History Making, 18 Minutes from my Home

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I believe that I just witnessed history in the making. It lasted a little over two hours.

It's May - a fellow mom friend of mine labeled this month "Mayhem" - and all parents of children in school anywhere will understand what that means. Throw a rookie book launch into the mix, and my cup is abundantly overflowing.

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There are No Foreigners

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Last weekend, most of our family gathered in Chicago to celebrate the graduate school graduation of our oldest son. My husband Mark, our two daughters, and I boarded a plane in Raleigh and headed to O'Hare International Airport. We needed to do a little business regarding an upcoming international trip that we are taking, so we headed to Terminal 5 where travelers arrive from literally all over the world and first step foot into this country. It brought back memories of the days when our daughters arrived to this place as toddlers. The moment that we deplaned after a very long flight from China, they became American citizens. 

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A Fish Out of Water

On Saturday, I was faced with the task of setting our dining room table for a five-course meal. For ten! A bit of back story on how I got to this point is in order.

I grew up in South Florida. Though there was southern tradition on my dad's side of the family, that was not a very large part of my upbringing. I did attend a public school in Palm Beach - most famous these days because Donald Trump travels there most weekends to stay at Mar-a-Lago - but I lived a good fifteen miles across the bridge and north of this island that is filled with wealthy people with names like Kennedy and Trump. Palm Beach Public School was not where any of those people went to school. I guess they found creative reasons to truck in extra kids from across the bridge to fill this school. My younger brother attended cotillion, but for some reason I never did. It would have helped me on Saturday night. 

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My Book, My Heart

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I have had quite the April this year. Between helping a daughter rehab a broken elbow (we had no idea that this would involve 6 months of physical therapy and home exercises post-surgery), helping another do all the things needed to get ready for high school and an Outward Bound week, AND finishing the writing part of my book, I am both exhilarated and exhausted! Those are just bonus activities added to our already very full and abundant life. It has been quite the helpful change to me personally and our family as a whole for my husband to ramp down to a 60% schedule. 

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