Connections

It's Monday and I sit in my hotel room 4.5 hours from home thinking about family and how important loving families are to the "whole" child.

I had the pleasure of eating dinner with my mom, dad, aunt Nettie, and brother Tom and I was reminded of how special these connections are to me and how short life really is.

My mother gave me a small gift while I was there. Something that was gifted to her by her brother 48 years ago. A rosary blessed by the Pope in Rome in 1959 during the war. I will cherish it all of my days.

It makes me sad to think about all our children in our schools and community who will never know the kind of love and commitment such a simple gift holds.

As Time Goes By

Our youngest daughter turns 21 tomorrow! It's actually making me sad when I think about those bygone years. I will cherish them forever. I can only hope and pray that she feels blessed and will grow to understand and treasure her heritage. I love you Hailey! Happy 21st Birthday!

--Love, Mom

In thinking about mentors...

When I think about the people who have been integral to my own learning over the course of time, there have been countless people who have been my mentor. Most of them probably don't even know it. The obvious, or not so obvious, are my parents. Next I think about the "one" teacher who inspired and taught his students to question the answers and rebel against the status quo in an appropriate and connected civil literacy way of thinking.

In choosing a name...

This blogging thing is new to me. Not new in my thinking but new in my doing and it took me forever to choose a name for this blog. In fact I've made at least 4 name changes before I was happy with myself. That probably says a lot about "digital immigrants" and "digital natives". Since I am a product of the Baby Boomer generation, barely, I am an immigrant :-)

Walks With Deer is the Lakota Indian name I choose for myself during a college course I took back in 1992. My good friend and colleague JoAnn Lillich taught this course, then offered through Colby Community College. It was the most powerful, sprititual, personal course I've ever experienced.

So why Walks With Deer? I wanted this particular blog to be a personal space where I could share my thoughts, feelings, memories, and stories with family and friends.

That said...welcome to my blog!