Sunday May 3rd

It's amazing how other people come into your life briefly, and then inspire you to tackle great things. For instance, I decided to train and run NYC marathon after a 2 second conversation with another runner at the Oaktree 1/2 marathon. A five minute chat with my brother-in-law's brother's wife at a family function(follow that relationship?) inspired us to adopt a special needs child from China. This winter I met a woman at the ski lodge who was struggling to find a school that could meet her son's educational needs. At that time, I had been homeschooling for less than a month, but we chatted about our sons and exchanged email addresses. Her comments led me to seek out professional testing for Connor, and I found that beneficial.Yesterday this virtual stranger contacted me because I inspired her to at least consider home-schooling as an educational option. We've now exchanged several emails, and I'm now newly motivated to blog everyday! It's nice to know that someone DOES read all my ramblings!! I cut and pasted her comments below:I was able to read through your whole blog yesterday afternoon, and while you may find your entries becoming boring, it was great for me on so many levels. 1) You opened your home and life with Connor to me. 2) It gave me at least a peak of the type of schedule and expectations you developed for your day to day travels through his curriculum. 3) Your asides, especially about Connor’s passions had me laughing out loud. 4) It was refreshing to understand the flexibility that you learned both in growing Connor’s autonomy and in striking a balance of workload and activities. 5) The way you carved out time for yourself without sacrificing Connor’s progress (I’m freaked-out that I’ll loose myself in all of this.) 6) Your willingness to try new things (like morning mass) perhaps grudgingly at first, but then embraced as a unique learning experience for yourself as well. 7) The frustrations you experienced with bridging the gap between what’s right for your family and what the state requires and the disconnect between the fact that even when the district can’t provide what he needs to grow appropriately, all the money remains with them anyway. And more.