It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole world. When I was a young child I spent every afternoon with him. I learned many things from him. I learned not to judge people. I learned respect. I saw examples of getting along with others and finding a solution using compromise. I learned to accept others' differences. I learned to enjoy puppets and trolleys (I still want to ride a trolley because of this.)I probably even got my love of cardigans from him - I wear one nearly every day. He was also the only thing that could draw me away from my favorite pretend family- The Brady Bunch. This man was a great influence on me.

In 2003 Mr. Fred Rogers died of cancer. I was running on the treadmill (I used to exercise), watching Headline News, when I heard the announcement. I truly felt that the world was less good. I think that at that moment one of the greats was gone. Well, it has been ten years since his death and I still miss him. Recently I came across an article about his life and influence. I inhaled it. I remember the clips. I wanted to post it, on his birthday, as a reminder of all the good things he taught. He was a GREAT MAN!

Life is Good - and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was a great part of my life.

True Ramblings

I came home today, after a rather long and somewhat difficult week, only to find myself skipping the housework that is needed and going right to my bed with the full intention on of taking a little snooze. But, instead I turned on the TV and found my "favorite" show on. When I was a kid I would do anything so that I could watch "Emergency." I just loved those boys of Squad 51. Well, to my surprise, a new channel recently came to our cable and it is called MEtv and it plays reruns of "Emergency" daily. In fact, it runs episodes of lots of my favorites from my childhood. Every Sunday, they play two straight hours of The Brady Bunch. Whoo Hoo! I love this channel!

On a completely unrelated note, I have been loving this weather that we have had lately. March 1 arrived and I declared it to be opening day of sandal wearing season. I have walked to school with my sandals, snow and all. But, I think that it is helping Mother Nature see that I am serious about wanting Spring to arrive. Mother Nature has responded quite nicely and brought "warm-ish" temperatures to us for this week. (You can all thank me later.) This has been a wonderful lift to my spirits. I really hate Winter. I don't really like Spring, either, but it does usher in Summer which is a wonderful time of year.

And now for one more completely random thought. Well, today I was thinking about how grateful I am for my children. My children are fairly "normal," if there is such a thing. They are smart and well behaved. They go to school willingly every day. Today I watched a student in my class struggle to get under control so that he could learn. I watched another student fall into fits of rage and hysterical crying because he got bumped in line. Poor kiddos! I worry about them. I just hope that somewhere along the way, the students and their parents will figure out something that will help them. School will be torturous for them. So "thank you" Collin, McKenna, Adrienne, and Kathrynn for making my life easy.

Just a lot of random thoughts to blog about. Don't you just love randomness?