Graduations

I had the honor of seeing two people I think the world of graduate this week. The first graduation was my sister-in-law Hillary's graduation from Dunmore High School. I met Hillary four months after Bill and I first started dating at the end of her eighth grade year in 2004. When I met her, she was a sweet teenager who immediately welcomed me as a member of the family. Over the past four years I have watched that sweet teenager grow into a caring and smart young woman. Hillary has been through more crap than a teenager should have to go through and I am so proud of her for graduating and going on to Penn College in the fall. Congrats Hillary, and as you move on to college remember ...you're Dunmore, it's what you do :) While I was in Dunmore for the graduation, I also got to spend some quality time with my nephews Josh and Jeremy when I took them to see Kung Fu Panda. Taking them to the movie was part altruistic (The boys wanted to see the movie and Mary did not want to see the movie) and part selfish (I wanted to see the movie). However, it was the first time I got to spend quality time with just me and my new nephews and it was really special to me. I also got to see my three month old niece Alanah. She is adorable! I know I'm biased but she is so smart already. Seeing her really got my biological clock ticking but before Bill and I have any babies, we have to have jobs where we can afford to take care of ourselves. Oh yeah, and then there's the small matter of convincing my loving husband that having a baby wouldn't be the worst thing since Nazi Germany. But that is a different blog for a different day...

The second graduation I went to was at Key Center, the school I taught at for four years. I went back to Virginia and Key because when I left four years ago, I said that no matter where I was I would come back to see my student Catherine graduate. Catherine is one of those once-in-a-lifetime students. When she was assigned to my classroom in the fall of 2000 she was 14 years old (same age Hillary was when I met her). Catherine was very shy and barely said two words the first half of that school year. Sometime after Christmas break that year, Catherine started talking up a storm. Now you can't stop her from talking! Her parents gave me a lot of credit after the graduation for Catherine becoming the social 22 year old she is now but I don't really think it was anything I did. I think she was just ready and it happened to be that she was ready when I was teaching her. I had Catherine in my classroom for all four years that I was at Key Center and it was a privilege to be her teacher. Congratulations Catherine! I know the people at your worksite will love having you as a worker as much as I loved having you as a student.

Here are some pictures of the two graduations and my cutie niece:



Hillary



Me, Jimmy, and the graduate



Bill, Me, and Baby Alanah



Catherine

I Love New York!

I have the best husband in the world. On Valentine's Day he surprised me with tickets to the Yankee Stadium tour and we went this Sunday. It was an incredible experience. Bill is the best husband in the world because he hates the Yankee's and still endured the tour because I love them. The tour started in the press box. We got to see where all the sports reporters work during the game. They have a great view of the field. We then went to Monument Park. I had been there before but it was nice to be in monument park when there wasn't hundreds of people milling around. Next we got to walk on the field and sit in the Yankee dugout. It was amazing sitting in the same place where my favorite players past and present have sat. Last, we got to see the Yankee locker room. They did not let us all the way into the locker room to respect the players' privacy but I got to see Derek Jeter's locker and Thurmon Munson's empty locker (from behind a rope) and that was really exciting for me. I was in awe the whole tour. Yankee Stadium has so many great memories for me. As a kid, my mom, dad, brother, Aunt, Uncle, and I went to many games there. We always had a great time. Although the new Yankee Stadium (right across the street from the old one) looks beautiful, it will lack those childhood memories that make the current Yankee Stadium so special to me. Hopefully, I will make more great memories in the new Yankee Stadium. Thank you baby, for giving me a chance to say goodbye to one of my favorite places on Earth! See pictures of us on the tour below:



The New Yankee Stadium



Me with the Babe Ruth Monument



Me on the field!



Bill and I in the dugout