a third time

For the third time in three years my beautiful daughter is off on an adventure.

Two August's ago she embarked on the Rotary Youth Exchange program and headed to Finland (yes Finland) for ten months. Upon returning home last summer she then went off to start her college life (freshman year) at Flagler College in St Augustine Florida. While both of those experiences were positive (and not so positive) in many ways, my daughter was craving something different . . . again.

Just the other day she left again, for Chicago, our old home town, to attend Columbia College and pursue her creative writing aspirations. I wish her the very best in everything, am so proud of her and look forward to visiting her and taking her to a Cubs game.

Below you will find a song sung by Winnie the Pooh to Piglet that I have now sent my daughter three years in a row. Maybe this year it will inspire her to be "big" !

You can be a guiding star,
If you make the most of Who You Are.
And the sensitivity,
That you are now discovering to see
Can be developed even more,
So you can find the hidden doors
To places no one’s been before.
And the pride you’ll feel inside
Is not the kind that makes you fall -
It’s the kind that recognizes
The bigness found in being Small
as Pooh sings about Piglet in The Te of Piglet pg 51

Two returns in one week

I start this post warning everyone that it has little to do with baseball cards and much to do about "nothing" (I say "nothing" sarcastically). It has been quite a week . . . for me.

It all started last Sunday, May 25 when my daughter returned to the USA from her almost one year in Finland. She left August 2, 2008 participating in the Rotary Youth Exchange program for high school students and after ten months of emails, IM's, Skype and old fashioned letter writing the HUGS we got at the airport at 6:25 pm last Sunday will be cherished forever. As our only child, we missed her terribly.

Jennifer, endured the cold and dark yet remarkable country of Finland. She attend the local University in Kuopio, stayed with four different families, traveled to Amsterdam, Paris, Sweden, Lapland and the Canary Islands and you all can read about her adventure if you so choose Jenny's Journal from Finland If any of you have children in high school, I highly recommend contacting your local Rotary club to get more information about this extraordinary program for your teenager.

This week has been a wonderful "reunion" with family and friends who all want to see Jennifer and more importantly for my wife and I getting to know our worldly and beautiful daughter all over again.

Monday was Memorial Day. We "celebrated and honored" our veterans which culminated with a red, white and blue food fest at our home with friends.

On Tuesday, after a day of rest and unpacking I gave my daughter her binder of 1991 baseball cards (thank you to the many bloggers who sent cards) and she was quite impressed. Her favorite color is yellow so naturally the 1991 Fleer is her "favorite" and she wants the complete set now. Though I acquired only about 100 cards, I may just have to spend $5 (or less) to buy the complete set for her. She also loves the "inappropriate" 1991 Score Dream Team and the 1991 Studio cards. She will never really be into collecting or really interested in baseball but she does like the color yellow and "cute guys".

Wednesday and Thursday were your non-descript regular weekdays though we are continuing to learn all about Jennifers year in Kuopio (the small town she lived in for ten months, five hours north of Helsinki).

Friday, my daughters bestest girlfriends threw her a party and all these teenagers had a wonderful get together; swimming, hot tub, food galore, silly string and laughter. A real nice reunion for my daughter who got to see so many she had missed.
Today is Saturday and my favorite teenager (besides my daughter) is graduating high school. She is a cancer survivor and my hero. I am so proud of her and is my motivation to continue participating in the ACS's Relay for Life for the rest of my life. Kimberly is a Harry Potter and now Twilight groupie, a lego, rubik cube and jigsaw puzzle genius, a superb photographer and has graduated with honors. Kimmy you are my hero !


and finally tomorrow, Sunday, will be here soon and I just heard that the re-broadcast of Ken Burns' Baseball will be on tv again. I remember watching this 18 1/2 hour historical and emotional mini-series in 1994 when it first premiered and highly recommend to any and all of you. It is not a highlight film of all the greatest moments in baseball; however it is the story of how our favorite game became our national pastime and is all about the personalities and "life" of baseball from the beginning.

So, for me, what a week it is: from my daughters return to the return of a Baseball classic . . .

Happy Mom's Day

An official Happy Mothers Day greeting to all the Mom's out there including my own Mom, step-mom and wife.

In honor of Mom's Day I thought I would write a post about children (more specifically two daughters) because without these two girls today would be very different.

To begin with, I present my own daughter, who for those of you who read my blog may remember that my Jennifer, graduated high school in May of 2008 and was accepted into the long-term Rotary Youth Exchange of Florida program that has sent her to Finland for this past year. If you want to read about her adventures please go here: Jenny's Journal from Finland Thankfully she gets her writing skills from her Mother.

"an american in Paris"

petting a real reindeer in Lapland Finland, in the arctic circle, during Christmas time

Jennifer will be returning to the USA on May 24th, it has been a looooong year without her and I do miss her terribly. She will be attending Flagler college (St Augustine Florida) in the fall to begin her "new" life as a college student. As Jenny has reminded me in many emails and IM's "Daddy, I am so much more grown up and independent now and so ready for college . . . but I will always be your little girl".

Jennifer was born in 1991 and as some of you may know (even have helped out) I am still putting together a binder of cards from 1991 as a surprise for her. She is still my little girl who hopefully will always be my little baseball partner. Thanks to my wife who is Jennifer's Mommy . . . today is for both of you.

While my daughter went off to Finland last summer, my wife and I "adopted" an exchange student as a replacement (that is one of the unwritten rules of the program) . We were blessed to be able to call Vivian our daughter this past fall. Vivian is from Taiwan and we now have two new countries we "must" visit. Today, I thank her Mom for allowing us to be "parents" to Vivian this past year. Of course I had to take her to a Rays game !

Today is a day to thank some very special Moms; especially Jennifers and Vivians.

Happy Mothers Day to all !