48 Hours in NYC: Sunday

The girls admiringly gaze at the incredible gingerbread village displayed in the lobby of our hotel on Sunday morning. We enjoyed breakfast together and then the girls left when Veronica's parents came to pick them up.
While on our walk to the Upper East Side (location of the Ronald McDonald House & MSKCC) we took a romantic walk through Central Park. Of course we wanted to stop and reflect and pray at sweet precious Penelope's special "spot" in Central Park, so we did. It's a lovely tribute to a lovely girl, yet I can't help but feel anger that there needed to be a tribute at all.<

God bless you sweet Penelope! I can't help but think you should be running through Central Park instead of dancing in Heaven. I'm so sorry!

With the most incredible teacher ever - AnneMarie!! Over brunch, AnneMarie talked on and on, eyes filled with tears, about what a prodigy Christi was and for that reason alone she really thought Christi would make it. The last time she saw her she looked fabulous! (Summer 2005, on a visit to NYC)

Christi with her beloved teacher, AnneMarie (June 05, age 8, when we went back to NYC to visit) I had forgotten that on the days when Christi didn't have to go to the hospital clinic, she typically still wanted to go for "school". AnneMarie reminded us of this when we had brunch with her on Sunday. Without a doubt, she is THE FINEST teacher ever! (Mary Poppins is how we would describe her to others, simply amazing!) I cannot imagine being a teacher of terminally ill children, and yet she does it with such flair! When asking her HOW she can do it, we immediately learned it is not easy to say the least.

Shayla enjoyed some baking with Veronica and her mom while at their apartment. When it was time to leave for the airport Sunday night both of the girls stared at each other with tears welling up in their eyes. I cannot even describe how very sad it was. Veronica walked over to me and asked in a very serious tone, "Do you think you'll ever move here permanently?" It nearly broke my heart! Those girls are such good friends! I'm so glad we were able to visit with so many people and to do so much in such a short amount of time. I wish we could have stayed for a month! God bless, NYC!!

A SIGN? On our flight to NY Friday night, I sat beside an incredibly interesting woman (got her Ph.D. in Education from Ohio State). She's in charge of ten schools. She offered me a job. I insisted I love what I'm doing and didn't want to relocate. Well, on the flight back home, on a very large plane, can you believe my seat was again assigned right beside hers?! No, I wasn't sitting beside Shayne or Shayla on either flight but beside a woman I talked nonstop "education" with and who offered me a job. I kept wondering what the odds were and if I should take that as a sign and be open to trying something new. Very interesting.