Late Night Musings, on the Clock

Well, it's a late night at work here at Break Away. For the sake of habit, I need to weigh in with an entry before this week just passes me by. I had a good weekend this last week. On Friday, I broke the invisible barrier between the Tampa Piacitelli's and the 'Hassee (that's me, in Tallahassee. Get it?) Piacitelli. I drove down after a 1/2 day of work and arrived just before the babysitter that Andrea had hired to watch me watch the kids. It was good that she was there - the first thing that I heard when I came into the house (after a sweet hug from Erin and a welcoming wave from Damon) was Lauren crying to her mom in the shower that "she didn't want Aunt Jill". How quickly they forget! Lauren and I have shared at least a week of her life together! Anyway, the babysitter held Lauren as she breathed in the magic smoke of the pnemonia medicene, which I think had an uplifting effect on me too. The rest of the night was kind of a blur: Andrea leaving looking ready to dazzle, Matt calling from Boston, Damon on the game boy, Lauren joining with me to rally for a Monopoly win, Erin and I practicing the "basket drop" cheer move, and finally bed at 9:15. Good times.

Unfortunately, I had to cut the trip a little bit short and leave the next morning around 11. You are saying to yourselves, or maybe your spouses, "Jill, there's no way you can bond with family before 11 am on a Saturday morning, let alone teach a child a made up language!" Well my friend, you'd be wrong. Erin, who had been primed for speed learning the night before when I taught her the ancient arts of thumb and leg wars (ah leg wars! all day on that!) began clicking her tounge at some point. I, having lived in Vermont where there is an incredibly high African to Rural Farmer ratio - let her know that she had just said "Mother, I enjoyed breakfast" in a tribal language. She continued to speak, and I continued to translate. It was a powerful moment. So powerful that Andrea called me this week to let me know that Erin has taught all of her classmates the language, and also convinced her teacher that she's now bilingual. All in a morning's work. I also rediscovered starch, which I think I'm a fan of.

I left early so that I could attend the funeral of Tracey Sparks (old Sister Wilkinson) grandma. I haven't seen her in years, so that was a good reunion. That was up in Jacksonville, and I left late so ended up getting home pretty late and pretty tired. I just can't do what I used to when I was young.

So, I'm off tomorrow to a conference in Nashville. Should be fun. Break Away was asked to present on "Social Responsibility" for a 3 hour block with two other agencies, and then to sit on a panel on student service reactions to Hurricane Relief. Should be interesting. The focus on students doing alternative breaks to help out in the gulf (over 5,000 will be there over spring breaks) has garnered a lot of press. It's been fun talking to them. A New York Times reporter asked for my cell phone this week, and I hesitated because I don't quite have it memorized yet. But the pause made it akward because he jumped in to make sure I knew it was just in case he needed to clarify anything. I said, "Okay. But I want you to know I would never do this for the Wall Street Journal." Pah dum pum. Comedy gold! I love you people. Join us in our weekly posting! That's only 52 posts in a year - and less than that at this point. Piacitelli Family Blog