It’s good news.  Sofie is doing really well and we are very cautiously optimistic.  She has achieved her penultimate phase and is working very hard.  I am so proud of her I could just …… I don’t even know!  Her going away really shook up our family.  The good part of this is it has allowed me to take a look at how we are living and make some pretty big changes.  I have always liked change, but I tend to forget it’s an option.  We moved to La Canada for the schools because they are rated so high.  What we didn’t think through was the reason they are rated so high is they pretty much teach to the test.  There is very little to nothing in the way of art and music.  They don’t even have the annual “All Inclusive Holiday/Winter Did We Leave Anyone Out Because We Don’t Want To Offend Them” Christmas pageant.  I think to succeed in our modern world our kids are going to have to think outside the box.  There is no guarantee that if you graduate from college with a degree in engineering that there will be an engineering job for you.  If they can’t be creative and find something to do with their degree, perhaps even create their own work they are going to be in trouble.  It is not the fault of the public school system.  They do the best they can.  But since we are all shook up anyway we are trying Addie out this week at a Waldorf School.  Talk about change.  We have gone from the best in conservative education to a wacky wonderland of progressive learning.  It’s out there in it’s concepts but they make perfect sense to me.  Waldorf has a holistic (meaning whole child) approach to learning.  They teach through art, movement, and participation.  Don thinks I have gone completely over the edge but he trusts me.  Actually, I am a little nervous she will never learn anything too, but I am trusting my instincts.  Her first visit day I checked her in and as I was leaving noticed that her first grade class was standing in a circle under a tree.  I called Don:

Me:  The class is standing under a tree doing what looks to be a pagan ritual!!

Don: Are they trying to reanimate the dead?  Look in the middle of the circle is there anything twitching?

It wasn’t a ritual and anything that may have been dead stayed dead.  Addie loves it,  I love it and Don is skeptical but willing.  Sofie is appalled because she thinks kids who go to Waldorf School are weird.  That is exactly what I am hoping for.

I’m not sure where Sofie will go to school when she comes home, but we will find a place where she can thrive and be happy,  as happy as a teen age girl can be that is.  She gave me permission to post a poem she wrote for school.  Her assignment was to tell where she came from.  I didn’t know she was paying attention and even knew her address but apparently she is. It also sums up how she is doing way better than I could.  I love her so much I could just….well, I don’t even know!

Where I am From Poem

I am from British words and Irish accents
A package from Scotland that gave my Great Grandfather a wife
I am from Beverly hills, from being born among the stars.
From the winding road twisting and turning.
I’m from a mother, a father, a brother, a sister yet to come.
I am from Buffy, French cats, a puppy with more trauma than me.
I am from one house to another around the corner still surrounded by stars,
From tall trees and cactus leaves that poke my thumb.

I am from Broadway shows and dancing feet,
From writers, singers, performing fanatics.
I’m from Apple Hunting and authentic cowboys.
From October birthdays and Grammy Lu’s butterflies.
I am from Thermopolis to California and back,
From war, horses and heroes.

I am from Dip, Honey and Tinkiewinkie.
No one sleeps until I have all my Teletubbies.
I am from Doby-Blood, Zaboomafoo, and The Simpson’s.
From Cheerios, pennies and little people.
I’m from Rapunzel hair and a sea of blue eyes.
From a series of hamsters too mean to keep.

I am from Radio Disney, Hilary Duff
From Disneyland- the Mickey Mouse gang.
I am from willow trees, snap dragons, and lily leaves,
From a tree house with a bright red door.

I am from a long line of performers.
Dancing queens, a Cinderella who found her Prince Charming.
From Ugly Betty and Samantha, Who?
From extra special magic kisses to last all night long.
I’m from an ugly duckling venturing through the big city.
Honk.
I’m from an asian thing as small as a bean.
From a fox, a wolf, and two tigers.
Laohu.

I’m from 6th grade to now.
A hipster trying to fit in.
I am from the end of an era.
The fallout.
I’m from razor blades and bad grades,
A box that held my biggest secret.
I’m from lies, drama and tears,
Cheers to the teen age years.
I’m from sadness in June, to guilt in August to near death in October.
From happiness now.

I am from a new found love of screaming girls and emotional breakdowns.
From “I’m done with this.” and “nobody cares.”
From persevering and caring too much.
I’m from addictions, trauma.
From Summer, Winter and Autumn.
I am from a new me.
Free and loving sobriety.
Co dependence no more.
I’m from here on out.
I’ll decide what’s next.

Sofie Todd