visiting old friends

This break, I saw more friends than I thought I would and I knitted less than I had hoped. And that's okay! During my very short stay at home so far, I have been able to see countless friends and family friends through all sorts of events. There were the potlucks and the parties, where massive amounts of food were consumed, the individual hang-outs, at the coffee shop or the lunch place, the late night visits, either at In-n-Out or at a very nice person's house. We had the catch-up conversations, the planning conversations, the more philosophical conversations.

All these conversations give me the chance to solidify my thoughts, something to give shape to the ideas floating inside my head that I don't crystallize on my own. I talked about education more in these last two weeks than I have my entire life. What I realize is that I'm not the only one who cares (by a long shot!). Everybody I have talked to has some sort of opinion and insight into how the education problem can begin to be fixed. This is extremely encouraging to me! The fight for educating students doesn't start and end with teachers. That is simply one portion of the puzzle. For students to truly be successful, they must have strong teachers, mentors, role models, family members, community members, etc. The more support they have, either by way of example or by conversation, the better off and more informed they will be.

Whatever career you choose to take, you CAN impact somebody's education. For some, that might mean saving box-tops from cereals and other packaged foods, others, signing up for e-scrip, still others, showing up to those performances and games. I hope that by the time we have our own kids or are around other people's kids, we'll remember all the things that people did to support us and clear a Saturday afternoon to catch a matinee performance or a soccer game.

There are so many things to talk about regarding education! This is just a start to what one can do easily.

I am glad that my friends are doing well in their own lives, and I am hopeful that we can make a difference, even if it starts by talking about education over coffee or tea. :)