trick-or-treat

A little bit of pre-function action with the McMullens...
two pirates out on the town...

In front of the house with a bag full of loot....

Wow! What a fun evening.

This was Chris and Nate's first year of really doing the the trick-or-treating the old school way~only in our neighborhood with friends. Just how Halloween should be celebrated.

Tale of two frogs

I love this poem.

I rediscovered it as I've been going through my 'teaching' stuff and setting up my new classroom.

This hung near my desk for 7 years. It's etched in my brain, and I remember sticking those frog stickers on it about 13 years ago.

good kid

Nate got the 'superfecta'....the perfect individual compliment with all 4 categories checked.

It was especially meaningful because it was from a substitute teacher...and you know how most kids are for the substitute. :)

???

Guess what Nate wants to be for Halloween?

Sandra

On Friday, I received some terribly sad news. My childhood friend, Sandra Farran, had a heart attack and died early in the morning of October 8th. She was only 43 years young.

Our friendship spanned 31 years...that's pretty much 3/4 of my life that she was a part of. I remember thinking that she was kind of a 'mean' 7th grader when I met her, but for some reason, we became friends. Friends that would last a lifetime. She was that friend to me who I did my growing up with. Sandra and I both had jobs in high school so we always had money to go and do fun things. She worked at the Busy Body (her mom's Ballet shop) and I made cones at the DQ. She had a black and red Celica car that she called 'Wee!" and I had that golden 76' mustang. Sandra's sense of humor was so quirky and silly, but we got each other.
We were at UofO together, and even shared a house in our early 20's when we both got 'real' jobs. Sandra had a crazy fun side that I have always loved, yet at the same time, she was completely responsible and I knew that she could be counted on. A fine balance, indeed.
Our lifestyles as adults were quite opposite, yet our friendship remained strong. Sandra was the epitome of the urban gal; and me, married and a mom. She loved shopping, shoes, travel, treating herself to nice things, and fun times. She worked hard, and was the ultimate young, professional woman. I was her friend who was home raising kids and being a stay-at-home mom. She thought my Dansko clogs were dorky~and she let me know. But these differences worked for us. In our friendship, I was the rock, and she was the kite.
Even though the hanging out and doing fun stuff changed as our lives evolved, we still would regularly talk on the phone and get the latest from each other.
A long drawn out "Widaaad!" I would always say to her, then she would reply with "Aidaaa!" in the accent that her mom and aunt (from Jerusalem) have. We would say this as we would start every single conversation that way. Completely silly, but we never skipped it...not once.
I will miss you, Sandra. Our friendship was amazingly special to me, and I'm so glad that I had 31 years of banter with you. I am rich with fun memories. I know that I will feel your presence around me. I'll see you again someday on the other side.