ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW MY KIDS WILL BE BACK IN SCHOOL!!!!!

(Me doing the happy dance)

Please don’t judge my enthusiasm–I really do sympathize with the back-to-school teachers. (((hugs)))

Truly, it’s not because I didn’t love having them home–we had a fabulous summer.

I got some projects done around the house. Cleaned out and organized all my clothes and the closets and drawers that hold them. *fist pump*

Then it was vacation time…

We went to Vancouver on our way to Alaska.

Then on to the Disney Wonder.

Tracey Arm, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska

And Ketchikan, Alaska too!

We also did some local stuff with visiting family…

The 9/11 Museum.

Summer in NYC

And then it was off to LA SCBWI!!!!

Caught a baby dragon <3

And happily hanging with my tribe. <3

And then a road trip to Lake Placid with my Mom…

Miracle on Ice

AuSable Chasm

And Whiteface Mountain.

But even when I was home, there was lots going on. Camps for the kids and just hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous Hudson Valley.

And while I absolutely did lots of writing over the summer, it was always writing that was done in and around other things. It was moments stolen here and there.

Which sometimes made it feel as if I was trying to type with a wee beastie in my way.

So, as great as the summer was, I’m looking forward to some longer, quieter, uninterrupted stretches of writing time.

And while my boys are moaning and complaining about their impending doom…

I think they’re secretly excited to see their friends again and perhaps to get away from their annoying mother.

(I know–hard to believe *snort*)

And of course, the trade off for that newly acquired work time will be lunches and homework and a never-ending schedule of after school and weekend sports and activities. But that’s okay. Although I have a reputation for hating change, I’m a seasonal girl–always more than ready for the next change of weather after the previous three months. And maybe, since I can’t slow down time (even if I wanted to) it’s a good thing that there’s some change I actually enjoy.

Love the one you’re with.

How do you do with the change of seasons? Back to school? Did you get more writing done over the summer of less? And what’s your favorite season? Mine’s fall–I consider it my own personal new year. <3

Tags: #LA15SCBWI, 9/11 Museum, Alaska, AuSable Chasm, Back to School, Change, Hudson Valley, It's a Miracle, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Lake Placid, NYC, School, summer vacation, Vancouver, Whiteface Mountain, writing

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Today is the 13th Anniversary of 9/11 and I’m always reminded of how I was glued to the TV–holding my infant son–my oldest boy who was 7 months old at the time.

This past week I’ve watched my 13yo start a brand new school. It’s not easy to begin all over again in the 8th grade. In a K-8 school, most of the kids have been together since the towers fell–or at least it feels that way. And as if  being 13 isn’t enough of an obstacle in life, it also takes courage to walk into a new place when you’re dyslexic. Especially when the world evaluates a child’s intelligence thorough reading and writing. But I’ve watched him closely and I’ve come to believe that everything has gone so well because everyone involved has remembered something very important…

“All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”

by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need
To know about how to live
And what to do and how to be
I learned in kindergarten…

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life –
Learn some and think some
And draw and paint and sing and dance
And play and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world,
Watch out for traffic,
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.

Today, of all days, always seems like a hard spot to find some wonder when there is so much broken. My mind will wander and walk with the ghosts of 9/11 and I’ll think about my friends in the military who rearrange their families like a Rubix Cube, in order to deploy a loved one to the other side of the world. As a writer I’ll bow my head to the brave journalists who believe that truth counts for something–everything. I’ll think about how race divides us when most of us only want to be friends. And I’m also devastatingly sure I’ll watch the news and see something awful I never imagined before. But then I’ll watch my boy–my beautiful, brave, flicker of potential and I’ll remind myself that everything we really need to make the world a better place–we learned in Kindergarten. All we have to do is remember what we know.

I will remember you.

I will remember for you.

Tags: 9/11, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Kindergarten, School, terrorists, war, wonder

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Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

– Mister Rogers

For those of you who are new to the blog. I guess I should warn you. I can’t separate my personal life from my writing life. They are inexplicably intertwined. I usually do my best to create some connectivity between the branches, but sometimes they simply are what they are–grafted together. In the past, I’ve blogged about the school my children have attended. I’ve written with joy and hope. (Room 100 Holds the Secret to Fighting the War on Terror. Are You Interested?) I’ve also had the heart crushing disappointment of writing about administrative failure. (A Person’s A Person No Matter How Small: An Open Letter to the Wappingers Central School District)

Today I get to write about entangled roots…

Yesterday I had the pleasure of returning to my boy’s old elementary school. The one from before we moved. We returned for HUGS Day, which is an epic field day and party. A celebration. It’s a great day to be a FES Frog. But for the Sabatini’s it was a little bit like the ups and downs in one of those bouncy houses. We were so excited to see all our friends again, but at times, no matter how much fun we were having, it was a little bitter sweet. We were forced to look at what we’d been missing–what we are still missing until school comes to an end next week. The boys and I discussed it afterwards and came to the conclusion that being there had far outweighed the small hurts that left little bruises we’d have to recover from later.

Here were some of the big bounces that made the day great…

Yeah–HUGS day is a bouncy house bonanza!

 Good friends fall right back into place.

Sharing the experiences of a new school with the old school.

 Visiting familiar friends of a different nature.

Reengaging partners in crime <3

Eating too much.

And singing and dancing–a HAPPY teacher flash mob.

But life is strange and somewhere in the middle of snacks, flash mobs and catching up with friends, I overheard conversations that caused me to step back. Everyone was talking about the up and coming 5th Grade Moving Up Ceremony (which we are happily participating in) and the last day of school. Everyone was discussing all the expected tears–how hard and sad it was all going to be. Huh? My mind spun a little trying to connect the dots. Then understanding hit me like a lightening bolt as I realized what I had been missing.

We were no longer standing in the same place our friends were.

We had already grieved the loss of things the way they were. We had had to say goodbye and it had been hard–really, really hard. For us, school being over will be a kind of relief, an end of a particularly rough and knotted branch of our lives. Everyone else at FES is now poised to be standing on the very thin line between the past and the future, with all the emotional and actual baggage that comes with it. And while we might be physically standing next to everyone on that thin line, it isn’t the same.  We are like a group of friends who has opted for different paths through the woods. We will arrive at the same destination–but now we have very different stories to tell about our journey to get there.

But sometimes there are advantages to hearing someone else tell the tale of their journey. This week in particular, as we meet back up to celebrate moving up, I’d like to share what we learned on the road less traveled to an FES graduation.

We’ll all be okay. We’ve got this, because we have each other.

Often in the hustle and bustle of our growth–our forward momentum–we forget about our roots. Our eyes gravitate to the part of the tree that is easy to see. We forget about the strength and beauty of the roots–the parts that have nurtured us and held us in place while we’ve grown. The part that is hidden. FES has given us everything we need to anchor us to the best parts of ourselves and each other. I know this because when my boys had their lives painfully pruned back, they continued to be resilient, to grow and thrive. They are firmly woven with their past, their mentors and their friends, which has allowed them to remain standing, no matter how hard the wind has blown.

Over the next week, the 5th graders at FES will begin the process of branching out–of growing up. They will often take different paths as they grow. But we are very lucky because these kids are all trees in the same beautiful wood and it is my suspicion that beneath it all–their roots are entangled–adding more strength and support for the years to come. It has been my family’s pleasure to be a part of the FES family. Once a frog always a frog. And that is the truth. But being one thing doest limit you from being more things. Love is not limits–it is opportunity. So I’d also like to take a moment to thank everyone at our new school. I’m so very lucky because they grow strong and sturdy trees with beautiful roots there, too. They mended and supported us when we were a little broken. They cared for us like we had always been there–instead of what we really were–shell-shocked transplants. And now, because we haven’t moved too far, we have roots in two wonderful places. All that is left to do is entangle them even further. Be prepared to make new friends…

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

Tags: Branches, FES, FES Frogs, HUGS Day, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Mister Rogers, moving, Roots, School, Trees

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