Been that tall ( or short) for a very long time.

At one time, one of her life goals was to reach five foot- even.
Probably not going to happen.  But what she lacks in height, she makes up for in heart.

Caralyn never ceases to amaze us at times with things she sets her heart to doing.

We were left scratching our heads when she was in high school and came home and told us she had signed up for the power-lifting team. That was back when girls were just starting to compete in that regularly and we had no idea she had the strength she did and excelled in the sport at the level she did.

Next on the surprise list was when she changed her major after her second year of college and decided to go in to nursing.
We never saw that one coming…especially her own mother…who is a nurse.  We knew what a grueling road lay ahead of her.  But she dove in head first and set her mind and heart to doing this thing and graduated just a few months ago with her BSN/RN, nailed her boards, and landed a highly coveted job working in an ER department in Dallas.

But it was her latest venture that has me wanting a paternity test done on her.
She started running and just completed her first half-marathon.

I don’t get runners.  But she has become one… buying fancy running shoes and specially designed clothing and downloading special apps for her phone and all that hoopla.

The next thing you know, we are driving in to Dallas this past weekend to watch her compete in her first race.  I use that term loosely as one doesn’t really ‘watch’ a person run a marathon.  You stand there amongst the crowds of people to watch them begin the race.  For some reason, while standing along the start route with two cameras in hand ready to photograph her start, I somehow never saw her run by.  I was more than just a little irritated with that mishap.

The next step in ‘marathon spectating’ is jumping back in your car and driving through unfamiliar streets in a large city going through neighborhoods along the race route to find an ideal viewing spot to take pictures and cheer her on.  Between Kathy’s driving, and me trying to navigate – following a paper map of the race route and two hand held GPS navigators on our phones,  this made for some ‘interestingly tense’ moments which is probably worth a separate blog post of its own,  but I will put that on the shelf for another time.  Our first ‘ideal viewing’ spot went bust.  Saw lots of runners but had no way at that point of knowing where Caralyn was so we tried for a new spot further along the route.  Again, that made for some interesting conversation in the car trying to find such a spot.  But we did.

We ended up  in a beautifully groomed  neighborhood where we started seeing runners make their way up a rather lengthy and steep hill.  Kathy (who did this race last year herself) tells me while standing there, that she never bothered to tell Caralyn about some of these hills along the route. Didn’t want to discourage her.  I can see why.  The pain on some of the faces we saw as runners passed us at the corner for the next ascent made me hurt.

At this point, we knew where Caralyn was along the route thanks to modern technology and could follow her on GPS.  We were at the 6 mile mark as more storm clouds were gathering .  Kathy and I stood on the corner with rain coats, ponchos and umbrellas, along with my camera watching a string of runners pass us.  Other spectators had found this spot as well and we would clap and cheer them on.  (I am told that this has an incredible effect on racers)

I was a bit worried that Caralyn was going to be trudging up this hill with pain on her face and the fear of not being able to complete the race.  She had expressed to us the night before being a bit anxious and nervous about this race being her first one and never having run this far before.   So we were tickled when Kathy yells out “THERE SHE IS…THERE SHE IS!”

With a radiant smile and hands up, she trotted past us looking stronger than ever.  I fired off a few shots and then back in to the car we jumped for another ‘interestingly tense’ drive through more unfamiliar streets.

Then the skies opened up and the rain came down.  We found a new ‘ideal viewing spot’ on a street corner that was about mile 9 or 10 along the route. (The half marathon is 13.1 miles total)

Standing in a downpour with our rain gear, we couldn’t help but tear up with joy as we saw Caralyn’s mega-watt smile coming down the street looking more triumphant than ever. Holding an umbrellas to keep me dry, I was able to fire off a few more shots before we got back in to the car and started back to the original starting place where the runners would finish up.  By this point, Kathy and I were doing better with this type of navigating and were pretty pumped overall, with Caralyn’s progress.  We made it back and I was able to position myself up close to the finish line with my camera gear wrapped in plastic trash bags so I could capture her finish in a still steady rain.

What an exciting moment when she crossed that finish line.  What an exciting day.  Caralyn finished strong completing the race in two hours and fourteen minutes.

Watching the intense euphoric high she was undergoing after crossing the finish line was probably as close as I will ever get to experiencing that for myself. But she was certainly under the influence of something good.  We took her out for a well deserved meal and then dropped her off at her apartment before making our way back home.

I guess she already has signed up for her next race which she will participate in out in San Diego.  She has her heart set on doing another one and be it far from me to get in the way of anything this 4′ 11” power house sets her heart to doing.  All I can say is ‘Run Caralyn Run!”

To view the photos from the race day that I took, Just click HERE.

I also put together a video clip with music and posted it on YouTube. It’s below…Enjoy

It’s not quite as tall as the one in Paris, France.

And ours has a big red cowboy hat on top of it.

But it is pretty cool when lit up at night.  Especially since the city just paid to add some fancy color LED lights to give it a little spunk.

There was a trial lighting test tonight so I snapped a few shots.  Just click on the photo below to get a larger view of the little collage I put together here.

Living here in NE Texas where I teach in a rural area, you will find no shortage of Christian churches.   So I thought I’d see how many of my students knew the significance of the upcoming ‘holiday’.

I did this a few years ago and was intrigued by the responses. So I am again, sharing with you this year, the results of a ‘bonus’ question on their weekly vocabulary quiz.

Every Friday, my 6^th and 7^th graders take a vocabulary quiz over the words they received earlier in the week.  I usually add on a bonus question at the end that has to do with some detail out of the novel we are reading at the time.  The question is worth an extra 5 points but not mandatory to answer.

The question I added today was:  “According to Christian teachings, why were the bones of Jesus never found after his crucifixion (death on the cross)?”

For the record, I had 127 sixth and seventh graders in class today.   Out of all those students, I had 45 papers turned in where no response was given at all; or an ‘IDK’ or ‘?’ was marked down.

There were of course, a number of students who knew the appropriate answer to the question and did a reasonable job explaining their response.

And then there are the ‘interpretive’ answers that I always find to be a charming read. I share some of those with you here:

Again, the question they had an option to answer was:

“According to Christian teachings, why were the bones of Jesus never found after his crucifixion (death on the cross)?”

-because they were buried

-he was put in a home and then went to heaven

-didn’t he float away or get put in a tunnel?

-he never really died

-because he rose up and he did not lose his flesh and nobody will probably ever find the bones

-people hid them away

-his bones disintegrated

-people broke them all so God his them so no one could find them

-because they burned the cross

-they put him on a cross and they could not take him off of it

-he took the bones with him to heaven

-people believe they were burned

-God made them disappear

-no clue

-they were scattered around the world

-They went to heaven – God did’t want anything of Jesus to be left on Earth

-I honestly have no idea but I love Jesus.

-he never died. he came out after two days.

-he supposedly got up and walked out of the tomb

-he resurrected and took them with him.  ( got to wonder what he hauled them in *smile*)

When I did this a few years ago, by favorite answer then was the student who wrote:  “We haven’t got to that part yet”

This year, my most favorite response was:

he became a lamb after three days

(That one just made me smile.)

I am personally thankful for a Risen Savior.  Borrowing the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘if my hope was in this world alone, I would be of all men, most miserable.”

Happy Easter :- )

Can’t say it ever really fascinated me.  But then, I never really had much money to gamble with after raising three girls. We had a long stretch of some very lean years back then.

When my parents use to in Las Vegas, we would visit them from time to time and Mom would usually give us some ‘play money’ to go out and play the slots in the local casinos.  Needless to say, I never hit it big.

And for the record: The lottery has never appealed to me.  At any level.

So I’ve never played it.

Until this week.

I caught the headlines a few days ago about the ‘mega-millions’ jackpot nearing a total of 500 million dollars and thought that was just an insane amount of money.

Who knows …why I fired off a quick email to some coworkers joking about us taking an ‘early retirement’ and pitching in 10 dollars each to pool our funds on some tickets.

It didn’t take long for nearly the entire campus to bring me their money  wanting a chance at instant wealth.

So in about seven hours from this writing, when the numbers are drawn on what will easily be the largest lottery jackpot giveaway in world history, there is a possibility that 26 of us holding a total of 260 combinations, could see our lives changed overnight.  Don’t worry….I’m not holding my breath and drafting up my resignation.  But I did open up my house for an all night celebration/planning party for the group should our numbers win.

But I have to admit, that for ten bucks, it has provided a good bit of smiles, laughs, and ‘daydreams’ over the past 48 hours.  It’s been fun to sit at lunch with my fellow comrades and talk about what we would do if we won and how we would navigate through the whirlwind of activity should we receive such a prize.  I figure I could drop 10 dollars at a local movie theater and be entertained for 2 hours while eating a bag of popcorn.  This just lasted longer and has been, for some strange reason, a charming distraction that has brought a lot of smiles to us all.

Obviously, no one here is holding out thinking we will actually win.  Well, maybe a couple of them are. *wink…they know who they are-wink*

Honestly, I cannot even imagine how life would change for us all …to experience such a windfall.  After having the past 48 hours to chew on it, I do think I know what would be a fun project for me to get involved with. That would be to do a photo-type story for a book documenting how such an extraordinary event would transform the lives of 26 school teachers and the surrounding community.

I do recognize and acknowledge the sad reality that multitudes of people across the country are probably scraping up money…they do not have and betting against all odds that this could be their long awaited pot of gold.  Who knows how many kids will suffer and miss a meal, or see their lights turned off because of irresponsible parents losing sight of priorities and obligations?

But I can’t do anything about that.

And I’m glad I’m not manning the ‘switchboard in heaven’ as prayers for the winning numbers bombards God’s throne.

Mom laughs telling me the story about how years ago, when they still lived in Vegas, California’s state lottery had a pretty big jackpot up for grabs.  Her and Dad decided to make a drive over to the state line and pick up some tickets and on the way, they started discussing what they would do with the winnings if they had the lucky combination of numbers.  Before they ever got to the store, they admittedly had gotten in to a rather heated fight disagreeing on how they thought the money should be spent.  Go figure….just glad they can laugh looking back on that one.

Anyway, as the week comes to a close, I have to admit that I count myself to be blessed beyond measure in so many ways.  Winning 640 million dollars (latest projection as this writing) would just be the icing on the cake.

Heck Yeah…that would be a lot of icing.

Good luck to everyone else out there who has enjoyed their own personal daydreams over the past few days.

(And speaking of handling all those prayers, someone reminded me of a scene out of the movie, “Bruce Almighty’.  Funny stuff.)

It’s been a part of my life as long as I can remember.  When we moved back to the states after my Dad’s first tour in Europe, I secured my first job throwing a morning paper route in 1972 at Ft. Sheridan- an Army base about an hour north of Chicago. I was 12 years old and I delivered both the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times seven days a week in all types of weather.  (think Chicago…Lake Michigan..winter time)  In fact that first year on the job, I won a contest selling subscriptions and won an all expense paid trip to DC to watch Nixon’s second inauguration.

There was something fascinating to me back in that day, waking  up so early and being the first one to see the headlines of the morning papers before anyone else was up to read their copies.  I followed the wind down of the Viet Nam war…the daily revelations of Watergate and the eventual resignation of Nixon.  I would always scan the breaking stories before bagging or banding them up for delivery on my trusty Schwinn spider bike, decked out with carrier baskets on both sides of my rear wheel.

I had that route for about three years making a whopping $35.00 a month that I was proud to earn.   I spent another year or two working at the Highland Park News Agency on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings bagging up hundreds of papers for the motor route drivers and eventually helping deliver store copies of the Sunday edition of the Chicago papers to the local convenience stores.

It was also during those years in Illinois that I learned the basics of B&W photography and developed a passion for taking and developing my own pictures.  That led to some early publications of my photographs in the local paper there on base.

In 1976, we were back overseas in Germany and wouldn’t you know it…I found myself on the editorial staff of our school paper for my last two years of high school.  I even wrote a column that was pretty much silly nonsense stuff called Tony’s Tempo. (yeah…I know…hard to believe)  I also continued my passion with photography and was thrilled when the Stars & Stripes, the military’s daily newspaper in Europe ran a photo I took of an elderly woman in a local market in Nuremberg .

After graduating, I made my way to Arizona State University in Tempe and got hired on my freshman year as a staff photographer for the State Press, the school’s daily publication.   I also remember vividly that one morning when my good friend and roommate, Mike Fioritto and I  were drinking coffee while listening to our police scanner about some hostage situation in a nearby neighborhood. We loaded up on our motorcycles, camera gear strapped securely on and somehow found ourselves being ushered in with other media by police officers to document the event.  We were the only still photographers there and ended up seeing one of my shots published in the Arizona Republic the next day.  Exciting stuff.

Fast forward a couple of years and the next thing you know, I’m married…in Texas, a father already, and spent the next 8 years working as an independent distributor for The San Antonio Light, a Randolph Hearst publication.  I oversaw about two dozen carriers who delivered the daily afternoon paper there in NE San Antonio and have countless good memories of those days…too many to even begin mentioning here.  But you can see why in many ways, newspapers have been in ‘my blood’ for a long time.  Whether the distribution of it, taking pictures for it, writing occasional articles or editorials…it’s just always been a part of my life.  The smell of the news ink triggers so many flashbacks for me.  I love working the crossword puzzle in a folded up copy with pen or pencil in hand.  And I still marvel to see something I wrote or photographed published with that byline and my name next to it.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the newspaper industry is undergoing drastic changes with the advent and ever increasing popularity of the internet.  The handwriting has been on the wall for years now.  I read a recent article I saw posted online that only reaffirmed what I’ve known for some time – that beloved print edition of the local daily paper has seen its better days.  While I understand the reasons for it, it still saddens me for multiple reasons. Times are changing and as I often remind myself: nothing ever stays the same.

As I grow older, I join the swelling ranks of fellow citizens who see the  world as they knew it, continuously change and be  transformed, leaving many of the intricate components of a previous day in an ash heap overshadowed by that ever present entity we call…technological advancement.  Strangely enough, I still remember a teacher I had in the 12^th grade, Bill Metzger, who said in a class one day that we would probably see in our life time the day when we got our daily news from computers. He sure called that one right.

I know lots of people who are still closely connected to the industry.  Who knows what the future holds for them.  But if the predictions of the past come to be, I will mourn the passing with them of a profession I grew to love at a young age. It’s not that the profession itself, that of producing, writing, photographing and the delivery of that news will become obsolete…but the means it which it is transmitted will continue it’s drastic transformation.

For some reason, I am unable to make the entire article I read that prompted this blog entry available. But here is  an excerpt:

The headlines about the US newspaper industry have never been so bleak.

In recent weeks, LinkedIn, the networking website, and the Council of Economic Advisers have reported that the press is “America’s fastest-shrinking industry”, measured by jobs lost; the Newspaper Association of America has shown that advertising sales have halved since 2005 and are now at 1984’s level; and the Pew Research Center has found that for every digital ad dollar they earned, they lost $7 in print ads.

. . . .

Zenith Optimedia this week predicted that internet advertising would pass newspaper advertising next year around the world – but in the US, where internet penetration is high and newspaper audiences are shrinking, digital will overtake newspapers’ and magazines’ combined ad sales this year, eMarketer estimates.

“There’s no doubt we’re going out of business now,” one unnamed executive told Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Over the years, I have often thought that with the overwhelming influx of information that we are inundated with 24/7, at what point do our hearts  become seared and unable to respond in a decent manner.

Famines, genocide, natural disasters – tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes…the list goes on and on.  We’ve all seen the images on our TV’s, computers, magazines, or whatever other means of communication you are wired in to.

The starving, tear stained face of a child swarmed by flies compels us to act.  The images we see after massive widespread destruction leaving multitudes of people homeless and desperate leave us shaking our heads and feeling totally inadequate to offer any significant help.  Finally, we can reach a point of ‘overload’ and if not careful, our hearts can become calloused.

So now we are fully immersed in the ‘age of Facebook‘.  A week never goes by where we are not hearing about the latest  YouTube clip that has gone ‘viral’.  And Twitter is credited with aiding revolutions in the Middle East.  In short, the world has become even smaller than what the satellite and television made it.  Will this age of internet only expedite our breaking point when it comes to how much info we can take in and at the speed we receive it?  Time will only tell.

Having said all that, I have to share a video clip I watched today.  I found it upsetting, convicting, intriguing and fascinating from a cultural point of view. It is the current generation’s way of ‘changing the world’.  Or at last attempting to make a difference.

We can only embrace so many social causes. Yet, I don’t think we can ever be reminded enough, that no matter how bad you think you have it, you truly need not look far to find others who are much worse off.  Nothing like a little perspective to nurture out souls.

I recognize that it is unrealistic to think many people will take the time to watch a video clip that last THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES.  Yet, something within me feels compelled to share this one.  I’m challenged by it. It stirs something within me, yet at this point in time, I’m not sure what that ‘something’ is.  But allow me to challenge you to watch it as well.

Amazingly…when I started it this morning before school started, there had been 1,835,351 views on this YouTube presentation.

I stopped it when school started…then finished it when classes let out this afternoon.  When I ‘refreshed’ the page, the number of views had leaped to 7,377,102 views… in less than 8 hours.

Read her story

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Blake grow up over the years.  Her delightful charm and sweet demeanor has never changed from what I remember of her when she used to sit in my class.  Always with a smile and exemplifying politeness and good manners, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in passing when her face wouldn’t light up with a radiant greeting of:  “Hi Mr. Corso”.

I have to admit that it is a special experience for me to watch these kids come through the local school system and mature into young adults.  I watched Blake stay actively involved through her high school years as a student,  cheerleader and on the yearbook staff, among other things. I even drove the school bus for several years out to her house to pick up her younger brother.

The next thing you know I’m watching her process my bank transitions when I would go through the drive-through at my local bank in town.

So the other day when I walked in to the bank to make a deposit, I was a bit taken back to see her working as a teller up front.  Actually, what caught my eye was the fact she was completely bald.  But that sure didn’t hinder her from the routine greeting that I have grown accustomed to from her over the years.  In fact, the only thing shinier than her bald pate was the glowing smile that spread across her face as she said: “Hi Mr. Corso”.

Now there are some things one can notice about a person when they see them and ‘pretend’ that you don’t see it and carry on a conversation like nothing is different.  But that was not going to happen with this meeting.  I just stopped…and the only thing I could think of to say was: “Hi Blake.  Are you starting a new trend?”

Animated as ever, she began to share with me in such a childlike way that she lost her hair due to an auto-immune disease known as ‘Alopecia’.  Sounding like she was well read on the subject, she went on to educate me (and the customer standing next to me) of this ‘disease’ that can attack the joints (rheumatoid arthritis) , the organs (Lupus), or the hair (Alopecia). She felt quite fortunate to have had it attack the latter.

It was in August of last year that she discovered a couple of bald spots on the back of her head.  She laughs now, sharing how she thought she got mange from her dog.  But the problem persisted and after numerous doctor’s visits and testing and more testing, she received her diagnosis and began to accept the reality of a hairless life.

“At least I don’t have to mess with shaving my legs anymore” Blake quips with a smile.

Did she have struggles as the truth of this diagnosis settled in?  Of course.  She had her ugly cries and pity parties… not to mention she has become proficient at wig shopping.

There is no ‘cure’ for her disease.  It is possible that it could go in to remission on it’s own but there is no treatment that will bring this about.

But she  seemingly is beginning to feel comfortable in her own skin as well.  She gets a lot of affirmation from family, friends, colleagues and customers, being reminded once again of the old saying ‘bald is beautiful’.

Blake is in the middle of planning her upcoming wedding in August.  She plans to wear a wig for her walk down the aisle.  But with a growing jewelry and headband collection, along with honing her make-up application skills, it’s likely that the next time you stroll in to the bank,  you’ll see that shiny round head illuminated by a cheerful smile greeting you as usual.

It goes without saying that I saw a wonderful model in the making as we quickly agreed to do a photo shoot together.  Blake gave me permission to ‘show her off’ which you can view by clicking on the photo below.

I can’t believe how quickly the years have flown by.  So many precious memories that I have raising them here in NE Texas.  Forgive me for feeling a tad nostalgic on Valentine’s Day, but this was always a special day between them and me as I personally delivered flowers to them at school every year on this day.

We certainly had some lean years way back then but you’d never known it by just the genuine happiness we all shared together…from imaginary softball games at a darkened ball field to fishing excursions and camp-0uts.  They all played such a significant part in the church I pastored for years and I know they have a lifetime of memories from that experience alone.  We raised them in the country and they have simply grown up in to beautiful, mature, intelligent  women of integrity and are out making their mark on this world.

Just a quick update on where they are and what they are doing now.

Lisa

Lisa has been married now for almost 8 months to Paul Devereaux and they live in Gilbert, AZ.  Lisa works full time for Mission Community Church there in Arizona as their communication Director and is also serving as their worship director which is pretty awsome considering it is a 5000+ member church.  She’s come a long way since Minter.

Minda

After living/working in the Dallas metroplex for the last ten years, she took a giant leap of faith and ventured out of her ‘comfort zone’ for some new challenges.  Minda moved to Tallahassee, FL where she is the Social Media Manager for an educational foundation headed up by Jeb Bush. Minda simply flourishes wherever she goes.

Caralyn

And this sweet little girl just graduated from nursing school in December with her BSN/RN, sailed through her boards, and landed an incredible job at Baylor Health Care system in Dallas where she is currently being trained to be an ER/Trauma nurse.

And let me add here that as blessed as I am to be their ‘Dad’, there is no way they would have ever grown to be the incredible women they are had it not been the influence of their Mom, Kathy.

We are a blessed family in so many ways.

And just for fun…a video clip below here just looking back over the years …Enjoy.