March Madness

March madness has little to do with basketball, and more to do with my current state of mind. Lots of activity. I'm hopeful things will settle down this fall when we sell the house and relocate based on work and school options for Lucas -- who is graduating from the Debbie School on June 11th. My baby is not a baby anymore, and it makes me a little sad, a little happy, but mostly proud of the little man he's becoming.

March was filled with ups and downs. On the 5th we lost my dear Tio Pepe who fought a courageous battle with cancer -- I was fortunate to spend some quality time with the family in the last few months of his life as I helped in whatever way I could while he received treatment at UM's Sylvester (the cancer center where I work). The photo below is of Lucas' Godfather, Armando (who is one of my best friends and like a brother to me), and Tio Pepe during a joyful Christmas Eve 2009. We love and miss you, Pepe.

After his 5-month work hiatus, on the 14th, Tom started his new job as executive chef of The Atlantic Hotel. So far, so good.

The 16th marked my 43rd birthday...am I officially middle aged? Nah! I started the day with a mani-pedi and lunch at Smith & Wollensky's (courtesy of my sister); at night, my mother-in-law, Gwen, flew in from the Seattle area and treated us to a lovely dinner at 15th Street Fisheries in the Ft. Lauderdale Marina -- I had my favorite, surf & turf! Lucas also fed the hungry tarpon and mahi-mahi which was a big treat and kept saying "more!" During Mom's visit we headed to Lion Country Safari for a day -- Lucas loved it, especially his camel ride. We also spent a little time on the beach, including an overnight stay at Tom's hotel. Not too shabby. Some photos are below...more to come.

I promise to be more active on my blog...it's been too long and let's face it, I'm not very good at cramming everything into a single post.

Spread the Word to End the Word

From an email I received today from Best Buddies:

Today Best Buddies, Special Olympics and supporters from across the world will unite in support of the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign and encourage people to eliminate their use of the R-word in everyday speech.

Over the past few weeks our campaign to Spread the Word to End the Word has received significant momentum. We have received pledges from around the world, and last week alone received close to 10,000 pledges from people to end the R-word.

We cannot let this wave of momentum die; we need all of you to help us keep it going by:

1. Taking the pledge at www.r-word.org
2. Posting on Facebook:
"I took the pledge to end the R-word, have you? www.r-word.org."
3. Forwarding this message to your contacts and tell them why you want to
end the R-word and ask them to take the pledge.