Seven Quick Takes: Milestones

1. The past week or so has been filled with milestones, for me and for my family. It is exciting to see chapters end and new ones beginning.  One milestone is that I was rehired to teach at my high school, which means I will be a tenured public school teacher in the fall. I am supported so much by my colleagues and the administration here.

2. Our elder son went to the junior prom last Friday night with a classmate. It was fun for me to help him pick out a suit. I thought it was cute his date and he spent time matching her hijab to his tie. Here is a goofy photo of them with friends.

Seven Quick Takes for Friday: Trumpets, Sardines and Vacations

1. Well, it's Friday night as I write this. I am home alone, just me and the dog. Better late than never, eh? My husband and our older son are in Princeton, where our son has chamber orchestra rehearsal. Our younger (trumpeting) son is with dear family friends at Montclair State University, listening to the MSU Symphonic Band and the MSU Wind Symphony. Our friend's son is a trumpeter at MSU!

Seven Quick Takes for Friday

1. Our eldest son,  a high school junior, earned a spot in his high school's National Honor Society chapter.  We all went to the induction ceremony last night in the high school cafeteria.

I was really proud of our son, who is maturing daily.  I was moved by the students' individual thank yous to parents, coaches, and teachers. I was creeped out by the pseudo-religious nature of the ceremony, which involved a darkened cafeteria and kids already in NHS lighting and exchanging candles with the new inductees. And then there are the "four pillars of NHS:" character, scholarship, leadership and service, each with its own candle.

I am not making this up.

Neither my husband nor I remember any of this nonsense when we joined NHS at our high schools. 

 "Mom, if you walked into there in the middle of the ceremony you would have thought it was some kind of cult," our 13-year-old quipped on the car ride home.