A Staten Island Shoe Mitzvah

Out of all the boroughs, Hurricane Sandy hit Staten Island the hardest. One of Ari's teachers (Ms. Y) lives on Staten Island.

I took Ari to school the other day, only to find that Ms. Y was not there. Ms. X (Ari's main teacher) greeted us as we entered the classroom.

"Where's Ms. Y?" I asked "Is she okay?"

"No," Replied Ms. X. "Her house was flooded. She's got a crew of people helping her clean it up at the moment."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked.

"That's really sweet of you to ask." She replied. "I'll ask her and let you know."

But that simply wasn't enough for this Jewish mother.

When I arrived home, I busted out my laptop and searched through my email and found a mass email that Ms. X sent out a while back to all the parents in Ari's class. 

I hit "reply all" and said:

Hi All,

It's come to my attention that Ms. X's home has been adversely affected by the hurricane. What can we do to help?

By the way, I still don't really know the difference between "affected" and "effected." I think I used the correct word, but I did google it before I sent the email. Was I right?

Shortly thereafter, I got an email back from Ms. X letting the parents know what Ms. Y was in need of. Ms Y needed (among other things) a generator, and shoes. Ms. Y's home was severely flooded. She, her husband, and her son were left without any shoes. Sneakers and winter boats were mentioned. 

I wrote Ms. X back and promised I would buy Ms. Y's son some shoes, boys size 6.5.

Today, Ari, Samara and I went to Payless. I scanned the boy's section and found a pair of Airwalk sneakers. Then I noticed that there were a pair of winter boots right above them, the same size, Ms. Y's son's size. I couldn't afford both pairs of shoes. I only intended to buy one pair. But my brain wouldn't stop...

It's cold. 

Sneakers are not enough...

His feet will freeze. 

Fuck it, I'll buy both. 

It was a mitzvah, I told myself. Now Ms. Y's son will have shoes.

We arrived at school, today election day. Ms. X told me I could drop the shoes off with her, but she wasn't in her classroom. 

I went to the office. I asked Marisa, the secretary, if she knew where Ms. X was. She told me she would be here. I started to panic. 

"You could leave them here, I'll give them to Ms. X for you."

No, I thought. What if they never make it to Ms. X. It's not rational, but I want to physically hand them to Ms. X. That way I'll know they're going to get to Ms. Y. They're going to get stolen in the office. I know it. Also, I'm completely insane. 

"Would you mind calling upstairs? I just want to drop these shoes off to Ms. X. They're for Ms. Y."

"Sure, no problem." Said Marisa.

Marisa thinks I'm insane. 

Shoes!

Ms. X came down from her meeting.

"Hi," She said "Thank you so much, I'm sure Ms. Y will love these."

"There's a receipt in there, in case they don't fit," I said frantically searching through the bag.

Why am I so weird?

"Thanks again." Said Ms. X. "I have to run back to my meeting. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Ari chimed in.

Finally, Ms. X had the shoes, and they were on their way to where they belonged, Staten Island.

A mitzvah has been done! 

Hot Air

I close my eyes and travel to a place I've seen many times before. There's a vast expanse of green. In the field is a multi-colored hot air balloon. Sitting next to the ballon's basket are two sand bags. The field is entirely empty. There are trees in the distance.

I stand there in a green dress. It flutters in the wind.

I want to step into the balloon's basket, but I'm scared.

The wind gets stronger. I look up at the sky. The clouds turn a shade of dark gray and move toward the center of the field. I feel my chest tighten. I step one foot into the ballon's basket followed by the second foot. My dress gets caught on something. I feel a drop of rain, and I panic. I pull at my dress and it doesn't budge. It begins to rain. It's a gentle rain, but  know I don't know have much time.

I tug hard at my dress and it rips, but I'm free.

I get into the basket. I bend down and remove one sand bag, followed by another sand bag. The balloon releases; it rises up. I'm floating upward. I can feel the mist on my face. It's cool and refreshing. My dress is wet.

I am flying.

I don't know where I'm going, but I'll get there.

Grateful

I read a piece by Allison Zapata today, and it touched me; I cried at the end. The takeaway from her article was that it reminded me to be grateful for what I have.

Reading her story inspired me to write about my own gratitude.

During the hurricane, I've taken a moment to talk about what I'm grateful for.

Maria, over at AMotherWorld gave me the opportunity to share 10 pieces of gratitude.

What are you grateful for?

The World According to Toddler Terrorists

I've been thinking a lot about this, and I've come to a conclusion; toddlers are terrorists.

Here's how it breaks down:

Two year-olds are Kamikaze pilots. 
They're on a mission to destroy themselves. They wish to explode in more ways than one.

Three year-olds are terrorists. 
They've moved past the stage of thoughtless self-destruction and attempts to murder themselves, and they're on to plotting the destruction of your world. They will stop at nothing until they get their way.

Four year-olds politicians.
These small humans are an entirely different story. Four year-olds aren't terrorists at all, they're politicians. They're tired of trying to sabotage themselves, and they've moved on to trying to prove you wrong through intense questioning sessions. Why? How? Who? Where? They're relentless. A lot of the time, this group employs circular logic in order to achieve their goals, and their arguments often lack rationality.

The question on my mind is, what are five year-olds according to this model?

Diamond Candle - Enchanted Forest Giveaway

One very exciting day, my best friend Mint told me about Diamond Candles. They're magical candles with a ring hidden inside them. Since learning about their powers, I ordered the Vanilla Cream scent and quickly became obsessed with it.

I wrote to Diamond Candles and asked if I could do a giveaway with them! Josh, the Vice President of Community over at D.C. agreed and sent me their new scent to review: Enchanted Forest. At first I was skeptical, but then I smelled it.

It's hard to describe exactly what this candle smells like, other than purple deliciousness, but I can assure you that it's glorious. My husband says it smells like lavender. I would agree, but it also seems to be mixed with something else, magical lavender perhaps?

I'm excited to find out what ring I get. I'll keep you guys posted on that. In the mean time, enter to win an Enchanted Forest candle below!

Enter Here

Yo! Look at the ring that was inside:

Full Disclosure: I received a Diamond Candle for review in the mail from the Diamond Candle Company. It was awesome. 

Ari's New Friend Who Doesn't Speak English

Ari has a new friend at school. His Pre-K teacher told me about him. Apparently they play in Magnatiles together all the time. When he comes home from school, Ari talks about his friend. I asked Ari's teacher if I could contact Ari's new friend's mom.

"Oh that would be great, but just a heads up, she doesn't speak very much English."

I knew Ari's friend's name, but I didn't know what nationality he was. Mint and I looked online and we determined that his name was Chinese.

I looked on the class contact sheet. The email address from Ari's new friend's mom was at a Chinese website. I emailed her.

I didn't hear back...

So I called her.

"Hi Ellen (fake name) my son Ari is in your son Billy's (fake name) class. Ms W. says they play  together in Magnatiles. I was wondering if you wanted to have a play date."
"Oh...yes. Sorry, I don't speak so much English." Said Ellen with a nervous giggle.
"That's okay, what language do you speak?"
"Cantonese." She said.
"Oh, well then I'll have to learn Cantonese then."
We laughed.
"Do you want to meet after school and go to the playground?"
"Is this with other classmates?" Asked Ellen.
"No, no, it's just me, you, Billy, and Ari. What do you think?
"Oh, okay, okay." She said laughing nervously again.

I'm excited for Ari and Billy to play together, but I'm so curious as to how they communicate. I suppose when you're four play is more physical than verbal anyhow.

Any suggestions for our play date? Should I buy a Cantonese dictionary?

Stream of Consciousness

I'm gassy. I love coffee. If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. I'm clenching my jaw. It's my dad's birthday and I'm nervous. It's raining and I have to go outside and exercise. I can't believe Samara escaped on the playground yesterday. Everyone there must have thought I was a terrible parent. My heart is so open it scares me sometimes, I love my friends though. I also love cats. Sometimes I feel like I'm too hard on Samara. She's only 22 months. I will be sad if no one reads this. Are you reading this? I'm an attention whore. Good thing I'm
not a regular whore. I wonder where the word whore came from. I need to get a shell necklace to protect my open heart. I am eccentric. It's so hard to give up dairy, because I love cheese.