Red Fish, Blue Fish March 2, 2009
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , trackbackThe babies [kindergarteners; try spending any time with them and not want to call them your babies] have been so adorable recently. Caleb tapped me on the shoulder during quiet time and declared that “Taerica says she’s a hundred years old!”
“No she’s not,” Paul said. “People can’t be a hundred! Sea turtles can, though. Sea turtles can be a hundred.”
“People can be a hundred,” I said. “Not a lot of them, but some.”
“But then they’re about to die,” Paul said. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Today is Dr. Suess’ birthday and also marks the first time in five years that the NYC school system declared a snow day. This is disappointing: the kindergarteners were going to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday today, and I was going to collect all the books of his I could find from the America Reads office. I will, of course, take them on Thursday, but it’s still a bit of a disappointment to not get to spend the week with the books and the kids.
I love Dr. Seuss. The Lorax is probably one of the best children’s books that contains a moral. My senior year, Dave Majewski, the only teacher I’d had every single semester of my high school career, sat down the kids about to graduate and read us “All the Places You’ll Go,” his own way of telling us all goodbye. I teared up quite a bit, because I was going places, farther away than the rest of my classmates. Oh, the places I went.
And speaking of places, my new favorite place is in my apartment, with pizza and friends. We’ve all been having a hard time recently: our personalities seem to be leeching off of that of some of our friends, and we all feel discombobulated. This is what college is all about, though: records on the player, flipping through fashion magazines, spending too much on cute underwear. Nights spent feeling like things will never be back to normal, whatever normal is.
And it’s not just here: my friends back home have been dealt blows, disease, divorce. This is where the distance is difficult; I want to offer hugs and laying in bed together, eating ice cream and watching 90′s sitcoms. I do have some comrades planning to visit: Mark is going to come for a day, stay on my couch, go to the diner, meet my here-family. Travis is coming for a few days, and he’s going to take me back to Pittsburgh. There will be readings and exploration: a slice of my life.
I am glad I do not have class today. Given, I am still keeping somewhat busy, with some reading and assignments I need to do, and a trip to Park Slope with April. But there’s something nice about not having to peel yourself away from your comforter until noon. Sleep in.
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss.
Comments»
america reads counts sounds like such a great program! im sorry you missed dr suess day
Katie…You have absolutely no idea who I am, but I am an old high school friend of Jenny’s. You were on her blogroll, and after reading just a few of your entries, I just want to say that you made me smile today. I’ve been having a rough time of it lately, not knowing where I am going and such (read my blog and you could probably pick that up). But anyway, I just wanted to thank you.