My Gran was full of wisdom, as is true of many people who have lived long lives. You don’t know what you know until you know it, and then you have the old folks who try to help you know those things before you experience it for yourself…but that stubborn younger generation….knows it all. I sure did. My Gran had a saying or an adage for everything. Sometimes I have to smile when I hear my mom repeating those adages to me, or to my children. A couple things she used to say to me really stand out to me…
For My Bisbee Kids…Once my kiddo, always my kiddo…
This morning, as I opened up my Facebook account, the first thing I was was a picture of two little girls with their Momma’s dimples at a gender reveal party. As I keep scrolling, I see a couple in a loving embrace, a post celebrating sobriety, a picture taken from overseas and a woman wearing a dirndl with a big beer in her hands, a video of a baby boy reading to his momma, a memory popped up and shared of a collegiate cross country race, and hopeful posts about celebrating holidays. Nothing unusual right? It’s Facebook after all. But…
When the History Books Fail Us
For me, diversity has always been a way of life. I grew up on the border. We spoke Spanglish, Spanish and English in many of my classrooms. We had multi-ethnic students and teachers, primarily Hispanic, but my small town was a melting pot ethnically, socially, economically, sexually, politically and religiously. Maybe I was unaware of issues that arose between different groups, but for the most part, it seemed everyone was very accepting of each other. I think my parents were conscientiously aware of leading with an attitude in inclusion and non judgement. With my dad I spent time on Indian…
Goat Effers….and Lessons Learned in a Garage
I had a propensity for mischief growing up. I was a risk taker, an adventurer and a questioner of authority. I guess that’s what happens when your parents were hippies, you traveled the southwest and Mexico in a Volkswagen, and sometimes it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission….or just take the consequences. I raked a lot of dog crap. But…the summer before my freshman year, my family decided the best way to keep me from making too much mischief was to put me to work at Bisbee Bug, my uncle’s auto repair business. Everyday I showed up with my…
Bisbonians vs. Bisbeites and Mourning my Hometown
I grew up in a small town nestled in the hills of South East Arizona, a place they said once you went through the tunnel, time slowed down. I grew up in a diverse community where everyone knew everyone going back generations. We spoke fluent spanglish. I grew up in a place where it was safe to leave doors unlocked, children played in the canyons and picked berries in the ditch, and people looked out for their neighbors. We watched Star Wars and ET at the Lyric Theater. We shopped at Moore’s Store, and ate out at the Artic Circle,…
Leap of Faith
My Gran always instilled in me the belief in God, the power of prayer, and the idea of faith. She taught me how to pray, and instilled in me this belief that no matter what I was doing, or where I was in the world, God was watching over me. She would tell me that our deceased family members lived in the Kingdom of God. In my child’s mind, I pictured this big grand castle where my Popo, who passed when I was 7, lived and he would drink Coors and go fishing every day, while pulling weeds, and chewing…
The Benefit of the Doubt…
These are crazy times we are living in my friends. We are living through a modern day plague, which many are calling unprecedented, though it is not- Spanish Flu in 1918 gives us a peek into pandemics in the US, minus social media and political fear mongering….on both sides. We are also watching another plague take over our country… tensions are escalating because racially based injustices are being allowed. I am reminded of the 1992 LA riots that took place after four white officers were acquitted in the beating and use of excessive force with Rodney King. Protests across the…
Circling my Emotional Wagons
My Gran was a story teller. She often told me stories of when she was a child, and the stories from the ‘olden days’ that were passed down to her. She would tell me our family were pioneers who came across the country in a covered wagon, facing tough times to establish a homestead in Mogollon New Mexico Territory, which eventually became Mogollon, Arizona after statehood in 1912. Fun Fact: My great great grandmother was the first school teacher in Arizona in a one room school house in Mogollon. The stories I remember most are the ones of survival and…
Three Truth’s about Mother’s Day and the Best Gifts I Receive
Mother’s day is often a day I have mixed feelings about…Kind of like Teacher appreciation week, Father’s Day…and all these other ‘one day of appreciation holidays’ that have a foundation in economics…mainly selling cards and stuff to people. For me, Moms, Dads, Teachers, Nurses… we need to just appreciate people everyday. We should make all of our interactions with people communicate their value. Definitely easier said than done, and not a topic one lone person can shift the world’s beliefs on in one blog post. Even with the best of intentions though, Mother’s Day is a hard day for many…
Break out the Crazy-O-Meter (Day 53 of Social Distancing, working from home…and now teaching from home…)
Its been 53 days, since I have had the pleasure of going our for a drink with my friends, been to spin class, shopped in an actual store, not worn a glove while pumping gas, or done my official kiddo greeting duties at the front door of the school. My May and early June Glamping reservations have been canceled by DNR. I also own multiple masks that I can switch out based on my outfit…although my OCD prefers one specific one. I ordered food from one of those meal delivery places because I am tired of my own cooking, and…