Former Neighbors
by Rob

Yesterday was one of those days with two events that seemed especially poignant together.

In the morning, I was shopping when I ran into the son of our former neighbor, Angie. She lived downstairs from us when we lived on Shannon Street. We first moved there in 1992. At that time, Angie was 86 years old. When I spotted Joe yesterday, and we first started talking, I had difficulty figuring out the best way to ask about Angie, since I hadn't heard anything about her is several years. Well, she's 101, and doing well, although she's moved into a nursing facility. Joe says that she's happy there and enjoys being around other people. He said that he would be seeing her later this week and that he would tell her that we had asked about her. He expects that she will remember us.

In the afternoon, Nate and I went to Albany Med. to visit one of his friends, Kevin. Nate and Kevin became friends in elementary school. For about a year, Kevin, his sister Amy, and his mother Holly, lived here on Schermerhorn Road in a house that they rented from one of our neighbors. Kevin was hit by a car while he was riding his bicycle about 10 days ago. Although we knew that he was at Albany Med in ICU, we didn't know much more about his condition. Holly was there when we arrived. She met with us and talked to us, telling us about Kevin's condition. He's still unconscious. They have him heavily sedated, and although they had wakened him about 48 hours ago, he was in too much pain, and so they resumed the medicine and put him back to sleep. His right leg was severely damaged in the accident. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and he also suffered head injuries. They are not sure about the extent of his brain injuries at this point, since he hasn't been awake for any length of time since the accident. When he wakes up, they don't expect him to remember anything about what has happened. They don't know what else he'll have trouble remembering.

Mr. Vice President Elect
by Rob

It's official. After a second school-wide vote today, Nathan Hileman is Schalmont Middle School's Vice President Elect for the 2007-2008 school year.

About two weeks ago, he came home with news that he had decided to run. He described the process of becoming a candidate; it sounded daunting to me. He was required to get the signatures of 3 faculty members and 30 students who would support his candidacy. All of the signatures on his petition had to be exclusive. I was impressed when he completed the process, but discouraged when I found out that he was in a field of 7 seventh grade students running for the position.

Last week was campaign and voting week. As is often the case around here, his fliers and speech were prepared at the last possible time. It was a late night on Tuesday, which wrapped up around 10:00 PM, when I sent him to bed and got in the car to drive to Kinkos to copy fliers. He read his speech on the announcements the next morning, and then voting took place on Friday. At the end of my day on Friday, I ran into Mr. George, Nate's English teacher. He had come to my building to pick up one of his own children. He told me that there was going to need to be a second vote. Four of the seven candidates were eliminated as a result of the first vote. The second vote was to take place this morning.

At 2:55 this afternoon, as my chorus was leaving, I got paged to the office for a phone call. It was Nate: "I won." There was a hint of "Can you believe it?" in his voice.

When I arrived home this afternoon, there was an email waiting from Mr. George. He just wanted to share the good news with me. He wrote, "woohoo!" I couldn't agree more.

Mother's Day

by Rob

This day has been beautiful. The weather is perfect and the flowers are in bloom all around the house. I'm especially loving the cherry tree today. It's covered with blossoms.

This morning when she got up, Abbie was so excited about giving Kim the Mother's Day gifts that she had created. She painted a picture. She made a bracelet. She made some origami frogs. She wrote two poems.

Mom

by Abbie

When you make me steak,

I know you really care

When you play "Life" with me,

I know you love me

When you say you love me,

I know you don't lie

When you bake me cookies,

I know you know my taste buds

When you teach me what peaches to buy,

I trust you

When you take me out to dinner,

I know you don't want me to starve

Everything you do has a reason.

Happy Mother's Day, I (heart) U!

How Do Mothers Take Care of Their Children

by Abbie

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they hug them and snuggle them in warm fuzzy mittens?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they love them and sing them songs at eleven?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they save them when they say, "S.O.S." and after dinner, "Clean your mess"?

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they cook them dinner and say, "Don't be a sinner?"

How do mothers take care of their children?

Do they play ball and buy you clothes?

Yes, I say mothers rule!

Kitchen Update

by Rob

As of today, May 5, we have begun to move to a more detailed stage of the planning. We have a plumber working on a bid for us. Roger and his friend, George, will do the rest of the job. We have not ordered cabinets or appliances yet, but the plans are very close to be finalized.

These images are from the kitchen planner.