I never knew that one of the best compliments from a former student was “I never really thought I was learning anything in your class – we just had fun.” At first I was offended and thought, ‘really, with all of that work in my lesson planning and efforts, really?’ And then I realized it was a compliment. Eventually, even those same students realized that if they didn’t know something at the start of the year and by the end of the year they excelled – then there must have been something going on.

Ninety-five percent of my vacations have been with my family. Only one has ever been a vacation with my friends. Pretty sad.

It gets sadder that there’s likely never going to be another friends vacation for us. We’re in the stages of life that include careers, engagements, marriage, and babies, which often makes it difficult to arrange time, even weekend getaways, to see each other. Unfortunately, that’s the sad truth of life and growing up. 

Jessica George can’t remember a time when she didn’t know how to sew.
 
“There are 5 kids in my family and one of the ways my mom kept all of us busy was by doing crafts – so I was always crafting,” recalls George, who grew up near Cleveland. 
 
In college, George studied industrial design with the intent to go on to create toys, perhaps for some big-name company. She took time off before completing her studies to volunteer in underserved communities just outside Buenos Aires in Argentina.
 

Music makes a good companion in times of change. Songs and tunes and symphonies, lullabyes and string quartets, music of the griot and the sean nos singer, the classical violinist and the street corner busker all have ways of connecting us to one another, of giving space for reflection, of lifting spirits, offering hope, adding perspective and building courage. 

Every Harry Potter fan has dreamt of walking the halls of Hogwarts, or performing complex spells that will turn any enemy into a bat or mouse. But we’ve begun to grow up. Our minds have moved on to reality, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been tucked away on to a dusty shelf of our subconscious.