glenrockschwartz

Where were you when you found out about the assassinations of JFK, MLK Jr, Princess Diana, on 9/11, when the space shuttle Challenger didn't clear our atmosphere? I bet you know with distinct clarity. What about October 7th 2023. Is that date etched in your mind? Or is it just another day - like maybe that's the day that a war started and you understand its historical significance?  But do you know where you were, what you were doing, what you were feeling in those exact moments when you were seven or more hours behind in time zone and you woke up to news?  I know.  I remember that weekend with intense clarity.  The highest and happiest of highs combined with some scary lows that have yet to dissipate even three years later. We skipped parents' weekend Alex's sophomore year because we scored U2 tickets at the Sphere and since we were already going to be out west we made plans for our own CU Boulder Parents' Weekend. It all started on Thurs Oct 5, we had an early fli...

  Dear Avery, Today you leave for your gap year in Israel.  Here is a copy of the note that I wrote for you to read on the plane. _______________________________________________ No matter how much you grow up, no matter how far away you travel, I will always feel the magnetic pull toward you - In every lifetime, and every alternate universe, I got you; I am always here to lift you up. Treat this year as the gift that it is. You have the opportunity to try out new facets of yourself. You get to be bold. You get to laugh and cry, to love hard, to grow and develop in the fine human that already exists on the inside - it's who you were always meant to be. Be a sister to your new friends right next to you and to your old friends who are far away. Be a boss lady, be introspective. Feel G-d all around you. Get outside of your head and don't overthink too much. And please always know that whatever choices you make (I hope they are good choices), even if you choose wrong, that there wi...

  Dear Avery, I know I will let this go without saying anything to you in the moment (with a definite fight if I do say something), but I wanted to let you know for later in life how tiny choices of words matter.  The story goes that I was somehow supposed to know that I had yet another task as the mother of a culturally Jewish Tri state teenage daughter. If you told me about your disappointment last summer and expected me to remember this summer without reminding me, well that didn’t happen.  I felt badly and let you know via text. You responded kind of letting me off the hook and letting me know that you love me (ily too!!), but also telling me that I have failed you and that you have to do everything yourself. You texted “I figured it out by myself”. Had you ended the sentence before “by myself” it wouldn’t have felt like a knife in my heart. But instead that one phrase written and I shut down (much to your dad’s confusion), had a bad night, didn’t sleep. I  This ...

She strides forward with confidence. She is all alone, there is no one by her side, but still, she holds her head high. She is tougher than nails.  She has no choice.  She had to evolve.   It is the first day of sophomore year of high school.  I am working from home and I get a panicked call from my baby girl "Mom I can't find any of my friends for lunch!" I immediately drive the half mile to the school to pick her up and take her home for lunch.  On the drive back home we see her friends all walking together going to have lunch at one of their houses. Just a few days later, that same friend calls my baby girl and tells her that ' they ' the collective group don't feel comfortable having her sit with them at lunch.  I have known these kids and their parents since they were in diapers, before they could even walk.  Not one of their parents reached out to me.  Not one of those kids stood up and chose inclusion. So she reinvents.  She cobbles to...

  Dear Avery, Happy 18th birthday! I haven't seen you yet today because you have spent the past week doing business lady stuff with school and are currently on a flight home from Atlanta.  But still, you asked would I decorate your bedroom door like I have done since you could walk, even if you weren't here to wake up to it this morning.  (Of course I will! And bonus points that I could get it done the day before without any time pressure.)  As you turn 18, this theme  of grown up girls, not being as grown up as they think and still needing their mamas is one  that I would like to explore with you in more depth. When you google "what every 18 year old should know", you get lists ranging from 18 (cute) to 100!  These are life skills that I am proud to say you (and Alex) both have.  You can sew a button, follow a recipe, make a doctor appointment and do the laundry. You can also change a light bulb AND change a diaper - the latter a skill that I did...

Dear Alex, I will never stop being your mom.  I will never stop shining a light on all that is wonderful about you. I may however decide to stop writing these birthday letters to you.  Not sure what the age will be, but I don't feel ready yet as you turn 22. So here goes, a short top ten list of things that I love about you that I want you to remember from that time you turned 22 (in no particular order): 1. I love your passion for bringing better teaching to young kids.  I also love that I have access to your google photos and can see the videos of you in action with your third-grade class. 2. I love your friendships and relationships (Callie!) and how true you are to them and to yourself. 3. I love how you have embraced your nerd.  You make Pokémon and Renaissance Faires and Star Wars, and a list of classically nerd things actually cool. 4. I love that we both share a love of music and that the same artists alternately bring us to tears or a state of Zen. Zeppelin ...