This was written by a friend and fellow Syracuse University mom. During the course of my four years and her three, we have shared many, many thoughts and emotions via our fabulous facebook page. Mary's daughter and my son attend(ed) Syracuse and now and forever, bleed orange, as do we, their proud moms.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/08/22/learning-college-mom/MSLiYQa8aOPQSumRkTdmqL/story.html?event=event25&s_campaign=sm_gp&hl=en-US
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/08/22/learning-college-mom/MSLiYQa8aOPQSumRkTdmqL/story.html?event=event25&s_campaign=sm_gp&hl=en-US

Walker Blaggins-Battery Steele 08-20-2014

A friend asked me, "As an adult away on vacation, a trip or just away, what is it that you miss? Do you yearn for home or do you gravitate back to childhood? Do you miss your hometown?"

I posted a quick thought, but I know I will add to this.

I miss the me I was; the wide eyed innocent, trusting child. I miss the strength of my dad's hug and the security of knowing mom was home. I miss knowing that my best friend was just a few doors down the street and that no matter where I ended up in town, someone knew me.  I miss the prickly feel of the dry grass on my legs and shoulders, as I watched, stretched out in a field of Queen Ann's lace, the clouds form all sorts of images against a deep blue sky. They say you can never return, but you can. Just close your eyes, be still a moment, breathe and it will come to you, fleetingly at first, but if you allow it, it will flood in on a wave of warm summer air, punctuated with a smile. Also my fiend, Dorothy told me to click my heels, that works too!

This is a facebook post from my much loved son, who is realizing he is not going back to Syracuse University. His time is done. He graduated this past May.......

Kj Mills

9 hours ago

So last night I had my first dream about school since I graduated. I think it's because it is getting close to the time where I would be going back to Syracuse. If this were last year I would be getting prepared to leave in 12 days. Having a full time job has made me think less about not going back to Syracuse, but it is now getting to the point where I'm going to start missing it. In May people asked me if I was sad, and I said no, I will feel sad when it is time to go back and I won't be. But my dream also said something else. For my Syracuse friends I will describe it. I was running up university place trying to catch the bus but then realizing that I don't have one, and that a bus will never come to college place for me again. I stopped running out of breath at the corner of university place and comstock and realized that I am out of place here. There was no place for me to go and stay. And I needed to get home and continue my work. My interpretation is that yes I am sad that I will never be a student at Syracuse again, but it is a good thing because I would be out of place there and I have my career to fill up my life. I will always cherish my time there and will come back every year as a visitor, not a resident. If you read all of this thank you so much for listening to me.

This is is what I sent to him.....

When you learned to walk, I held your hand; then you let go. Tall Spire showed you feathers, Waybright gave them to you, Saugus High School showed you how to choose the best feathers and think about flying. Syracuse University held those wings for you, improved those wings, handed them to you on May 12th and you let go and soared. What you didn’t count on was the gossamer thread SU attached to your wings; invisible yet strong, that will always hold you close, wrapping around your heart sometimes so tight you feel you can’t breathe. But you will learn to let go, one tiny step at a time, just like you did all those years ago. You will continue to soar, but never so far that you can’t find your way back, you just have to follow your heart, and that thread back to where the Vale of Onondaga meets the eastern sky, where you can always return, but can never go back. Transitions are hard; I still get antsy stepping off an escalator! (Heart strings to heart strings)

For these few things, I am grateful...

I was asked by the awesome Beth Browdy Gonyea to participate in this,with her. Please join me in this exercise. Each day for 5 days post 3 things you are grateful for & tag 3 friends each day as well to join.

Here are my three things for today:

1. I am infinitely grateful that I wake up everyday with the same body and mind that I had when I went to sleep. So many times you hear of someone "passing away in their sleep" and how fortunate that is. You hear of sudden strokes and the slow confusion of Alzheimer's; a fall down a flight of stairs or a push down that same flight of stairs. So yes, I am grateful for every blizzard to slog through, every drop of rain that manages to find its way into my house, every degree of heat and humidity that slows me to a crawl, as well as every bright star in the winter sky, rainbow, sunrise and sunset.

2. I am grateful for DNA; yes DNA, for without my own particular strands of DNA I would not have my dad's eyes or my mom's hair. Without their genetics I would not have Gram's hands or Pop's big toe; Ma's smile or Pa's patience. I am grateful that when I look into my daughter's eyes, I see my dad and when my son smiles a certain way, I discovered Uncle Jim. I see that look in my brothers eyes and smile too. When I see my nephew, I see my dad as a young man and my niece has his sense of humor. I am grateful my cousins share the hands and feet of our grand-genes and that we have all been woven with the threads that bind us together, though some of us are quite "textured!" Where this DNA began, I have not figured this out yet, but I know I will. I am hoping to mull this over for many more years, but when it comes time for the final answer, I know I have lived as close honesty and faith as I could and will await the next questions with hope and trust.

3. The last in this very short list of gratefulness are the people who have woven their own threads into my life.  Some threads have broken, yet they are still part of my tapestry. There are some who are hidden below, but are still weaving quietly, waiting to surface when the time is right. There are

bright splashes of Syracuse Orange, Keany Blue, Sachem Red, Warrior Red; the Blue and Gold of NASC, the Maroon of BPU and now Tanner Blue.

There are the muted grays and browns of sadness, the bright yellows of new babies being born and the breath taking whites of those taken too soon. The clerk at the store who helped me find chutney and laughed with me about the silliness of the word, chutney; the young man who flipped me the bird as I was driving along at my own pace, the students who amaze me with their resiliance, the dog who greets me with a whole body wag, the dogs who live in my memory. The cats, the bunnies the fish the turtles, they are all part of the tapestry I will finish, many years from now, if at all. I may be able to keep working on it, "later." As I said, I haven't figured that out yet. But for today, this minute, this breath, I gather you all close, marvel at the colors you all have given me, and I continue with the thread I was given at 4:30 pm, July 30, 1956 and say, thank you.

This is so simple

This is a "must read!"
https://medium.com/teaching-learning/an-open-letter-to-my-sons-kindergarten-teacher-ed1f90239ae7

I had to add in my two cents, as well.....

When my kids were little, I got into a heap of "conversation" with their Principal, because they did not submit their four summer reading projects (written) when they returned to school. They did however, spend the a part of that summer learning about all the core subjects; they calculated and estimated how many logs and branches it took to build a fort in the woods. They learned geography remembering how to find that fort in the deep woods! They learned about the planets and stars, while stretched out on their backs under a humid night sky, watching the Perseid Meteor showers grace the sky. They learned about the moon's pull on our tides and how to form letters at low tide and watch them wash into the ocean at the neap tide. They even learned how to make a sun dial to tell them when to come home. They were blessed to be able to vacation for a week or so where they could experience this, but what stayed with them when they returned to their bustling home and town, was the curiosity and ability to seek answers that is still ingrained in them at ages 20 and 22. I look back on that summer and have to thank that Principal for instilling a resolve in me to never, ever try to make my students, "fit the mold!" They are not "common" and their "frameworks" are most certainly, "outside the box" if I have properly done my job!

Go 'Cuse!

Waiting to watch Syracuse University play Dayton.  GO CUSE!
https://twitter.com/SUsocksistas