New York City?

Not your average jaunt.

Try 140+ 8th graders and chaperones traipsing through the Big Apple on a barnstorming trip, an annual pilgrimage made by our school since the 1950s. If ever I have experienced true wonder and a sense of the incredible, standing atop the Empire State Building on a clear night overlooking the city lights with my awestruck students would be the way I would describe it. I was 29, seeing the city for the first time, thrilled for them to see it at 14. I could only imagine what my former students downstate would think if they could see that view and feel that wind in their hair. If they could grasp those protective steel bars which felt almost unreal, so thin against such an enormous background. I felt blessed to be in that place at that moment; reflecting on just how I got there. Anyone who tells me I’m crazy to teach middle school would never question my motives after such an experience. (That is, after they catch their breath and catch up on sleep. Ha! What sleep?!)

Maine–

Bar Harbor, to be exact. Our honeymoon. It was my first lobster dinner. We kayaked in the sea, and hiked trails with ocean views that took our breaths away. We played the license plate game on the drives there and back, my new bride and I feeling like kids on a road trip clamoring in the back seat. We took in the solitude of secluded Maine highways, which seemed to stretch on and on and on; moose warning signs included, but unfortunately, none seen.

(Photos courtesy the wife: www.thesweetestoccasion.com)

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SYRACUSE HAS DEFEATED THE BONNIES by 13. Though their leading scorer was ejected early in the second half, Bona kept fighting and made a game of it. Not a bad effort against the #5 ranked Orange. This is fitting. My roots taught me everything about hard work and determination. Clearly, my “broad, wholesome, charitable view” of the world has been expanded greatly, and it includes the fact that I feel fortunate to have worked with and known so many wonderful people both then and now. It has made, to date, a complete life, with more to come.

This is the way to live. Have a Merry Christmas and a bright 2010.

P.S.

Must get more Blue Moon, and keep the orange slices handy. Though I will say, Maine blueberry ale is also divine.