Close to my heart...

I would be remiss if I did not mention my dad since we celebrated Veteran's Day this week. I read on Pam Machu's Facebook wall that Eddie (her husband) is her favorite veteran. I liked that. My dad is hands down my favorite veteran. I remembered him and his service this past week. My dad is one of a select few living WWII veterans. His story along with his service makes me so proud of him (well, that and the fact that he's my dad!). He was born in 1916 in Aguas Calientes, Mexico. He crossed the border into this country when he was six. He grew up in Michigan, and he was drafted along with so many other men to serve his country in WWII. He was injured in the Battle of the Bulge and received a purple heart. He is an amazing person, as I am sure are many of the veterans. I love you, dad and I hope you had a great Veteran's Day.

Malcolm's star student week came to a close yesterday. It began and ended amazingly well with only one Dysfunctional Family Moment midway through - I put the "Favorite Song CD" (after Eddie frantically made the Favorite Song CD the night before with assistance from Jamie - we always seem to do everything with assistance from Jamie!) in Sofie's backpack instead of Malcolm's. When we went to double check the location of the Favorite Song CD on Favorite Song morning alas it was "missing." This caused our Star Student to wail down the driveway as I am pushing him, "I'M NOT GETTING ON THE BUS WITHOUT MY CD. WHERE IS IT? IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT MOMMY. THIS IS NOT FAIR. YOU ARE THE WORST MOMMY!" As I am screaming back, "GET ON THE BUS!!!" He most definitely did not look like a star student nor I a star mommy. ;o) The kids figured it out at school (along with their amazing teachers) and Malcolm had the CD back by 8:15 a.m. Gotta love those teachers. Which brings me to the end of Star Student Week.

I missed teaching for a fraction of a second when I went to Malcolm's classroom to be Star Student Guest Reader. I read If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Suess. Which is decidedly not PC. Ah, well. Still a great read. All those bright, smiling faces made me remember why I became a teacher. I had a moment...but then quickly recovered.

Lastly, my dearest Sofie who was largely ignored this week of Malcolm - Star Student made another of her profound statements that make me love her from the deepest part of my heart. After sobbing through the extremely sad reading of I'll Always Love You (not to be confused with I'll Love You Forever) - a story about a boy whose dog dies - she said, "Mommy, I want our whole family to die together so we never have to be without each other." Okay, so once you get past the Jim Jones nature of this comment you gotta love her. I can see the wheels turning in that deep, deep thinking mind of hers and it makes me sad and happy.

So...(if you are still reading God bless ya and do something useful for God's sake) I say good-bye to Star Student Week with Malcolm, Sofie, and my dad having touched my heart and made me happy (and a little sad).