365 Days to 30/365 People Who Were Along for the Ride

Day #225 - Nona S.

So funny that Nona’s name should come up today. She was my high school English teacher at Wilmington Friends. My mom remembers her as one of the first teachers that mentioned me looking into a career in public relations. I will always remember her as one of my most kind, caring, and diligent teachers.

Nona and I recently became friends on Facebook and then, in the small world that the eastern seaboard is, Ken and I ran into her and her husband at IKEA last week. I hadn’t seen Nona since the day I graduated in 1997, but I would have recognized her anywhere.

Day #224 - Matt P.

Matt is the husband of my friend Olivia from Oklahoma. He was always fun to hang out with, but the one thing I will always remember about Matt is that he used to call me his “favorite Yankee.”

Day #223 - Rob P.

Rob is one of my coworkers at St. Paul’s. He is a graduate of the school and came back a few years ago to run Bridges, a non-profit organization at St. Paul’s that helps out kids from the not-so-great areas of Baltimore City. Rob gives his time selflessly to these kids and the program he’s created is pretty amazing.

Day #222 - Matt M.

Matt was my high school English teacher. Another great teacher at Wilmington Friends School. I believe he was just out of grad school when he became our teacher, and a few years ago he moved to Maryland to become the Head of School at Baltimore Friends.

He was a great teacher, and I have no doubt he’s a great Head of School. I see him occasionally at school events (our schools are part of a collaboration of schools in the Baltimore area) and he always shakes his head and says, “Laura Kirk, when did you grow up?”

Day #221 - Kristina W.

Many of you who read this blog are scrapbookers and probably know Kristina W. She, along with her husband, were the founders of Two Peas in a Bucket, the greatest scrapbooking community out there.

A few years ago, Kristina asked me to join the site’s design team (called the Garden Girls). I couldn’t believe it when I got that e-mail. I respected Kristina (and Two Peas) so much and I was so honored I was shaking!

As the years have gone on, I’ve gotten to know Kristina as a person and she is so passionate about this thing we call a hobby and is a career for her. Two Peas is a true community for a lot of people, and she completely gets that.  She is a great mom to her three kids and her two dogs (her one dog is a Great Dane – about twelve feet tall, I think). We can exchange e-mails for a whole day just talking about our dogs and the funny things they do. Love that.

Day #220 - Gary I.

Gary was one of my more eccentric skating coaches. He was Australian (I think?) and his accent became more and more exaggerated as the day (and his patience) wore on.

His crazy accent and his even crazier curly hair are about all I can recall of Gary. I met someone a few months ago whose daughter is taking lessons from him and was comforted to hear from her stories that he hasn’t changed much over the years.

Day #219 - Cousin Lisa

My Uncle Bruce and Aunt Grace had five wonderful children, but I always felt closest to my cousin Lisa growing up. She was a free spirit, but always interested in what we were doing with our lives, and the people we were becoming. She would always be the cousin I would gravitate toward at family events. She was always the dishwasher organizer on Thanksgiving. Lisa was also really close to my Pop Pop, and although he would never admit it, I’m sure she was his favorite.

So you can imagine the shock when one summer morning in 2000 we were woken up by a phone call telling us that Lisa had passed away. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. To this day, we’re not sure what happened – all we know is that we still miss her as though it was yesterday, and our lives are not the same without her here.

If I close my eyes, I can still hear Lisa’s voice. I hope that is something that never fades. I hope somewhere she and Pop Pop are off having a grand old time together.

Day #218 - Peter M.

Peter was a high school friend who was two years my junior. I don’t remember much about Peter except I think I always had a little crush on him but you know, that wasn’t acceptable because: A) I was two years older than him and that was unheard of and B) He was a good foot shorter than me. Ha!

I didn’t keep in touch with Peter, but, as things go, we recently caught up on Facebook. You’ll be happy to know I think he’s now about my height and seems to be happy!

Day #217 - Joann S.

Joann was my teacher in my first “workshop” class at Johns Hopkins. Have you ever taken a workshop class? It can be very intimidating…It’s where you write something and your class (of about eight people) and professor critique it. Sometimes brutally, sometimes kindly, and sometimes a combination of both.

Joann was spunky and fun. And I learned a lot from her class. I always felt like her suggestions made me a better writer (great to see your tuition dollars at work, right?) I actually wrote about this blog for class, and I loved what she had to say about it. I hope to take another class with her some day.

Day #216 - Allison S.

Allison was one of my sorority sisters at Lehigh – she was a year older than me. I was never really good friends with Allison, but she was always someone I could depend on to have a good time with. She was tiny, cute, and I can still hear her laugh when I think about her today.

The even more funny thing is that a few years ago, my mom and I were watching the movie/documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom” and I was like, “I know that girl” when they were interviewing one of the teachers. “That’s Allison!” It was so surreal to see her, just as I remembered. It didn’t surprise me one bit that she was such a good teacher to those kids. (For those of you that have seen it, she is the one that gets really emotional about the kids dancing – it’s very sweet!)