With all the traveling we have done there have rarely been any perks. We are a cattle class, cheapest flight sort or family. Period. But I can’t complain as I get to travel. A lot.

When we board airplanes I ignore the first class area. What you don’t know about, you won’t desire. Ignorance has been my bliss.

That all being said, my husband just got a credit card associated with an airline. This card gives us membership to the frequent flyer club allowing us to ‘hang out’ in their club room at the airport. I always imagined a swanky bar full of people laughing passing the hours until it’s time to board their flight. It might be that in the evening, but right now at 8am it’s a quiet spot where we can comfortably sit and enjoy a free cup if coffee, orange juice and a selection of breakfast foods.
The kids are safe and comfortable watching their devices.

Travel just got significantly better.

It’s here, not the place so much, but here, with these people, that I am so happy to be snowed in. I love my family. I love their company, their kindness, their silliness, their sarcasm, their smarts, but most of all their love. I am starting to regret the moment a few hours from now where I need to bid them farewell. Breaks my heart to know that I’ll have to wait a bit until I see them again.

It’s true. I have a difficult time hiding my excitement. And I was really excited to be coming home.
I left beautiful sunny Portugal.

And I arrived to crappy weather in Newark, NJ.

But who cares. I knew my sister was waiting for me. I caught myself clapping when I stepped off the plane. And again when I saw my bag. I think I may have jumped a little too. Then after clearing customs where I had declared my pumpkin seeds I loudly said, ‘YES!’ And gave a fist jab. Immediately I realized I must have sounded like someone happy to have gotten away with something, so I followed it with, ‘I’m so happy to see my sister.’ I said this to no one in particular of course, but just in case the customs officers thought I was up to no good. Which if course I’m not;)
But no cloudy day is a match for the sunshine that is my sister.

Yeah!!! I’m home!!!

It’s a funny thing about the way we choose to live our lives. I’m so happy that we are living this adventure the way we are. Inevitably though, there is something we miss. For me it’s time with family and friends we are away from. But today, I’m going HOME!!! My excitement has brought me to tears. I’m thrilled to have this week with my family and friends. But my countdown to see my kids has begun. They will be staying behind to finish another week if school. These mixed emotions are something we have become accustomed to. It is the price we pay for having been

blessed with so many wonderful friends and family who just happen to live in different countries.

My husband has this need to insult things he does not like. This includes food. So instead of saying chestnuts, he refers to them as bark. It’s funny, but even though I love eating chestnuts I am not sure if even I think they taste that great. Does that make sense?

When I was a little girl I remember that they were a rarity. Something that was very much seasonal, unlike most foods sold in America. And there was work involved in roasting them. You see, you can’t just throw them on the fire, you need to score the shell which is very tough to cut through. If you ask me to describe their taste I can’t come up with much more than bland. But I still love them.

In the States they were something my mom would prepare. Or when I was older, if I was ‘lucky’ I could buy some in Manhattan from vendor on street corners, but they were never good. Even knowing that they would taste bad, I would still buy them. I think it’s because chestnuts were and still are a memory trigger. Eating them reminds me of our second home in Connecticut. The one where we lived with Clara P. Don’t ask me why. They just do. That was an incredibly wonderful time for me. My carefree childhood memories we almost all formed while living there. We lived in a great  house, downstairs from a wonderful friend, a sister almost. Our neighborhood was fun. And I was a kid, with a mom. I am happy just thinking how nice it was.

So, you can probably understand why I stop and buy chestnuts, castanhas as we call them, just about every time I walk by this lady. She is probably the age my mother would be. Her life seems as if it was a bit tougher than my mom’s. But she is nice, she smiles and she serves me warm, freshly roasted chestnuts. And I know too well that her cart will disappear when the season ends. So I will savor each and every one until it does.

Yes, yes, I know I owe you a post on Paris. Thing is 5th grade (and 3rd grade too) is really hard here in Portugal. So hard that while we were on holiday, a holiday that was made to be a break from school, my kids had homework. Every night in Paris my son made sure he got a very good journal entry in and my daughter and I studied. I am not a tiger mom. Not at all. I think at this age kids should be managing their work on their own. I am all about fostering independence. Thing is, the amount of work and content to be learned is crazy. Then add that my kids are doing this in a second language and it’s kind of insane. THEN ADD the fact that my kids are very booked up with almost daily activities (their choice, not mine), we have a school madness trifecta.

About a month and a half  into this school year, right after my daughter had her first ‘testes’ we realized that we were not in Kansas anymore. When her first test in English came back with a not so great school, then her math test score was not so hot either, then history…. we knew we needed to change things. We knew she was working very hard, but she was devastated with her results. I could have insisted that she drop out of swim and stay after school every day for homework help, but that just didn’t seem right. We love her involvement with her swim team, and she is loving her dance class, so we decided to keep those.

For one we knew that she needed to learn to study. That I could help her with. But first I needed to learn what she was learning. And so I have. Holy cow. I have learned heaps of new Portuguese vocabulary in science and history/geography. We could have insisted she make all her study materials, but that would take heaps of time she does not have so this year, and this year only I will make them for her. And for her friends. We share. See I am not a tiger mom. I do not want my daughter to be the best. I want all the kids in her class to do well too.

So last week the kid had 4 tests. 5 if you found he one she had the Friday before. On Friday I decided we needed to celebrate these kids’ hard work. And we did.

A friend, whose child is in the class had once asked me what grade I told Lana she needed to get. I told her that I would accept, and be happy with any grade if I thought my child had done her best. And that is what I was celebrating for all these girls. They all had worked so hard and done their best.

Well today my daughter received her results in 3 tests: English, Science and French, and in all three the received a Muito Bom. Very good. I would say that translates to a B+. I don’t know about you, but I am so proud of that kid.

Yesterday when we were leaving school I Iooked at her. Her beautiful highlights in her hair reflecting the last of the day’s sunlight. One wisp of hair was flapping out of her hair tie. She looked so beautiful and confident. And I too was proud. Muito Bom Lana Banana, muito bom indeed.

We’re in Paris. I promise to post all about it. Promise. But right now I’m making my kids popcorn after a long day of site seeing. I’m having red wine with mine;)

Lana has a favorite author. This author, for good or bad is prolific. My daughter’s life goal is to read every Jacqueline Wilson book. This is a collection I can support, and I so I do. She has read most of the her children’s books but is saving the young adult, and adult titles for the appropriate time.

A new book, Diamond, was just released, and of course I had to order it for her. She was also owed a new copy of her Paris ‘not for parents’ travel guide since she loaned, then gave her copy to her friend AM who was visiting from Australia.

I couldn’t order Lana two books and none for Nuno. So, when I had a peak around I decided on a book about Charles Darwin as well as one on Evolution.

Nuno is a believer. And this does my husband’s head in as he’s agnostic or atheist depending on the day. SO, being a believer as well as a believer in science I thought we could handle reading both Bible stories as well as this book on Evolution.

Today I had to visit the ER/ A&E with Nuno. He injured his arm yesterday and we needed to make sure it wasn’t broken. The school nurse said it was the best idea, so off we went to Cascais Hospital. While waiting to be seen, we started reading Evolution Revolution. It seemed that every paragraph led to discussion. Species, God, extinction, continental shift, etc. I realized that even though it might take us a year to get through it at this rate, this just might be the most thought provoking book my son has ever read. And I’ll tell you, I loved having time to have such a good chat with him.

Lana had a project to do about a hero. She first thought about writing about her favorite author, Jacqueline Wilson, but after a bit of thought she quickly remembered that she knew a real life hero. How many of us can say that?

One day in April 2008 our friend Dan saved a woman’s life. When this happened, Lana renamed him Super Duper Dan and that is what she has called him since. Even if he had never saved a life, he would still be a good man. He is a great friend, a loving husband (his wife is fabulous too) and they have raised a pretty spectacular young woman. But Dan has done some spectacularly heroic things. Yes, plural. I think Danny’s accomplishments should be shared and since he doesn’t do that for himself, I will do it for him by sharing Lana’s report.

Dan Hayes … My Hero

Dan isn’t like any ordinary man. Dan went to war at age 25 . He served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm from 1990 – 91 for 6 months. He trained at Fort Bragg for a month prior to departing. He was in the ARMY, Special Operations, USACAPOC(United States Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command). He received a Bronze Star Medal for putting his life in danger to help his 6 man team during the war. That was the scariest moment of his life !!!!!

He and his wife Peggy, have been together since 1982. Holly, his daughter was 4 months old when he went away to war. She is now 23 and just graduated from UCONN with a Biology degree and a minor in psychology. She is still going to continue her education in Medicine or Law.

 

Something you would never guess about Dan is his love of sharks. His love of sharks actually started because of his daughter Holly’s love for them. She and he are both certified divers and have been in shark cages to study sharks.But none of these reasons alone are why he is my hero.

Dan is also very active in the community. He is president of the War Memorial which is a community center in the town where I was born. That is how my mother and he became friends and how I got to know him. Even though he is a really great guy, that is not why he is my hero.

This is why he is my hero…

One day, Dan was driving his car and he saw a car that looked like it had been in an accident and was on fire, so he stopped his car and went to get a closer look when he saw a man running from who said that he couldn’t get the woman out. The lady was stuck in her burning car. Instead of getting in his car and driving away, he ran up to the car and got inside behind her seat. He told the lady inside the car to stay calm. He saw that her legs were stuck under the steering wheel and her door wouldn’t open. Dan said that it would hurt a little bit and, with all of his force, he broke the back of the chair and dragged the lady out of the car and lay her on the ground. A minute or so later the firemen came and he got in his car and drove away once the lady had been taken care of.

But that is not all, he has also saved 5 people from drowning, one in a river, 2 in the ocean and 2 in swimming pools. He also chased a car on foot that was driving across a parking lot with no one in it. He jumped in and stopped it before it crashed into someone. Three  years ago there was a snow storm that brought the worst damage to power lines in Connecticut history, he had Dan had over 80 people stay at the War Memorial for 10 days  all of which he  slept in his office to be available to help take care of everyone. Then 2 years ago we had hurricane Sandy in which we had over 100 people stayed for more than 2 weeks. We also had the army bring in food and water to give out to the tens of thousands of people that had no electricity. Again he stayed and slept in his  office for 15 days while running the shelter.

Dan was awarded Citizen of the Year 2 years ago, and Veteran of the Year last year for his help with the community. He also received a life saving award from the Police Department and one from the Fire Department when he saved the woman from the burning car.

 

“I don’t think about this stuff or that I am a hero, I just do what I think Jesus would do.” Daniel Hayes

He is my hero.