Friday Catch-Up

Dissertating + working full time = minimal free time and consequently few blog entries and fewer pictures. Sorry.

School ended on Wednesday. I cried. For many of those kids, school is their safe zone and teachers are their protectors. When classes end for the summer, many of them fall victim to the lure of the streets and irresponsible teenagers and adults. Some of the elementary school-aged kids I work with will assume the role of parent and take care of their younger siblings while their guardians work their minimum wage jobs. Unstable situations at home make it difficult for most of the kids to progress intellectually and socially. Man, I get worked up just thinking about them. I woke up before 4:00 AM on Thursday morning because I was so worried about a few kids in particular. This, of course, is not the story for all of the kids at the school. Unfortunately, it is the story for the kids who gave the longest hugs and shed the biggest tears before they got on the bus. For once in my life, I hope summer break flies by so they can be back in the classroom.

I arranged to see the child, E., I work one-on-one with a few times each month. I don't want to weaken the relationship we've built, and I want to make sure he's surviving the summer. I'm spending next Friday morning with him, and while I'm not sure what we'll be doing it has to be educational, inexpensive, and something that gently pushes his communication skills. Any recommendations? I contacted a local animal shelter to see if we could come in and "volunteer" for an hour. E. loves cats, so I figure it might be a good place to spend some time - provided I can get the shelter to wave the age minimum for volunteers (16).

In other news, yesterday I saw one of my best friends from college. We had coffee and talked for almost three hours. He decided to give me access to his match.com profile so I could help spruce it up and filter through some of the women seeking his attention. I made him remove all of his professional training and occupational goals (because, lets face it, most women will only see $$$$), changed bits of his profile and updated his picture. Here's to hoping he lands a fun, intelligent and classy lady. He totally deserves it.

I'm co-hosting a garage sale tomorrow with a friend of mine. Excellent prices and a decent selection of stuff. We're open rain or shine, so stop by starting at 7. We most definitely have at least one thing that you'll need. I promise.