Family Matters

Shortly after 10 am this morning, my mother's most favorite Christmas sweatshirt was destroyed.  It was cut off of her, along with her pants and other unmentionables by the dudes in the trauma bay, after she had a nasty run-in with a (truck, SUV, vehicle - take your pick) while walking her usual 6+ miles.

It's somewhat ironic, I know, that at the very moment that my mother was lying in the middle of a crosswalk on Easton Road in Glenside with what turned out to be a fractured kneecap, fractures in her back, and possibly her wrist as well, I was talking to a group of high school students about the importance of Corporalita. Corporalita, the foundation of  Leonardo da Vinci's metacognitive process, is the concept that being in tip top physical, mental, and physiological oneness allows for maximum creativity and insight.

In my corner of the world, the person who most clearly exemplifies the importance of physical and mental conditioning is my dear mother.  So while I was attempting to introduce the concept of reflection and zentangling to high school students, my mother was refusing any sort of pain medication, waiting patiently for a hospital bed.  Talk about ZEN.

Family Matters

After a day like today, one can only wax philosophically on the wonders of one's life.  I am blessed to work in a school district where I can pick up a phone, reach a principal, and have that principal not only answer the phone but be in my classroom within three minutes to cover my class, allowing me to drive to the hospital two hours away.  Before I even pulled up to the E.R., my phone was chirping with prayers and "thinking of yous" from friends and colleagues.  (I was left scratching my head, until I realized that one of the students in my room is also the son of one of my closest friends, and he immediately started a mini prayer chain for mom.)


My family is not large.  I have one sister.  My mother has one sister.  There are many, many, people who may as well be sisters or cousins, though, as we connect and support each other.  (As well as children and grandchildren who all rallied together today!)

When I came home this evening after a very, very, long and emotional day, I absentmindedly thought about this blog.  Last night I was 49 blog visits from reaching 10,000.  I was thinking about how on Day #100 of writing, Ben and Bailey became engaged.  And now, on Blog Visitor 10,000, I was once again focused on family instead of the latest Blog Milestone.   Here's hoping that I stay that grounded forever, for as much as I enjoy this blog, it's the PEOPLE that truly matter.

In less than two days, we'll all be back together, along with families all over the world, celebrating.
Because even if the Grinch's image has been slashed by the scissors of an EMT in a trauma bay, Christmas will come, and family will still be family.  No matter what.

I am grateful for the extended family at school, and elsewhere in my life, that made my heart grow three sizes today.  (And if you didn't get that Grinch reference, go watch the movie.  It's probably only playing a dozen or more times in the next 48 hours on TNT).