The Woman Who Saved Baseball

Aug 192009
 

At the age of 8, the little girl was taking daily insulin injections for her newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes. The following year she lost her Dad to heart disease. Growing up in a single-parent household, one of the ways she kept herself occupied was by reading. Although she loved reading Nancy Drew (“girl detective”) books, a doctor suggested that her health might not permit her to follow in Nancy’s footsteps. The then-popular TV show “Perry Mason” introduced her to another part of the legal system; by the time Sonia was ten, she knew that she would leave the housing project, go to college and become a lawyer.

 

The 111th justice of the US Supreme Court is the third female justice and the first Hispanic to serve on the high court. She grew up in a housing project in the Bronx. Her mother, Celia, served her country in the Women’s Army Corps and went on to work as a telephone operator and a practical nurse. In addition to her hardworking example, Celia stressed education. Their home is reported to have been one of the few in the project to own a set of encyclopedia. (Today’s equivalent might be a home computer with an Internet connection.)

 

Celia’s commitment to higher education paid off: Sonia graduated from Princeton University and received her law degree from Yale. Later, she taught at the New York University School of Law and Columbia Law School.

 

One does not have to be a student of the law to know a little bit about Justice Sotomayor – anyone old enough to remember the 1994 Major League Baseball strike knows who she is: the judge who issued the preliminary injunction that kept the owners from bypassing the existing collective bargaining process and bringing in replacement players.

 

After a more than 200-day strike, her ruling allowed the players to return to work – the day before the new (1995) season was scheduled to begin.

English: Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court j...

(Image via Wikipedia)

People sometimes say that the Four Foundations of Adult Achievement are “old school,” that they are not relevant any more. I see “Four Foundations” stories in the headlines every day; Justice Sotomayor is just one more example – even if she is a Yankees’ fan!

Adventures in Back-to-School Shopping

Aug 042009
 
Shopping mall

Shopping mall (Photo credit: pix.plz)

Back to school shopping ads have me thinking about the first time I took my son back-to-school shopping with his own money. He had spent the summer cleaning up roofing shingles and other debris on a construction site. It wasn’t ‘easy money.’

He set the budget. I contributed half. I was impressed by almost everything that happened after that. First, there was a thorough inventory of the closet. He decided that many of last year’s clothes were, in fact, still pretty good. Those that no longer suited him were packed up for either give-away or the consignment store. Next, he went through the paper and found out what stores were having sales, giving coupons and the like. Then, he made a list that included his basic needs – and some ‘wants.’

I’m generally a very fast shopper – probably because I don’t enjoy it all that much. I don’t think that I have ever spent so much time in a shopping mall – before or since!

He compared and contrasted, balanced wants and needs. We checked laundry labels (!) to make sure that he could handle the care required. He made notes – and went on to another store or two before ever parting with a dime.

It was wonderful to watch a young man who did not think he was good at math decide whether the “buy one get one free” was a marketing scam or in fact a better deal than the straight 15% off…. But a highlight that I remember, many years later, was when he found a designer shirt that had been marked down in a store where he had a coupon for a discount on the total purchase.

What a learning experience! Saving, budgeting and planning before hand followed by wants v. needs, decisions about quality and value, stretching your budget as far as possible, separating fact from marketing fiction…. There was also almost none of that negotiating or tension about what he liked versus what was sensible or what we could afford. He had all of the control.

Is it faster and easier to do the shopping ourselves? Probably. But if you can manage at least one “together trip” there are great lessons to be learned — and opportunities to see new strengths in our children. Even if you’re not ready to turn over the whole process, can you start with the school supplies? Or the shoes?

Who knows, maybe you’ll move on to groceries???

 

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Daylight Spending Time?

Jul 282009
 

 

Some of my neighbors on an after-dinner outing!

Some of my neighbors on an after-dinner outing!

This summer sure has made me feel like a little kid.  First of all, it took forever to get here.  It wasn’t the end of school we were waiting for, instead we had to bide our time and wonder just when Mother Nature would start to cooperate and stop raining on us all!  Until that occurred, it just didn’t seem like summer, no matter what the calendar said!

 

Now that we are experiencing glorious New England summer days, I find myself thinking about ‘summer things.’  I’m fortunate to live in an area where kayaking, swimming, hiking, biking, campfires and dinner straight from the garden are the ‘norm’ this time of year.

On a recent trip to visit a friend (who lives in a more urban area) I passed by a drive-in movie – – in progress!  (Haven’t seen one of those in awhile.)  And if that wasn’t enough, during my visit we bought ice cream from a ‘ding-a-ling’ truck, splashed in a kiddie pool and heard an outdoor concert.

Summer’s longer daylight hours can be a great incentive to “lighten up” on your family’s schedule a bit and try some new things.  Or maybe return to some things you ‘used to’ do.  Re-connect.  Change your perspective.

Late afternoon and early evening, after the heat of the day, is a great time to take an extra-long walk or bike ride.  You may go as far and fast as you can for exercise – or take a more social route, stopping and chatting with neighbors along the way.

Camping is another great choice – even if it means making a tent out of the kitchen table and a bed sheet!  (It still allows kids an opportunity to read by flashlight when they’re supposed to be sleeping!)

You could invent a summer holiday, develop a ‘tour’ of your town or surrounding area, read bedtime stories under the stars…..

Tell us, please, how is your family spending these lovely ‘extra’ daylight hours?

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