When I woke up this morning.....

Yes, all of you were on my mind!
The wonderful visits, gifts, phone calls, emails, texts, prayers.
ALL of it! I'm so VERY, VERY, grateful!

I loved this particular video because it shows what we, errrr, of a certain, errr, age looked like, thought was cool, etc.
Did you catch those white "go go" boots?

I'm actually intrigued with finding a wig that resembles the
female singer's look

Had a nice quiet morning and early afternoon. People were
resting at home, I was quietly finishing My Life in France,
which deserves a second read, IMHO.

Old friends dropped in. Thanks Harry and Jenny...always SO fun to see you both. So glad
y'all and Jean and Sandy had such a fun NYE!

Night ended with one my best visits EVER, because Pam and Anna Gordon walked in the door. Anna Gordon, Summa CumLaude student at U of A, grad student at Georgia,
discovered she had Leukemia within the past year. BUT YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW IT.

Anna has a true "kick ass" attitude about this whole thing. Thewisdom this old lady learned from a 23 year old was AMAZING. What Pam had to share was AMAZING and VERY helpful.

We have promised each other that we WILL be sitting side by side on Oprah's yellow couch one of these days and that Oprah will be trying to butt in to remind us that it is HER show.


But it won't be. We won't give her time to talk!

Before I forget, I should mention that Anna (and her sister Torrey) were former students from back in my library days,
when I had the INCREDIBLE fortune to teach at Tuscaloosa's first magnet school, at Central Elementary School.  


Program UP: Unfolding Potential.

We were different, we were strange (to some who couldn't really break out of the traditional
"school" mode--like worrying if their kids would still be invited to the "nice birthday parties")


AND we were an OASIS, a HEAVEN, a GODSEND to those families knew their children marched to the beat of a "different drummer." It is just too damn bad that we didn't have charter schools at the time.

There's a book in that story, too, to be told by the many who went through it. And if I have anything to do with it, there will bea bunch of us sitting on Oprah's couch again!

And as a P.S. to my Central story....when "Room Service" door knocked yesterday for lunch, in walked a tall thin boy whoseface was very familiar. I stopped him, turned him around so I could see his name tag. Cardae Thomas, one of the sweetestkids that went through Central Elementary while I was there. I jumped up and hugged him and held onto him for dear life.

He had recognized my last name on the order form, seen ME through my lack of hair, and quietly whispered, "I wondered if you would remember me, Ms. Mc".  

Oh yes, Cardae...I remembered and will NEVER forget you!


Love,
Penny