beren's graduation

My nephew, Beren, took a big step in his life yesterday....he graduated from pre-school. I don't really understand why they have a pre-school graduation, but it was fun to see all the little 4 and 5 year olds in caps and gowns. It was hard for me to even get a picture of Beren because everyone else kept standing up to take pictures, too. I guess that's why they had a graduation, a big photo op. The graduating class sang us a few songs. Much more entertaining than a high school graduation. It can't beat hearing a recording of "Forever Young", the Alphaville version. That was our theme song for my graduation. How embarrassing.

Indiana even decided to pick a present out for Beren. She is so thoughtful. Don't worry, Beren, we wrapped it up in some tissue so you can treasure it forever.

Beren's crowning moment.Asher could only handle watching so many kids get up and wave to their parents. I am glad I was able to make it to the graduation because I know it meant a lot to Beren. He was so excited about it. But this means I now don't have to go to your high school graduation. Good luck in Kindergarten next year!

alabama

I went on a work trip last week to Alabama. The place I was in is literally in the middle of no where (you should look at the google aerial link I have above). I really don't know where they get the people to work there. I stayed in Meridian, Mississippi, which was about a 50 minute drive and there are quite a few of the employees that live there, too. I can't imagine driving that far every day.

I thought about taking some pictures of some of the dilapidated houses that I saw near the mill, but I didn't have time, plus I didn't want to give everyone an impression that all the houses look a certain way. I did see some nice houses, too. I'll try to take more pics on my next trip.

I only took this one picture of the sun setting off of the freeway entrance, the calm after the storm. This was the day that it poured the entire day, I had to go to Wal-Mart and purchase a cheap rain coat, so I wouldn't get drenched when I walked into the mill. There was some heavy lightning from this storm, too. There were a few strikes that were right above me while I was driving, kind of scary and they kept having tornado warnings on the radio. I'm glad I didn't see any of those.When I'm in paper mills, I normally don't ever see the end product, the paper. I spend most of my time in the pulp mill. But this time, I was lucky to be given a tour inside. They make tissue at this mill (tp, paper towels, napkins). The tissue-forming/drying machines are much more compact than a paper machine that makes paper that you write on or paper that is used to make boxes. And they move a lot faster. I then saw the area where they cut the rolls down to size and package. It's all automated, even the fork-lift trucks were automated. I felt like I was on the Discovery channel's, how it's made show.

While in Meridian, I ate at a Thai restaurant that was recommended to me by an engineer at the paper mill. I had my doubts, since I've found that a lot of Asian restaurants in the south aren't that great, but she told me it was really good. After getting lost trying to find Faraway Places, I found it in an industrial part of town. I still had doubts when I pulled up, since it's in a double-wide and when you first enter, you can see a living room area with tv and couch in the corner. I thought, this is a weird place. I still decided to stay and ended up having some spring rolls and a red chicken curry dish. It was great, just as good as a Thai place in Seattle, but with very nice Southern hospitality. The owners are Thai and the wife told me her daughter lives in Seattle. I was also told to try this Mexican restaurant while I was there, but knew it would be just like any other Mexican restaurant in the south, bland. They don't use anything to flavor their chicken or even their salsa. The salsa is like tomato sauce. I guess they cook for the southerners, but I don't understand why they don't like any flavor and have to use lots of cheese. Maybe I'll find a good southern Mexican restaurant someday....

mother's day

I saw a lot of my family on Saturday while we were celebrating mother's day/Paul's b-day. We had a big picnic at mom and dad's and all got to hang out. We even played a little pictionary by using dry-erase markers on a window in the living room, it was a really good idea hatched by Leslie, I think. It was a little too cold to stay outside. I'm glad I have a mom like mine. I know me and my 11 brothers and sisters love my mom a lot. Thanks for all you do mom! And then for my own mother's day gift to me, I ran the Kirkland half-marathon (13.1 miles) Sunday morning. I had a sore throat and kind of thought I shouldn't go out and run it, but I'm glad I did. I even beat my last half by a couple of minutes. My final time was 1:54:05. Yay, Ann! I was lucky to have Leslie come cheer me on at the finish line. She got up early on her mother's day, just for me. Thanks Leslie.
The other thing that made my weekend so wonderful this year was going to a birth-mother's day brunch with a bunch of other birth moms and a couple of women that have adopted in the past. It was like having group all over again. I miss that environment. I loved hearing everyone's story and then being able to share mine. I feel so lucky to have the relationship I have with Savannah and her family. There really aren't too many other people that get that opportunity. I think the funniest thing about hearing everyone's story was that a lot of the women there have found out the name of the family that adopted their child (most of the adoptions were closed with pictures and letters only). I did it, too, before everything was open between Savannah's family. I just think it's sad and disappointing that there are so many people that think that birth mothers are crazy and would go steal back their child if they were able to have an open relationship. I'm glad that I at least get to have a friendship with Savannah since I wasn't able to be her mom. I guess the reason I'm writing about all this is so if you think I'm not a crazy birth mom and you know people that have adopted, then you need to let those adoptive parents know that a lot of birth moms want to know what is going on with their children and might like to have a more open relationship.

Anyway, enough of that, I didn't want to make this so personal, but I feel really strongly about adoptions and feel that people assume too many negative things about birth mothers, if they want to still be part of the child's life. Stay tuned...I'm heading to Alabama tomorrow, there has to be some good stories from there.

my fair lady

My Fair Lady is such a wonderful musical! I saw it on Saturday at the Paramount with four of my sisters and two sister-in-laws. It was so nice. We weren't able to actually see the faces of the actors, like in this photo, but the set was beautiful and the singing/dancing was so nice.

(this photo is courtesy of the Paramount web-site)

I was surprised at how I knew all the words to the songs, since I really can't remember watching the Audrey Hepburn movie version. But, I must have at some point. I'll have to watch it again. Lisa O'Hare was Eliza and she did a wonderful job. Her accent at the beginning was so thick, that I couldn't understand a few things she said. Very convincing and then she was able to switch to her lady accent so well. Such a lovely play! Watching it made me want to go to NYC again and see a couple of more. I'll have to start planning something...

this american life

If you haven't ever listened (or now watched) This American Life, you're missing out. It's a one-hour radio show that is on NPR. If you don't want to listen to it there, you can also listen to all of the shows through the website. They have random stories that can be funny, sad or thoughtful and revolve around a theme each week. They also have a show on showtime, now, but I haven't watched any of those.

Janeece and I went to re-broadcasted live show of Ira Glass (the host) talking about the radio and tv shows. I'll admit, it was mostly a plug for season 2 of the tv show, but they had little snips of stories that were all great. One of them was about this guy that has horses in North Philadelphia, like right in the city and it's pretty much the ghetto where the horses live. There were a couple of boys that get to ride with him and they get the responsibility of taking care of the horses. I wish I could have seen these horses when I was in Philly. They had their stalls in a lot right next to all the row houses.

The other funny, but kind of sad, story was about this group of 8th grade boys that were at a comedy camp. Most of them were into being comedians because they were awkward and that was how they dealt with their awkwardness. They did say some funny things, but you still kind of felt bad for them. You definitely should check out the radio show.