CELEBRATE ON SATURDAY

 

About six weeks ago, Ruth Ayres launched Celebrate Saturday. It's a fun way to review the week and after you will want to head over to Ruth's blog and read more celebrations.

I've been a teeny bit, OK, actually more than a teeny bit, sad for the last couple of weeks. Everyone has been posting about NCTE 2013, held this weekend in Boston.

And even though NCTE is one of my favorite, favorite conferences, I'm not there. With two kids in college, out of state conferences are just not a possibility.  I am sad about missing all of the great sessions. I'm sad about missing the rich conversations. And I'm saddest of all about not seeing dear friends.

I decided, then, to celebrate this weekend by reconnecting with a dear friend.

Cyrene was one of the first people I met when I moved to New Hampshire. A former middle school teacher, Cyrene was a year ahead of me in the doctoral program. She and her husband Jim sort of adopted me, and made me part of their family for the four years I spent in New Hampshire.

Cyrene was one of my biggest cheerleaders during my years at UNH. She responded to one pagers, helped me hammer out the chapters of my dissertation, shared syllabi from courses she had taught. When I turned in the last edit of my dissertation, we celebrated by riding the Matterhorn at IRA.

Cyrene and Jim were avid Patriots fans. I spent many a Sunday afternoon in their family room, cheering for their favorite team. I lost more than one bet when the Broncos played the Patriots. Cyrene and Jim have a cabin on an island in New Hampshire and they introduced me to the joys of island life.

When I moved back to Colorado, Cyrene and I met every year at NCTE. Usually, I'd work on Thursday morning, then jet off to the conference, eager to see my favorite roomie. We'd  share dinners and sessions, stay up late exchanging book titles and family photos. And there would always be Saturday morning oatmeal with Don and Betty Graves.

When I adopted the boys, Cyrene and Jim celebrated by sending a box of Christmas ornaments for our first tree. That year at NCTE, Cyrene and I shopped for silly stocking stuffers (bodily fluids and embarassments figured prominently).

The last three or four years I have not gone to NCTE and somehow, Cyrene and I have kind of lost touch. I have been thinking about my dear friend all week. This morning I decided I would celebrate by sending her an email. I'm hoping the address that I have is accurate, and we will be able to reconnect.

Because today I'm celebrating dear friends…