J'Espere

I haven’t posted about this in a while, but felt it was a good time to update you on what is going on at my house. I am ditching my hoarding ways. Seriously. Motivation? A toddler and her things. Oh, how she loves her things. Since I’m not going to be the one who throws a toddler’s precious belongings away, it has given me the opportunity to really look at my own stuff. Truthfully, when we examine our lives, we find stuff coming from all corners. If you think I’m being metaphorical, drop by sometime.             As I have started to truly look at the life I have led, there is a multitude of feelings to go with it. The first is awe that I got any sleep, ever, during high school. My high school stuff reminds me of Wes Anderson’s movie Rushmore .   Even I am impressed at the number of extra curricular activities participated in, events attended and things completed during school with no caffeine.     ...

      Sometimes things come too close to home. Almost a week ago in Chapel Hill three young people were shot and killed at a condominium complex. They were killed by a man who had a dispute with them over a parking space. Some say it was a racial killing, since they were Muslim. I’m focusing on parking right now and moving to hate crime later because 1. We are not positive of the facts, since it is an on-going investigation and 2. The parking thing at this particular complex is no joke. I know because I lived it.             For several months during my senior year of college and after I graduated, until I moved to New York, I lived with a friend who had a place in the complex. It was lovely. Nice two and three bedroom condos with bathrooms for each. Perfect for college students and young professionals, which is what most of the neighborhood was made of. But the parking situation there was ridiculous. Really, shoul...

            This year was the most normal I have ever felt on 9/11. I cried on the way to work, but didn’t really think about it once I was teaching, and honestly, not a single one of my students asked about it.   I handled storytime and activities, a research project, finding band aids for small cuts and bruises normally and soon the day was over and I was out on the Greenway running.             13 years ago, I was 19 years old. I was in the process of rushing, and I was in early morning classes, and I was busy almost all the time. That was during the time of my most successful yoga practice too. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I got up early and ran from my apartment to the gym (it was about 1 mile). Once there I was running on the track, listening to a morning show, when it was interrupted in what I thought was a joke at first. There was someone talking about a...