I subbed in first grade this week.  One of the little boys, J., is already a die-hard jock at the tender age of six.

On Monday, he burst into tears at lunchtime because it was raining.  Stupid me, I thought it was because we were going to have indoor recess.  (Believe me, the thought of indoor recess made me want to cry!) Nope.  It was because his t-ball game was going to be cancelled.  "You don't understand!"  He told me.  "We're undefeated!  Now we're not!" No amount of explaining would convince him that the game would be rescheduled and that they were still undefeated.

Fast forward to Thursday.  We're reading a book about Lance Armstrong in reading group.  He found out that Lance had cancer, and J. burst into tears.  "Oh no!  How can Lance have cancer?  What kind of cancer does he have?"

"It's okay, J., let's turn the page and find out more!" 
"No, no, no" he said.  "Is he going to be okay? What kind of cancer does he have?"
"J., he's fine. He had cancer, but it was several years ago.  He's fine now."
J. looked up at me, "IF Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer."

I took a deep breath, and we turned the page and read the rest of the story and found out that Lance did get better.

However, it kept me thinking about Lance Armstrong and cancer for a while.

It is true.  Lance is an amazing athelete.  He has accomplished more in his life than most of us could ever hope to in a lifetime.  And yet, his battle with cancer could have easily been the end of the story for him.  Fortunately, he was screened, caught the cancer early, and was determined enough to follow through with medical treatment and beat the cancer.  His story is a reminder to all of us.

J. was right.  If Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer.

But it doesn't need to be the end of our story.

Get yourself checked now for cancer. Early detection is the key to survival.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Cemeteries

I was out walking today, and stumbled across a 200 year old cemetery.  It was an interesting trip through history. 

I began in the new section, with people from this century.  I went a little farther back and found people from the last century, and then I began looking closer at the tombstones.

The tombstones from more than 50 years ago have a lot of information on them. 

I found veterans from WWII, WWI, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the War of Mexico, the war of 1812, and the Union Army.

I found the graves of babies who left this earth entirely too early, with life dates marked in days, not years.

I found young men who had died in accidents at the old flour mill, leaving behind wives who were buried decades after they passed away. 

I found the graves of young women who died at the age of 19 or 20, while giving birth.

It all left me wondering about the nature of things.

The veteran's graves were all neatly cleaned, and adorned with U.S. Flags.

Some person had recently come through and planted pinwheels on the graves of all the small children.  Anyone who had passed away under ten years of age had a brightly colored pinwheel marking their grave.  Many of the graves had fresh flowers.  Several had brightly colored Easter Eggs dangling from "trees" (large sticks) that had been weighted down with rocks and placed by the headstones.

I wondered about the wives who lost husbands when they were 24 or 25 years old.  I can only assume they had children, and struggled to live in a world where women could not work to support themselves.  What did they do to survive?  How did they feed their families and keep a roof over their heads?  It made me appreciate the efforts our sisters went through in the women's liberation movement of the 1970's, fighting for ALL women to have the ability to work in a job outside of the home, after marriage, and at a living wage. 

I wondered what kind of grief some person has that they would go through a graveyard and plant pinwheels on the graves of little children.  I hope it brings them comfort.  I hope they find the peace they so richly deserve.

It made me so thankful for the life I live today.  For the freedoms our service men and women have fought for both here and abroad.  For the sleepless nights they have endured, so that I can sleep soundly in my own bed and watch my children grow and thrive.

It made me thankful for medical advances over the last century, that has tamed fearsome diseases that would strike fear into the hearts of parents everywhere, and take the lives of young children well before their time.  It made me especially grateful that childbirth, which can be a life or death situation,  is now a relatively routine procedure.

I left the cemetery feeling strangely contented.  I realized how much I had to be thankful for.  How many things the people who have come before us have done, and how far we have come over the last 200 years. 

Nobody Ever Told Me

We visited another college campus this past weekend.  Beautiful campus, set in the mountains of the Mid-Atlantic.  It was a glorious spring day when we began our tour, so the tour guides were wearing their fleece jackets with the name of the school discreetely emroidered on the front.

As we began our tour, one of the admissions officers said to our tour guide "There she goes!  Girl on fire!"  and everyone laughed.

"Everyone is being so mean to me," she lamented.  "We are given these nice fleece jackets to wear as tour guides.  and we even get to keep them! I love my fleece, it's so nice and warm, I wear it all the time.

The other day, I got out of the shower and put my fleece on to warm up quick.  I got warm, but my jacket got wet.  I didn't want to go outside with a wet coat, so I popped it into the microwave for a minute to dry it off.

Nobody ever told me that fleece was flammable!  After like, 5 seconds in the microwave, my jacket burst into flames and melted into this weird little pool of something that I can't get off of the bottom of the microwave."

We all stared at her for a moment, stunned into silence.

"When I went to housing to report my destroyed university owned microwave, they were speechless.  They told me I was the only person ever to have set fire to a fleece jacket in my microwave."

One of the fathers in our group looked up and said in a very deep voice: "I certainly hope you're not the standard  representative of this school."

"Why does everyone keep asking me that question?"  She wondered aloud.

Why, indeed.  A fleece jacket in the microwave....

Lessons From the Kindergarten

've spent the past few days subbing in kindergarten, and have a few stories that I'd like to share:

It was 90* here on Monday.  We brought the kids back from PE, and the sweat was dripping off of one little guy.  We had the kids pack up their backpacks to go home and then lined them up to go out for a quick 10 minute recess before it was time to go home.  The little guy who was dripping sweat proceeded to put his hooded sweat shirt on.  "Honey, you don't need your coat outside, it's 90* today.  It's hot."
"Yes I do!  I'm all sweaty and I don't want to catch a chill!"

We were working on glyphs in Math.  If you've been out of school for a while, you might not remember glyphs.  It's a picture that you color in with coded colors, and it reads like a map.  Our glyph was a duck in a raincoat.  The children were to put three circle buttons on if they were 5 years old, or 3 triangle buttons if they were 6 years old.  They were to color the coat yellow if they like to watch tv on rainy days, or orange if they like to jump in puddles on rainy days.  The hat was supposed to be blue if they were a boy, and red if they were a girl, and the boots were supposed to be colored black if they had a pet at home, or green if they didn't have any pets at all.
I had gotten through the directions on the hat when I looked over at G., and she was coloring the hat yellow. 
"You're supposed to color the hat red since you're a girl." I said.
"No.  I won't."  She replied.
"But those are the directions,"  I stupidly said.  "Color the hat red if you're a girl.  You are a girl, so the hat is supposed to be red."
"No.  You do not wear red hats with yellow rain coats.  You wear yellow hats with yellow rain coats.  And yellow boots.  Would you wear a red hat with a yellow coat to school?  I don't think so...."

We were attempting to introduce the kids to ABC order today.  We had sentence strips, and I was to give them four adjacent letters of the alphabet.  (E, F, H, G) and have them place the letters in order.  I covered up all the letters on the sentence strip except those 4 letters, and asked P.
"Which letter comes first?"
"A"
"No, of these four letters, which one comes first?"
"A always comes first.  Then B, Then C, then D.  E comes fifth."

Love those kids!!

Pink Hair

The middle child now has pink hair.   You read that right - PINK hair! 

He has been in the middle of his competition season- Physics Olympics, Destination Imagination, and the Robotics Tournaments.  He wanted to do something that would make him stand out and be memorable.

I've got to admit, the pink hair does stand out! 

He and his friends got together before Easter week and decided to dye their hair.  Since his hair is so dark, he decided to go whole hog and bleach it first, then dye it pink.

I had no advance warning before this happened.  He came home, walked into the room, said he was going to take a shower, and walked back out again.  I looked at his sister and said, in a rather stunned voice "Was his hair pink?"

Okie Dokie.  Pink Hair. 

I've actually gotten used to it.  It's easy to find him in a crowd.  Bright pink hair in a sea of heads- easy to spot. He brought a nice touch of Easter joy to our table- he looks like a giant Easter Egg now.

I've had several people ask me my thoughts about his hair color.  So, I'll share them with you:

1) He doesn't smoke, do drugs, and isn't out having sex.  Pink Hair is not a battle worth fighting.

2) He needs to enjoy his hair while he still has it.

One last thought to leave you with....  While we were at the University of Maryland last week, we stopped at the statue of Jim Henson with Kermit in front of the student union.  Jim and Kermie are sitting on the statue, talking to each other.  I took middle child's picture on the bench with Jim and Kermie.

As people were walking by, they stopped and stared at him, with his pink hair, turned towards Jim and Kermie as if he was talking to them.

"Oh My God..." said one father to me... "Your son looks just like Beaker!"

Yep... my son Beaker, who hopes to be a Terrapin, class of 2017. 

Enjoy that hair while you still have it!!!!

University of Maryland

The middle child is looking at colleges.  Last week, we visited the University of Maryland.

Maryland is known for many things- an awesome school of business, high academic standards, and their basketball and football teams, as well as the home-made ice cream served in the lower level of the Student Union.  (The Creamery)

Many famous alumni have graduated from Maryland: Connie Chung, Larry David, Robert Basham, Sergey Brin, and Carl Bernstein.  Perhaps the best known of all the graduates is Jim Henson: the creator of The Muppets.

On campus, just outside of the student union is a statue of Jim Henson and Kermit.  They are sitting together on a bench, facing each other.

While on the tour of Maryland, I heard a couple of stories about Jim Henson that I'd never heard before.  The character of Animal was based on one of Henson's Fraternity brothers.  Miss Piggy's character was based on one of Henson's former girlfriends.  Even better--the dorm where the girl lived has been immortalized and now contains her profile in the lobby. 

I wonder how often that woman has cringed over the years as we have watched the popularity of Miss Piggy, and her continuing infatuation with Kermie over the years.

Random Thoughts

It is never a good idea to travel long distances on Easter Sunday.  You can't stop for food when nothing is open.  I've never been so glad to see home.

I went to an Easter Vigil at the Catholic Church down the street from our hotel on Saturday night.  I'm not Catholic, but nobody can put the meaning into Easter like the Catholics.  We began with a bonfire, had a candlelight procession, and the first half hour of the service was lit entirely by candles. 

The Msgr. at the church mentioned that he'd had a call on Saturday, asking about the Easter Vigil.  The caller wanted to know what time the service began.  "It begins at 8:30" he answered.
"How long does it run?"  the caller asked.
"It runs until it's done.  Usually, it's 2-1/2 to 3 hours long."
"Oh...." the caller replied.  "Do you have the phone number for the Methodist Church?"

There's nothing like warm, furry cats climbing on top of you first thing in the morning.

Skyline Chili is really good.  It's even better on top of a Coney Dog on Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds. 

People in Ohio don't have any idea what Old Bay Spice is....

There's no better way to get to know a group of people than to pull out a frisbee.

No matter where you go, most people are very nice people. 

Teenagers need to bottle that energy and enthusiasm!

Robotics Tournament

I'm writing this from the stands at Xavier University.

Our team has been competing in the regional tournament this weekend. We didn't make it to the final rounds,but we have had an amazing experience!

I'm going to post some pictures from this weekend. Unfortunately, I can't post captions on my phone. So, I'll post pictures and add captions tomorrow when I get home.

Congratulations to the finalists!

A team mascot makes certain his safety goggles are in place while back in the pits!

Between rounds... the robots from the previous round are removed,
and the next robots are placed on the field.

Love this battery charging station!  This is actually a wagon on wheels!
Set it on end, and voila!  A compact battery charging station!
(I'll bet it's really easy to pack, too!)

The all girls robotics team from Pittsburgh.
They were even dressed like Rosie the Riveter.
I loved their enthusiasm!  So happy and upbeat through the entire event!

A view down into the pits from the stands.  The pits are an exhilerating place to be!
Lots of energy and enthusiasm down there!

Thursday - A Trip to Indianapolis

Since we are in Ohio anyway, I took a trip over to Indianapolis on Thursday to see my Aunt. She's the last remaining member of my Dad's generation. At 72, she's also lived longer than her siblings.

We had a great time! We talked about everything, and we went out to lunch together and talked some more!

I ended up with two more boxes of my grandmother's china to bring home. You know that when you are traveling 8 hours to get back home with 4 teenagers, their luggage, and a mascot costume, there's nothing you want to do more than shove two boxes of hundred year old china into the mix!

Seriously, I am thrilled beyond words to have the last of the china. I'm to split this batch with my sister. I remember Sunday Dinners at Granny's house served inside of those dishes!

My cousin came out to visit while I was there. He's two years older than me. And at 48 years old, he's already had 4 heart attacks and 2 bypass operations. It was a stark reminder of just how much I have to be thankful for. You can never take good health for granted. Our family health history is littered with stories of early heart disease and the loss of good people who are in their 40's and 50's.

I'd like to say I had a great time in Indianapolis. What I had instead was a stark reminder.

Anyway, I'll be posting later on today from the Regional Robotics competition. Yesterday was Day 1. Today is the final day-and we had big , big happenings yesterday!

A Blast From the Past

We traveled from Maryland to Cincinnati yesterday for a robotics tournament.

I grew up just a little north of here. The trip down yesterday afternoon was full of memories for me!

We drove past King's Island - an amusement park that I have some very fond memories of. I remember they used to have this wonderful ride called "the Wonderful World of Hannah Barbers", where Shaggy and Scooby and Yogi all came to life.

We passed by the road that used to take you to Camp Green - a Girl Scout property that was our favorite. I loved tent camping there, and I remember the raccoons eating through our coolers and taking out our food that we had stored in styrofoam coolers.

We drove by the entrance to Lewis and Clark State Park. A nifty little park that surrounds a river. Our family used to go hiking there once a month.

I could go on for hours, but you get the idea. I have this crazy hope that I'll run into friends I grew up with this weekend. But, it's been 30 years since I've seen any of them. I am positive that even if I do see them, I'll never recognize them!

Good luck to all of the teams competing this weekend!