The Evil Seattle Winds

Right now it is pouring down rain on little East Lansing, Michigan. But, it reminds me of a day when my sister Sheila put her life on the line and since my sister Katie requested that I write a new blog, I decided to share this story with you.
When I was in elementary school my parents took us on a summer trip to Alaska. We flew to Seattle and then from there took a few day ferry trip to Alaska. Little did we know young Sheila would be asked to risk her 11 year old body for this ferry trip. The ferry had small cabins that could be rented out and of course my parents took it upon themselves to rent one for the two of them. This room would later be referred to as the "Love Shack" but that is a whole other story. The four Mech children were out on the open deck, Katie and Patrick in their own separate personal tents (because two 8th graders wouldn't be caught dead sharing a tent!) and Sheila and Jane in our family's humongous 6 person tent.
During the first night, I fell fast asleep on the cool metal floor, but soon enough was awoken by Sheila's whimpers and wails with the loud wind in the background. I opened my eyes to see that Sheila had spread herself as far as her body could reach across our family's tent.
"Jane, I think our tent is going to fly off the ferry!"
The walls of our tent were flapping and Sheila's hysterical ways were freaking me out.
"What should we do?"
We contemplated what plan of action would have the least chance of one or both of us dieing: Should we go into Katie and Patrick's tents?
No, because then our tent would definitely blow away and Dad would kill us.
The winds blew louder and louder and now I was starting to believe maybe tonight would be these two sisters' final night together.
Should Sheila go wake up Dad to get his body weight to hold down the tent?
No, because we weren't sure if my 4th grade body was enough against these evil Seattle winds.
There was only one choice...
"Jane, I am bigger. You go get Dad. Tell him we are going to blow away and we need his body weight."
As I took General Sheila's orders and unzipped the tent, I wasn't sure if I would ever see her again or if she and our 6 person tent would be one with the Pacific Ocean.
I woke up my Dad in a frenzy and I am sure for a moment he questioned why he decided to take his children on a trip to Alaska. Luckily, when we returned and looked into the tent Sheila's sprawled out body was still cemented to the floor. Dad's weight was enough to keep us anchored during the night.
This story has no moral, self examination or soul searching undertone. I just want to thank Sheila for weighing two more extra pounds than me, which would designate me to be the one who went to go get Dad. Because who knows, if she would have left me in tent, this could have been a whole other story and this blog may have never been written...

Amazing Grace

philosophy: how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain. and, so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by one big gigantic lesson. in the end, it all comes down to one word. grace. it's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light.
Okay I wish I could say I wrote that, but I stole it from my shampoo bottle. In my field, education, professors are constantly talking about our own personal philosophy. If you ask most of your past teachers what their teaching philosophy is they will probably have an answer for you. I always wonder about my own life philosophy, not just my teaching philosophy, but a philosophy that sums up the system of values by which I live. Is it even a possibility to sum up all your values, beliefs, and ideas into a few simple sentences? I think my philosophy will be a never ending sentence with constant editing. Before I will ever feel competent to finish off the sentence, "My own personal philosophy is..." I have come across the idea of love lists. My sister and her college friends made them. I loved the idea of writing out the simple joys in my life, so I have started making my own. Mine always look something like this:
Jane's Love List
starring up at the night sky
late night walks with my friends
anytime walks with my mom and mrs. dancy
doing 3 way calls with my sisters
surprises
singing in my car (with or without others)
reading the sunday new york times
being a spartan
that my brother thinks i am a good dancer
taking bubble baths
patio parties
sunday 5 o'clock mass
coffee and the today show
people who are passionate
my brother's german accent
cute little towns
otter
chick flicks
spoonfuls of my dad's honey
trips to the cabin
getting mail
a good glass of wine
wool socks
dates with my mom
interesting strangers
partner yoga

Believe me this list could go on and on. I dare you to make your own list- you may surprise yourself. What do you love and why do you love it? My love list is always getting longer and longer, but items are never edited out because even if it isn't my main joy now it made me smile once before. One day I will have some philosophical ideas and values by which I live (and when that day comes-it will be the best blog I have ever written), but for now I will live by my love list and take on my shampoo bottle's philosophy by accepting everything with grace.

Would You Marry Your Dad?

The other day my girlfriends and I were having the conversation: Do you think you'll marry someone like your dad. I was the one with the Dad that was into spending as much time as possible with his children, he would get off a long day of work and still have enough energy to take us to the pool or to the library (letting us choose as many books as we wanted) and also making sure he made time to read those books with us. My parents (and also any other relatives they could drag along, cousins, grandparents...) came to ever possible soccer game, tennis match, or parents' night they could get their hands on. They did not just end up cheering for me but also all of my friends and my teammates. They even made it a must to attend my best friend's homecoming game where she would be crowned our homecoming queen. I am not saying that their interest in my life never embarrassed me, but I secretly always loved that they were there.
I was constantly seeing my parents generosity- they always invited my friends over for dinner, on family vacations, and took as much interest in my friends as I did.
My family takes an annual trip to Chicago, this year I wasn't able to attend because it was during my finals week. But that didn't mean that my friends weren't invited. My parents called all my friends attending school in the Chicago area to meet up with our extended family. I love that my friends (including my new college friends) are part of my family. Sometimes I have to hold myself back from bragging about how great my family is. I feel though our world is full of people who can't stand their parents or hate going home. I almost feel guilty that I have been blessed with a family that I can't seem to get enough of. So as an answer to do I want to marry someone like my father: I can only hope to meet someone as intelligent, funny, loving, generous, self-assured, faithful, and caring as my Dad.