Washington Could Learn Something From The College School

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

It is no secret that my kids go to private school and that we love their school.  It is also no secret that I myself am a liberal–I freely admit it.  I don’t think life is about amassing personal wealth and I don’t think that the goal of a society should be to protect individual wealth.  Who the hell does that help?  Individuals and I know that those of you who are wealthy might have a different take, but I don’t think so.

I hate that I live in a country that has cities like mine—I love my city, but hate that if I want my child to have a GREAT education then I have to send my kid to private school.  I am lucky that we have the means to do it.  I’m lucky I have a spouse willing to sacrifice nearly everything fun in life to pay for private school.  But we are even luckier to be part of the community and family that is The College School.  We wouldn’t be able to send our kids without a little financial aid–we just couldn’t afford full tuition– we have too much debt and student loans.  Education is expensive and anyone who says that good education isn’t–is not being completely honest.  It takes a lot to education children well–you have to pay more for great teachers and great materials and experiences.

The schools biggest fundraiser each year is an auction–silent and live.  It is a really nice night–dinner, drinks, and socializing.  I went last year and it was really great and the feeling and sense of community in the room was amazing.  But it didn’t hit me last year like it did this year.  The beauty of this community.  The highlight is usually the donations to the unrestricted endowment–money that last year was used to buy a secondary campus and to renovate the little gym into the theater.  Money that keeps the school amazing and allows for my children to get a one of a kind education.

The auctioneer starts with asking someone to donate $10,000.  He asked last year on a bit of a lark and someone did–so that is where he started this year and another family did.  then he asked for $5000 and 6 families donated, then $2500 and more families, then $1000 and more families, etc.  $80,000 later everyone in the room who could donate something did to the endowment.  What is nice is that the $50 gifts were met with the same applause as the $10,000.  If it wasn’t for people who paid more, then people like us couldn’t pay less.  If I had more, I would pay full tuition so that someone else could get our financial aid, but I am glad that the aid is available for us.

I don’t understand why those in power–okay I’ll say it REPUBLICANS–I don’t understand how they can’t see that.  We are all people wanting the best in life for our families and children.  I am not getting something for free-we still pay a lot for our kids to go to school but not as much as others.  It really is about shared sacrifice and I think that is what makes me the most mad about this nation is that we have lost our sense of community.  It has become the top 1% versus the bottom 50% and that just isn’t right.  Over the last 10 years the average salary of the bottom 50% has grown by less than $1.00 but the income for the top 1% has grown by 400%.  That just doesn’t seem fair or just or right.

I am proud to be sending my kids to a school where everyone is treated the same regardless of what they pay.  That no matter how much or how little one gives or even at all, everyone is valued the same.

Why can’t Washington see that?

He Knows How To Get Me

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

We were in the car driving home from dinner the other night.  We were talking about how my grandmother is going to be 90 this year and Noah was impressed “because that’s like infinity.”  When you are five that is pretty true.  He asked if she was going to die and we said yeah, someday she will but she could live a lot longer (she’s in fantastic health and her aunt lived to be 105).  Then we had the following conversation

N: Will I be a grandpa someday

Me: Yeah.

N: Then I will die?

Me:  Yes honey, we all do.

N: Then I’ll come back as a baby again?

Me:  Yes.

N:  Will someone adopt me again…

I’m silent I don’t know what to say exaclty

N:  I want you and dad to adopt me again.

My little heart just melted and I started to get teary eyed.

Then he made a fart joke or a butt joke and it makes me hope I can do it with him all over again.

A Conversation I Never Thought I’d Have

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

Playground conversations are often mundane.  When I pick Noah up from school, he usually wants to play a little on the school playground with his friends.  That means I have to talk with the other moms.  Not that it’s painful.  I don’t mind talking.  I’ve said it here before and will say it again–I am not a chit chatter.  I like to talk and I’m social and I have no problem talking about things, but I am not good at small talk.  One, because my life is so full of things, I don’t have time to even think about what small talky things.

On Wednesday, I picked the kids up from school and Noah was playing and I was talking to one of the moms.  And she is a mom I like.  She’s really nice and is my age.  When you have kids that are young when you are not so young, the norm is that the other parents are 10 or so years younger.  I have to say we are pretty fortunate as most of the parents at Noah’s school are within our age group.  So, we were chatting about exercising, like I have anytime for that, but she doesn’t work and her kid’s in school full-time so she has time to yoga and other things.  Then we were talking about junk food, etc.  I can certainly relate to that, I think just talking about it I gained 5lbs.  She then says,  “I…This might fall under the category of TMI…”

Let me just stop you there.  If you have to preface what you are saying with it might fall under the category of TMI, then chances are good that it does.  But I encouraged her, as I know she is new to STL and doesn’t necessarily have a lot of friends locally.  Who am I to judge.  I shared about my first brazillian bikini wax with my close friends.  So, I am practicing being a girl.  Anyway.  I said, “don’t worry about it.”

“I had my first two colonics.” She said.

I have no idea what the look on my face portrayed.  I tried to look interested.  I did.  I just wasn’t expecting it.  I really wasn’t.  There just is no way to prepare yourself for that.

“I was reading in a yoga magazine blah blah blah people are supposed to poop two or three times a day blah blah blah really you’re suppose to poop every time you eat blah blah”

I’m think if I pooped everytime I ate, I’d have to work in the bathroom.

“And your intestines are like 6 feet long and waste can stay in there for years.  My technician said that one time a barbie shoe came out of a guy that he had swallowed as a kid.”

All I can think is gross and that maybe the whole gun does/can stay in your system for 7 years.

“You can have anywhere from 4-14 pounds of waste in your colon.”

Might not be a bad weight loss strategy–other than it involves someone basically putting a hose up my butt to flush it out.

“I felt like I could run a marathon afterwards.  It was great.  You should look into it.  Here is the card.”

I was polite and said “wow that sounds good. I’ll have to look into it.”

I am so not looking into it.

She’ll Take Five Years Or 100 Off Your Life

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

Zoë was home today all day with Bill as her sitter had surgery and is off for a week.  She was great and kept herself occupied with Moon Sand, scissors, paper, tape and glue sticks (can you envision what our house looked like when I got home) so that Bill could actually get some work done to pay for the lady who cleans our house–Monday can’t come soon enough.

So, Bill came up to check on her and he couldn’t find her, which is worrisome as our house isn’t very big.  It’s small really.  The doors were still closed and locked but she was gone.  He ran upstairs to look and thank goodness he is tall.  She had crawled up into the top bunkbed and was hunkered down asleep.  She put herself down for a nap.  Oh how cute.  Of course if it had been me at home, as short as I am, I would not have noticed her asleep in the bunk bed and would have called out the national guard to find her.

She really is going to give us a run for our money. 

Through The Window

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Today is a milestone.  Zoë started school.  Only part-time for the rest of this year.  She officially starts in August, but the school invited her to start part-time for the last two months of school.  The idea is to help with the transition to school for next year.  We toyed with the idea of starting her in January, but decided to wait until Fall.  She is doing four weeks of summer camp at school, so this opportunity will be a good transition for her from daycare to school.

Someone took her scissors this morning and there were almost tears until I told her to just get another pair and that this was school and everyone shared everything.  She struggled when it was meeting time, because she was set on cleaning up and cleaning up everything.  She was telling the boys “guys we have to clean up. GUYS. WE. HAVE. TO. CLEAN. UP.  Then she’d run to tell her teacher that the boys weren’t cleaning up.  But I reminded her that she has to listen to her teacher, even if she thinks she needs to do something else.  She conceded to mom and went to sit with one of her teachers.

I stalked from the windows and was happy and sad at the same time.  She is my baby, but not so little anymore.  It makes me realize how I’m slowly becoming more of a spectator in their life and while I am happy they are independent, it is also a little sad.  But they need to grow and flourish and I can’t stand in their way.  I have to trust that I am doing my job well and I’ll keep watch through the window.