Ah, the Christmas Spirit!
Yes, though I’ve claimed to be a Scrooge at times, there is something about the Christmas season that I do love. Though the frenzy around shopping brings out the worst in some people, it also brings out the best in others. I was in Pier 1 Imports today doing the first of my holiday shopping (Pier 1 is a great place to find holiday stuff, especially things like ornaments, mugs and bric-a-brac for small gift giving), and a very kindly gentleman came up to me and asked if I had a coupon. I hadn’t even known that Pier 1 had coupons, and so I told him I didn’t. Well, he had one and wasn’t using it, so he handed it over to me and in the end I saved over $60! Thank you and Merry Christmas! Wasn’t that nice?
The Unthinkable!
I was on the go all day yesterday, from about 10AM until almost 8PM. After helping out a friend with some stuff in the morning, I had a dentist appointment, a haircut, lots of errands to run and then a visit to someone who I’ll tell you about in the next part. After almost two straight weeks of being on the go non-stop, and after such a long day, I actually did the unthinkable: I stayed home on a Saturday night! All in all it wasn’t that bad, though. I saved gas and money, caught up on a couple of TV shows and I got some much needed sleep. I guess that’s okay once in awhile, hehe.
Back to Stony Brook
On Thursday night I got a call from one of my fellow teachers that she had run into Arnoldo’s sister Mayela, and she told her that he was in the hospital yet again. Arnoldo’s my former student who’s got lupus and has been having a really hard time this year with it (You can read more about it here.). When I heard the news I was of course frustrated and worried for him, but also a feeling a little guilty. I haven’t had much contact with them since the beginning of the school year and I hate the fact that I seem to only see him when he’s there.
I planned to go yesterday once I had finished my errands and that’s just what I did. I met my teacher pal Deb there and we both went up to see Arnoldo together. During her conversation with Mayela the other day, she was told that Arnoldo had become very exasperated with his situation, which is totally understandable. The kid is only 25 years old and he’s been suffering through one crisis after another along with having to endure pain I could not imagine. Part of the reason for our visit was not only to lift his spirits with our presence, but to tweak in a word or two to him about maybe talking to someone who can help him through these tough days.
I think that being there helped, as it usually does. Arnoldo was definitely much more animated than he was when we got there, and he even called me while I was on my way home to talk some more. When Deb was in the room we didn’t have the conversation we normally would have and so we did over the phone. I gave him my best teacher/father combination of listening and offering advice when I could and I really do think he was feeling much better mentally than he had earlier, at least I hope so. I’m making a promise to myself to stay in touch more from here on out. I think I need to.
Giving Thanks
I was at my mom’s earlier when I got a phone call from my friend Ozzie. It’s really been awhile since he and I spoke and I was really happy he called. Since the last time we spoke, it became more and more difficult to contact him the longer it went, and so we got to clear things up a little and we shot the shit for a few minutes, which was nice. We finally made some plans to see each other next week, and now I’ve got something else to look forward to.
The phone call from Ozzie gave me pause to think about not just him, but all of the friends I have in my life. I know that recently I gave mention to Rich, or Dita, lol, one of my closest friends, but I am very fortunate to have many great people I am proud to call my friends. Now I could go on and on, writing away about each one, but I think for the sake of time and space I’ll just give some of them short mentions just to say how thankful I am to have them in my life:
In my life I have several people with whom I’ve known a long time, from all sorts of different places; various jobs I’ve had, school, the bars, and others. I am thankful for these, my oldest friends, ones I’ve known intimately for years now, and I’m thankful to have them each of them in my life: Vera, Bobby (Blanche), Marcia, Laura Kim, Bessie, Grazyna, Jorge, Eddy, and Terry. Newer friends that I’ve come to cherish having in my life as well include my pals Ivan, Nancy Lou, Rita, Wendy, Terry R., Grazyna, Lisa, Laurie, Kim, and of course Ozzie. Too each of these people I say thank you for sharing the good times and the bad, and for being a part of my life! And to anyone I might have missed, thank you too!
Well, a post that was started at 3PM ended up being finished around 10:30. It’s late and I’m tired, and tomorrow is back to work Monday, another long one! I go to sleep happy, though, and I hope to continue riding this wave for weeks to come! Thanks for reading and have a great night!
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