What if it is only 1, and not the other 51???

What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience? (Rollo May)

I am trying to think about where I first saw this quote? I think it might have been at a little club watching a women singing Edith Piaf songs in French...only Frank and Mary Hellwig could have found this place.

Also, I went to River City Casino with my brother, Tom, who stated the obvious about a game called Let It Ride, "This game you just try to break even until you hit one big hand."

What if our lives are like that, what if we are not judged on 51 weeks of the year, but instead just judged on the best week of each year? It is an interesting premise to contemplate.

I will be forever grateful to Father Christopher for an incredible act of kindness and understanding. He found me wandering between the school and the church on the morning that Matt Espiritu died. I was lost, looking for answers when there were none. What are the answers for a young man dying from an

awful disease? Maybe just a part of all tragedies, is to see beauty and kindness better. I saw it from Father Christoper that one day, in that one hour....and I remember it today.

So, I had the incredible experience of facilitating a trip to Biloxi for 97 wonderful young women. There were great moms, great dads, and great friends on this trip, but this entry is not about them. It is about Livia, and Sam and Megan, and Haley, and Emily, and Kate, and Brittany ....

If these 97 are to be judged in 2010, not by the sum of their existence, but the beauty and the kindness that the spread to the people of Mississippi and especially the residents of the Back Bay, then they have shined. They have really shined. (They hit that straight flush for Let It Ride fans). And in each of the 97 cases they used their talents in slightly different ways to be amazing. For Livia, the sophomore, her greatness was framed by just an untireless effort to the mundane awful work in front of her -- pulling weeds, but not just weeds, bamboo. For Sam and Megan, the college students, it was their wonderful way of tirelessly cooking for 126 people and adding special extra touches to every bite of food (only read this parenthetical thought, if you are not Sam and Megan -- the cooking is not really important, being a living example of humility with their lives, is what they really gave to the younger students. For a whole week, it was about giving before the received, loving before they received love in return, and it is always these small acts of humility that raise us all as a group of 126, or a community of 650 +).

Of course, I could write about all 97, and I will in a different time and a different place. But if Annie Gerker and Emily Marshall are judged by their week, their always smiling guidance and patience were always there. If you are a Nerinx student who was touched by these 2 or others, remember a simple facebook shoutout is always a great idea.

Kate, and Haley, and Jaime, and Brittany, and Lauren I will remember for their commitment to laughter and to being dorks. How can others not want to look up to such wonderfully goofy people and how can you not think of these 4 and not smile. The goofiness they share with so many is not their only story. There is never a time where they are not also doing the work of painting and scraping and building. So if these students are to be judged by this week, they receive a perfect score and of course they answered the bonus question correctly.

For Diablo, Baba, and Blampf!! that bonus question was an hour visit where age and distance melted away, and became just the conversation between 4 old friends. Proving in the laughter, the tears and the hugs, ( and watching Toby Keith chase after a ball) that we always have something to share with others. And strangers are always friends that we have just not met.

For Amelia, an amazing young woman who endures more Mr. Magee humor than any mortal should be allowed to suffer through...(I don't know who wrote that last line, I am funny)...she shined in her week by always being there when I needed help, when I needed organization.....

and for other 90+, you were never a footnote...although you are today...at 7:30 am after 3 hours of sleep, in the middle of Uganda, the names above had their own stories...if I had slept 15 more minutes... I would have stories about 10 others.. I would have talked about Maggie Hummel always smiling or Anna Chott being the master builder, or the pride and unique style in which Emily Horner took over a bathroom and refused to leave......

and so you see this story is actually about all of you... and half a world away my eyes fill with tears, because I am truly blessed to be your teacher, and your amazing talents and kindness for our world tell me that all good things are possible .... with effort, with laughter, and with 107.1 the Monkey playing in the background.