Questions

I've had a couple of very interesting encounters this week. By interesting I mean strange and perhaps a bit disturbing.

Encounter Number 1 - Let me set the stage for you, the freshmen class I teach was involved in a service project at a local church. They were hosting a banquet and we volunteered to help set up, serve and clean up. An acquaintance of mine was in attendance and while we were cleaning up, she pulled me aside and quietly asked if she could ask me a personal question. "Sure" I said weakly, "I think you have a problem with your thyroid" she said bluntly. Okay,first THAT was not a question and second, how rude! After I got over my initial shock, I did share with her that I am in fact being treated for thyroid disease. "Well" she said "you might want to get your levels checked because your eyes are bulging and your right eye is a lot worse than your left." Thanks for that! I spent the rest of the night staring at myself in the mirror and judging the size of my bulging eyes. Here's a picture of me and my left eye. I'm so ashamed of my bulging right eye I've decided to wear a patch and refer to myself as Ahab.




Encounter Number 2 - I'm sitting in my office and my assistant Kathy shares with me there's a dad on the phone who wants to talk about career counseling for his daughter. I don't particularly enjoy phone calls from parents, I consider college students to be adults and feel that if they need my help they should ask for it themselves. So dad explains that his daughter is not a student, nor a an alum of the college, but that they live close to campus and that his daughter really needs some career counseling. I explain that my plate is full, he then goes on to tell me that his daughter really needs career advice and that she will be in town over Christmas. "She doesn't live here?" I ask. No she lives on her own, she's 48 years old. What? I think dad is the one who needs help.

Tradition, Texting and Taco Soup

Better sit down for this one folks, I have a major announcement to make. I cooked again today. Yeah that's right I cooked. Well if you count throwing cans of vegetables into the crock pot cooking. But around here, that is about as good as it gets.

I love traditions and for several years my friends and I had the greatest tradition going. Homecoming weekend at the college we would pass on all the college festivities and just show up at my friend Lisa's house, sit around her dining room table talk and laugh about all our college memories and eat taco soup. It is the most perfect soup on a crisp fall day. Unfortunately that tradition ended about six years when Lisa and her husband decided to flee the chilly northeast for the south. I still have not forgiven them for leaving, but I'm working on it. I still show up at their old house on homecoming weekend looking for taco soup. Fortunately for me the new home owners are also friends of mine.

So this morning I decided that I know how to use a can opener and a crock pot, I'll make taco soup. Of course I wanted to let Lisa know that I was thinking of her and making her famous soup, I sent a text message to her husband (Lisa refuses to keep up with today's technology) The text message was simple "I'm making taco soup, you should come over" The response text from Chris just minutes later "We'll be there in 17 hours."

Lisa and I did chat later today, she wanted to know how the soup turned out and to tell me that they received my text during church service. Shame on you Chris for texting from church! The soup turned out great and the chat reminded me just how much I miss my sweet friend.

I believe that Lisa and I along with two of our other friends Eileen and Karine have started a new tradition, a gathering of the 4 of us over Columbus Day weekend. I realize that in order for something to be a tradition, it needs to happen more than once, I think I can safely say that the experience the 4 of us shared was so energizing, uplifting, and valuable that it something we will want to continue for years.

And if anyone is interested in trying Lisa's taco soup, come on over there's plenty.

More Random Thoughts

I made a big salad and a baked potato for dinner tonight. Baked potatoes always make me think of my friend Christy. Christy is a vegetarian and not long ago at a charity dinner she asked for a vegetarian meal. Now most places would have some sort of pasta option, but that particular night the vegetarian option was not one, but two baked potatoes. As Christy would say "not cool" can you blame her?

This past Friday, my friend Gale and I had a great dinner together. She was trying to talk me down from all of the anger and frustration I was feeling toward one particular student. This student clearly does not like the rules I have established for my class, things like what constitutes a free write when it comes to journal writing, no side conversations in class and no texting. This student claims to have the superior ability to multi-task. Well guess what? It does not matter if you can stand on your head, chew gum and quote your favorite author. There is NO texting in my class! This student also decided to do a free write in their journal on the word free. Thanks for that!

That same night when I arrived home in the dark I noticed that when I drove into the garage the kitchen door was wide open. This totally freaked me out, I believe I have already mentioned in a previous blog my OCD tendencies. I asked myself the following questions:
Did I shut the door when I left this morning? I'm sure I did.

Maybe I did shut the door but left the garage door open? If that's the case did someone enter my house through the open garage door and then close the garage door and leave the kitchen door open?

If that's the case what are the chances of someone actually being in my house waiting for me to return? Now it is this very thought that REALLY FREAKED me out. So I took a deep breath, pulled out my cell phone and pushed 911 on my cell. Then I walked inside with my thumb on the send button.

I checked the downstairs bathroom, empty. The kitchen pantry, empty. The hall closet, also empty. Okay all the possible downstairs hiding spots are empty. Then I slowly walked upstairs. My office closet empty, bedroom 1, empty, bedroom 2 empty. And then final the master bathroom. I was terrified pulling back the shower curtain I had visions of the shower scene from Psycho rushing through my mind. Of course I realize that in that particular scene the killer was on the outside of the shower, but I was convinced someone was hiding behind my shower curtain.

Thankfully when he stabbed me it was just a superficial wound and the police officers arrived just a few minutes later. Or the shower was empty, I'll let you decide. One thing that has come from this unfortunate event is that my OCD is again at an all time high. I still do not know why the kitchen door was open. Perhaps Molly and Moses my very overweight cats have learned a new trick?

Almost Heaven, West Virginia

Several years ago my cousin's young son asked if he could marry me. I told him he couldn't because we were family and you could only marry your family member if you lived in West Virginia. A few minutes later when John's dad came into the room I overheard him asking his dad if they could move to West Virginia.

West Virginia, I'm sorry I made jokes about you especially since I had never visited your lovely state. Actually while I can now say I've slept in your state for a couple nights, I still don't feel like I know you that well,see you just happened to be a central location for 4 friends coming from NY, VA, SC and MI. And while I still don't know you that well I did appreciate your hospitality. My friends and I had an amazing weekend together.

We stayed in your state's capital and while I seem to recall seeing the gold dome of your capital building as I drove into town, the remainder of our time was spent in a hotel room and then in a hotel lobby and then in a local cafe chatting, laughing and reminiscing with friends.



The four of us have not all been together for about 9 years, some of us have seen each other for short visits from time to time but for the 4 of us to be together for a weekend, I can only describe this feeling of complete contentment. I am inspired by my friends creativity, their love for their families and their passion for their friends and their faith. The only way this weekend could have been better is if we didn't require sleep, I know each of us wanted to eek out as many hours together as possible.

When we did venture of of the hotel we did find the coolest little bookstore, which included tin ceilings and exposed brick. While it was small it included all the best books you would ever want to read, each title that my friends and I came up with we were able to find. Along with some amazing greeting cards, I could have bought about 12 of them, but I settled on two. We all hope to return their next year for a book signing when our friend Eileen's book comes out.



And then as if God was smiling on us, across from the bookstore was the sweetest little cafe that had the best sundae I have ever had, a pumpkin sundae. Pumpkin ice cream, caramel, chocolate chunks, nuts and whip cream. The only thing sweeter than the ice cream was this precious time I was able to spend with my dear friends.

As I ventured home from this weekend, I kept thinking of things I forgot to share or to ask and was wishing the weekend could have lasted just a little longer. I'm already looking forward to next year and what I hope will be a new tradition in each of our lives.

The one where I brag about my niece

My niece Q. is one of my most favorite people on the planet. She lives an hour from here so I do not get to see her very often, but today she and my brother decided to come by for dinner and to celebrate his birthday. It's been over a month since I've seen her and during that time, she has started Pre-K. Not pre-school she informed me Pre-K, apparently there is a difference? She also had her hair cut and is sporting bangs, "Like you aunt Mary."

I was talking to my mom on the phone a couple weeks ago, Q was visiting them and my mom asked her if she wanted to talk to me on the phone. She took the phone and I began asking her questions. Silence. I asked her something else, nothing. Finally my mom took the phone back "Mary did you hang up?" "No, I'm here." "Q why aren't you talking to Mary?" my mom asked. "I was playing the silent game." Nice.

Q knows that I am a career counselor, and she likes to inform me from time to time of her plans for when she grows up. Her latest occupational dreams? Ballerina, Baker, Sharp Shooter. Yes, that's right Sharp Shooter.

Mixing It Up!

My friend Beka is on a 3 month road trip, volunteering her time at various farms throughout the country. She's blogging about here experiences here http://mygreenorchard.wordpress.com/ you should read her blog.

Beka has done many blog entries about "Mixing it up" you know trying something new and different to get out of that rut we tend to find ourselves in. I was thinking about Beka today for many reasons one because it just so happens her favorite football team and my favorite football team were playing against other today, and no surprise but her team CRUSHED my team. And secondly because today I decided to mix things up a bit.

Now my six faithful blog readers may want to sit down for what I am about to say will shock you. Ready? Today I baked. Yes that's right I baked, and along with baking I also cooked. I'm sensing some shouting and the words What? Are you kidding me coming from a particular friend I have living down south. Yeah, you know who you are. Okay now I'm not exactly sure if you all consider browning ground beef for taco salad cooking but here in my house, well that's about as close to cooking as I get.

Now let's get on to the baking. First of all it's been rather fall like around here and I've been craving apple crisp. This morning I decided I would make apple crisp, so here I am mixing it up. But let me take this even one step further. I live in NY State, the number 2 producer of apples in the United States, yet I am not a fan of her apples. My favorite apple by far is produced in Washington State, the Granny Smith apple. There is nothing like it. But today I decided perhaps I have been to harsh regarding my states apples surely there is something comparable to the Granny Smith? So I mixed it up, wandered the produce section of Wegmans as I read the descriptions of the various apples. Now my first hang up with NYS apples is that most of them are red. For some reason I like my apples to be green. I finally settled on the Paula red. It promised to be tart (Very Important) and crisp (also important) no one likes a mealy apple.

So this afternoon, I peeled my apples, and gave Ms. Paula Red her shot at winning my favor. And the result? Well Paula, I'm sorry but you just don't measure up to my granny, but you were still good and so was the apple crisp.

For those of you who are NYS apple lovers I'm curious to hear from you what your favorite apple is. I'm willing to give others a try.

Confession Time - I own pink crocs.

Two years ago at Christmas, my younger brother Matt gave me a pair of pink crocs. I was surprised by this very strange gift. Matt is what I would call a snob (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). He's a golf professional, who cares more about the way he looks than anyone else I have ever met. He works out, he is very careful about what he eats, he buys designer clothes and grooming products. He is what some would call a metro sexual, although I'm not sure many people use that terminology any more. So I was a bit confused as to why he would give me such an ugly pair of shoes. "These are great" he exclaimed "we got them in the pro shop awhile back and you would not believe how comfortable they are." He then acknowledged to us that he had his own pair (not pink) back home. "Careful Matt" my brother Mike warned "don't let too many people know that or they may take away your man card."

At any rate, Matt explained since they were closing the pro shop for the season and they had a lot of crocs left, mostly kid sizes (did I mention I have ridiculously small feet) he thought he'd grab me a pair. This same Christmas season, my 11 year old cousin was sporting her brand new Coach boots. She promised I could have them when she outgrew them, since at age 11 she and I had the same foot size. I'm not sure I'm cool enough to wear Coach boots though.

So for about 18 months these crocs sat in my shoe cupboard. Another sad fact about me, I keep all my shoes in a bottom kitchen cupboard by the door where I immediately kick them off as soon as I enter the house. Finally this summer I pulled them out and thought they would be good to use as garden shoes, if they got muddy I could just hose them down. I'm afraid to admit this, these are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned, why haven't I worn them before? Uh because they are pink and they are ugly. This morning I wore my crocs to work, well actually I walked out of the house and then got in the car realizing what I had on my feet. I ran back in and put on my not so comfortable black loafers.