[email protected]

Sophie is the baby (two years old) where Holly's staying. This is the end
of an IM we had going for a while. I thought for those who wonder how it is
with 13 year old girls being far away, this might be soothing. Tam is Tam
King, who's 15 and I was her transportation for a dance recital mid-day today;
she and her youngest brother, Malcolm, who's 11, are here.



SandraDodd: Tam did a flash cartoon but I don't have the address for it
yet. She's doing some kind of correspondence school and is doing that as a
project.
HollyLynnDodd:
oh that's cool, are they still over there?
HollyLynnDodd: I'm tired I think I'll go sleep pretty soon here
HollyLynnDodd: i'm 'tard *is what Sophie says*
SandraDodd: Okay
SandraDodd: Yeah. Kirby and some guys just left, but Tam and Malcolm are
still here
SandraDodd: Vincent went with his mom to Santa Fe and then they were going
to stop by Albuquerque Academy, where he's going to school next year for
sure. :-/
HollyLynnDodd: what guys? can you name them?
SandraDodd: He'd rather do Prep, but his dad wants the other.
HollyLynnDodd: not sandia prep? hhow sad
SandraDodd: Dylan
Cameron
Kirby

are going to meet
Marty, Ryan and Leif at
Fuddrucker's at coronado
HollyLynnDodd: thank you, it makes me feel good knowing those kind of
things... I'm not sure why
SandraDodd: Same reason it helps me to know where you are and what you
bought and where you sat in the bus, I guess.
HollyLynnDodd: yeah, prolly
HollyLynnDodd: good night
SandraDodd: Good Night! I love you.
HollyLynnDodd: i'm going to go sleep in my bed that's right by Jazzy's and
right near all my stuff and pretty nice and cozey.
HollyLynnDodd: Love you too


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/2/2005 6:22:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
> I thought for those who wonder how it is
> with 13 year old girls being far away, this might be soothing.
How nice and comforting. I would never know you were so far apart. Is she
having a great time? How do you feel? I look forward to times when my sons
venture further out in the world but I fear it too.

Pamela


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/2/2005 4:31:43 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
b229d655@... writes:

-=-I would never know you were so far apart. -=-

I love IM and e-mail. And failing those, she has been loaned a phone for
the duration of her stay and compared to any other time in the history of the
world, transatlantic calls are cheap. IM is cheaper, and I can save it.


-=-Is she having a great time?-=-

Seems to be. I'm documenting lots of it here:
_http://sandradodd.com/england_ (http://sandradodd.com/england)


-=-How do you feel?-=-

At first I really missed her. I'm still restless and I walk into her room
and look around, feed her rats, look out her window, wonder what she's doing.

A couple of times I've been jealous, but I'm having a good time here,
getting tons of cool stuff done in the yard, hanging out with Marty and Kirby more
than I would if Holly were here, and having a good time with Keith.

I'm super happy for her to be having this experience, though. It will give
a big boost to her thinking in all kinds of areas--language, geography,
history, interpersonals, art, architecture, parenting, the difference between
herself at home and herself out and about (if any, and in what ways she might
have perceived differences). She'll never forget and these things will be part
of her view of herself and the world as long as she lives. Very, very cool.

It might be rough when she gets back. She could be angsty, frustrated,
feeling smaller, missing things, being exhausted and not recognizing it. Or she
could be none of that, and just slip right back into her Albuquerque days and
ways. Every weekday all summer they serve free lunch in the park near here
(lots of city parks). She'll probably go and develop a routine there, catch
up with some of her summer friends, meet the lunch lady, see who's got new
puppies they're bringing, etc. She'll play a lot of Halo 2 to make up for lost
time.

Sandra






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/2/2005 10:11:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
> Very, very cool.
>
Indeed. I hope my kids will have and want these types of life experiences.

Pamela


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

I'm glad friends of ours decided to move to England and have enough room to
host Holly! We lucked out.

The first time I went to England it was to stay with a family I knew from
Albuquerque, too. The dad was a folksinging friend of mine, who was also one
of my English profs and he went to Cambridge for a sabbatical to research Ben
Jonson and had a house and said I could come visit. I said "I'm going to."
He said, "I believe you will!" I was in my mid twenties, borrowed money
against my meagre teacher's salary, and went that summer. Took a year to pay it
off, but it was worth it.

Without a house and friends to go to, I would've had no idea how to go about
it and could've probably only stayed a really short while.

Sandra




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Julie Bogart

--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
>
> Without a house and friends to go to, I would've had no idea how to
go about
> it and could've probably only stayed a really short while.


We've got the same luck. My aunt is married to an Italian an lives in
Italy. I visted her twice when I was in my twenties.

Almost all my traveling happened during my twenties and I always tied
my trips to people I knew who lived there. To me, the best way to
really get to know a place is through living in someone's home (not
staying in hotels, though if you have to, you have to).


I was in my mid twenties, borrowed money
> against my meagre teacher's salary, and went that summer. Took a
year to pay it
> off, but it was worth it.

We are taking our family of seven to Italy this summer to stay with my
aunt's family. We decided three years ago that even if we couldn't
save enough, we'd put the rest on a Visa and pay it off over time. I
knew that if we let money stop us, we'd regret it years later. The
amazing thing for us (and we do not earn very much) is that once we
put our minds to saving, we not only saved alot but people who love us
in our family donated to the cause.

We leave for an 18 day trip to Italy on July 2.

This is the most money we've ever spent on education. <g> Better than
college.

Julie B

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/2005 8:28:29 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
julie@... writes:

We leave for an 18 day trip to Italy on July 2.

This is the most money we've ever spent on education. <g> Better than
college.




So...
Y'gonna keep a website or a blog of this thing? <g> Then we can all
vicariously peek at Italy and a big family experience.

(If you want to spend all your time being right there instead of documenting
it, I'll totally and entirely understand.)

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]