She is in the process of selling her house and is cleaning out. She had a few things to give Jack. It was very profound to sit in the room where Mike died, remembering him and all the times spent together in that house. I had to take a two hour nap when we got home   It might have been the late afternoon champagne also, but in any case, I was spent. 

 Steve and Caitlin, with photobomber Jack

The Meaning of Life cake. That's the name of it.