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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Jimmy Reagan, Artist - movie

Jimmy has been working on making a presentations of his art. Some of this presentation is directly in Jimmy's writing voice and other parts are in mine. His language is challenged, but he is a great reader.  So, a PowerPoint format works well for him. After Jimmy lost his language at around age 2, he developed a keen ear for music and could hum various difficult classical pieces of music. One of his favorites to hum was Vivaldi's Four Season. So, I thought that it was fitting to pair his PowerPoint with one of Vivaldi's beautiful works.  Be patient with me as I am learning PowerPoint and movie making on an ancient computers. :)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Kelly or Grace - 21 years ago today

Kelly in Rome

Today, my daughter Kelly is 21 years old.  Hard for me to believe she was born 21 years ago.  Kelly is my only daughter and cherished friend. Today, she is a junior at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts studying Economics and Political Science.  She has been a member of the golf team for 3 years, is a sports writer for the school online newspaper, participates in a leadership in athletics initiative, is a Dean's List student, has recently been invited to be part of a national honor society among many other accomplishments.  But this doesn’t describe who Kelly is and the difference that she makes in my life.

Ballerina #1
As the oldest of five kids, Kelly has lead the way for her brothers. She is smart and beautiful. By definition, the name Kelly means "Bright-Headed". She works harder than most people I have ever known.   She loves her brother's with more heart and soul than one might think possible. She is compassionate, honest and funny. In addition to her brains and athletic abilities, she can sing.  Her brother's are certain that she would be an excellent American Idol candidate.  Like Jimmy, she is an artist. She has won art awards at the Minnesota State Fair. Perhaps, she is the one who inspired Jimmy. Until recently, she hasn't been producing much art. But, in the last six months, she has made time do a little drawing. I think that these ballerina's highlight the grace in Kelly's heart.

Actually when she was born, we weren't sure if we were going to name her Kelly or Grace. In spite of her frequent clumsiness (certainly inherited from her mother), we often joke about how humorous it would have been had we named her Grace.  The truth is she is both Kelly - "Bright-Headed" and Grace -defined as a "Blessing and Virtue." Kelly is full of grace and strength. She has made it better since the moment she entered it. 

Happy Birthday Kel-bel!