Friday Poem

I guess it's just one of those weeks where the stars align.  I've been to several community meetings that made me feel like I am really lucky to be a part of so many good things.  At COPE, we got a donor who has offered to pay for a full year of storage for furniture items that will go to needy families.  And American Idol started its new season, giving my teenager a reason to pile onto the couch with the rest of us, share the electric blanket across five laps, and tune in to TV and to family.

So today, a love poem.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

BY E. E. CUMMINGS

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Party Time

I am not writing about writing about writing today.  

For me, June is a month of parties.  My birthday was yesterday.  My husband and youngest son’s are next week.  Then there is my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and all two of my nephews.  Throw in our fifteen-year anniversary and Father’s Day, and there is hardly a day left in June when we aren’t celebrating.  So I feel like a little rejoicing is in order.  

But I don't want to focus on the traditional milestones.  Today, my confetti will fly in celebration of COPE (Caring Outreach by Parents in Evanston.)

A few years ago, I started a small volunteer group at my children’s school.  The idea was to respond to a family crisis in the same way that a church might:

Bring a casserole

Provide a carpool

Find a resource

Coordinate or host a play date

The first year was great.  We did all of these things and we also began taking requests from our school social worker to respond in other ways.  In one instance, a family with four kids had just moved to town with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  We sent an email to the parents at our school and began trolling Freecycle.  Within hours, people responded:

I have a brand new vacuum cleaner that we didn’t like.  It’s still in the box.

We just got a new couch.  Do you want the old one?

We are moving and decided to buy a bunch of new furniture.  We can donate two beds, two TV’s, a couch and dressers.

Our kids are the same size, does the family need clothing?

Between myself and another mom, we were able to fill their entire apartment with furniture, kitchen goods, clothing, toys and appliances.

We were blown away by the generosity of our neighbors.

In our second year, we did some fundraising, added a monthly grocery delivery program, partnered with the school garden and shared the idea of COPE with another school.  OrringtonSchool’s COPE was up and running within a month.  Then Dawes School began theirs.  This year, we added COPEs at:

Walker

Willard

Washington

Haven

With Oakton and King Lab on their way

It’s kind of amazing what a little elbow grease can produce.  Beginning next year, nine of our district schools will have volunteer response teams on hand to support, find resources and provide help to Evanston families.

Now THAT’S something to celebrate!

Kids pictured here are making casseroles to deliver to local families.

Latasha and Hyun Joo (COPE Volunteers) show off their World Book Night books

 Kingsley parents and students decorate jars to put in classrooms and raise money for the Dravet Foundation

All smiles at the benefit concert

Friday Original Poem

This Friday, we begin our new schedule of posting an original poem every week!  While Regina is on a much deserved anniversary trip with her fabulous husband Tim, Juliet takes on the first Friday poem.  This one is dedicated to all of the performers, chefs and supporters who made our COPE benefit a huge success. 

COPE

Somewhere, someone is singing

One voice

High notes bound up and attach themselves to low-slung, harmonies

Two

A careful whir of sound, rising

Three

Pressed like hundred-year old pieces of gum against a sidewalk, blending

A chorus

Something lifts inside your chest

Bubbles up like champagne sunlight, bursting

You open your mouth

And add your own broken sounds

The Small Things

Celebrating the small things this Friday.

Juliet is soooo tired this week (lame, I know.)  But she did have a few moments:

1. Skipped her historical fiction class to attend a meeting at Willard School in order to recruit a new COPE.

2. Wrote two pieces for said class and sent homework by email.  (She will post one of those next Thursday.)

3. Had a fabulous slumber party with friend and friend's newly adopted baby, Zachary.  Rocked and fed him at five am Tuesday morning.  Then, snuggled next to him as he fell back to sleep among shared girl talk and morning breath.

Regina:

1. Submitted a poem.

2.Wrote everyday.

3.Saw a Snowy Owl for the first time up close and personal in the wild and snapped a photo(though it is grainy, she cherishes it).