From Ashes to Art Shows

It's been four decades since I stood next to the Roman Baths. Still awe-inspiring. The only difference I noticed is they now have fountains where you can drink the water. I guess they noticed too many people sneaking sips (does the fifth amendment apply in the UK? ) Warm and smelly, I feel healthier already. We had a full English breakfast at The Boston Tea Party (seemed appropriate) and did a bus tour around the city. Got a Coronation Sandwich at M&S which was pretty tasty. And since we heard so much about Sally Lunn, we decided to stop there...

I have this stress monitor on my watch. The whole trip it’s been completely green. I decided to check while waiting for the guys to finish getting ready, and it was nearly at the peak. I’ll attribute it to excitement, more than anxiety. Sure, I wanted to get there perfectly on time and all, but, seriously, I wanted to savor every moment. I put on my mom’s crazy socks, to bring her with me on this journey. I think her heart would really have been filled with pride and joy at where Oscar and I were heading. Then I wrapped...

I've talked the talk and walked the talk. Now it's time to walk the walk. It's a good thing I bought comfortable shoes. On the way to the airport Friend's Mom was recalling her son saying, "we're not going to be walking that much in England." She and I have each other a knowing smile while I said, "you think so?" "Good luck with that." Shoes are the symbolic expression of the lives we live. Many years ago I met a woman who specialized in Shoe-ology. She said you could tell a lot about a person by the shoes you...

As I drifted off to sleep, I was instantly transported back to the Edelman’s Children’s Court. It jolted me awake. I was immediately hit with a flood of all the stressful, anxious, and joyful moments that come with fostering children. I looked at my watch to see the time, but it was the date that stood out more. The first week of April holds a lot of symbolic importance, and with getting ready for the trip, this just sort of slipped my mind. The day we come back. April 25th is important because it’s the five-year anniversary of the dramatic...

Nothing is that important.  By that, I don’t mean that something is unimportant. I mean that NOTHING is as important as SOMETHING. There’s going to be a lot going on during this trip. So much so that I’ve created a binder and Excel spreadsheets just to keep it under control. Yet there’s a lot more downtime than it first appears. First off, the trip is long (by American Standards, anyway). We can spread things out. We have more time to take in everything everywhere… just not all at once. Plus getting from one place to another is quite a lot...