When I was younger I shared a room (and bed) with my brother Jaime, I always had a flashlight and book nearby. I’d read until I was done and then go down to the bathroom before falling asleep. If my parents were still up, I’d get yelled at for being up. I remember being dragged to the store and sitting in the book aisle reading while Mum shopped. (They use to sell books at a store called HILLS which is like Target today).

Earlier today Claire and I went through all of her books and got a large box for Bookman’s. Bookman’s is cool because they accept lots of books for a pretty good price We took two full boxes and my buddy Audrea was working. We dropped them off up front and headed to find the “Chapter books” (they’r e novels for under 6th graders). Claire has about 30 Magic Treehouse books so I wanted to fill in the gaps from when I bought them on Ebay. We also wanted to see what else they had.

She got eight Magic Treehouse books, a few fairy books, and the first Judy Moody book. She’d seen Judy Moody and the Not So Bummer in June with her Auntie M, my sister (Meghan) and her only aunt. After she picked the ones she wanted, it was my turn to look around. Claire climbed into the cart with Judy and started reading. I had to pull it from her hand to pay and then she read it all the way to REI. In REI she was reading and walking into things.I sat her down near where I planned to shoot; I told her to scream bloody order if anyone touched her. She sat in the corner on the floor while I shopped nearby and it reminded me of when I would do the same at Hills.

Later that evening after she had dinner and watched some tv, I tossed her and her book into bed about 7pm. I told her to make sure she didn’t come out since I was planning to watch American Horror Story and that was the last thing I wanted her to walk into. Around 9:45pm I heard her bedroom door click, and she came out as I hit pause. She sleepily climbed into my lap and told me that she just finished her book. I carried her back into her room where she showed me Judy Moody book #1. She talked to me about it for a few minutes and showed me her 105 page chapter book. I put it on her shelf, sat another new book near her bed, and turned off the light. Like father, like daughter.

Claire came over to my couch to say good night today as I was clicking on a link I saw from some Twitter feed. Suddenly the We Give Books website pops up with the book Goodnight, iPad, which is a tech parody of Goodnight, Moon. This original book is a staple in our house (Claire and I BOTH have it memorized); I own Goodnight, Bush and Claire has Goodnight, Goon (the scary version), so when Goodnight, iPad showed up, we both just stopped. The full color ebook was in my browser and she started reading it out loud to her mother and me. I “turned” the pages & we three enjoyed the entire book. I then clicked the button to send a book to a child in Asia. I logged in (for free) and made an account so Claire and I can enjoy more books online in the future, plus we’re going to rest it on her iTouch tomorrow so she can watch herself anytime.

Ok, let’s talk. REI isn’t always the cheapest outdoor store in the world, but there return policy rivals all of them. They have a 100% satisfaction rating & it’s a co-op. So this means that if we pay a one time lifetime membership (it’s like twenty bucks), then we “own” the place. If we buy something and for ANY REASON we don’t like it, we return it. It’s like sticking an ugly shirt back in your closet that you thought was cool that one dumb night. So you buy something at REI and in a day, month, year don’t like it, then take it back. Now HONEST people don’t take back stuff that they wear out but we are not all honest. I’ve taken back shoes after a year because the waterproofing didn’t work anymore. Another pair because they were too narrow. So 2-3 times a year they have what’s called a garage sale where owners go and buy the returned stuff. (None of which can be returned, and they mark it all with silver magic markers to make sure we don’t.) Two years ago we bought our first full sized family tent at a garage sale. The person returned it because it had a tear; the tear was an inch long on along an inside theme! We paid $50. It ran $350 brand new! Not bad. I’ve picked up $100 pants for $10 because the button fell off (did you ever hear of sewing?).

So today was the most recent garage sale at our local Tempe, AZ store. I arrived late and the hoards were out in full force. The October/November sale is always huge! Most of the time we’re looking for nothing particular and there are people who will camp out the night before. I arrive at 9:20 am and people walked around with huge hands of clothes, boots, and stuff. I always look for kid’s shoes because my child goes through sizes fast and warm clothes are always cool to grab in the fall. I found a pair of North Face pants for the wife that were missing a button but still had the tags attached. I paid $10.83. They had a pair of Vasque boots that inside the store brand new were $275.00 but the tag said they were returned because they were “dirty”. They were marked $40.83. I snagged them and another pair; the other pair of shoes were $14.83 and were just ok. They were newish and suede but obviously worn (some of the stuff were obviously worn well for over a year and looked it!). I figured I’d grab these shoes. I found a women’s watch in the bottom of a box. The tag said the owner replaced the battery but it didn’t work. There was no price. I shoved it into the boot to ask the price later. I found a $10 shirt that is usually $45 & several pairs of wool socks that were still brand new but marked down to $2.83 for my daughter.

The employees announced that today’s garage sale was buy one get one shoes, so when I made my way to check out the cashier asked which pair or shoes were the cheaper of the two. I pointed to the $15~ ones so he charged me for THOSE and gave me the $40~ for free! Way to go! Half way home I remembered the watch shoved down in the one boot. Damn. Nothing I was going to do then as I had a meeting but when I got home I tinkered with it. I figured I’d buy a battery and try to make it work. If it didn’t, I’d toss it. The thing had a nice solid band, large numbers (this is for my 6 year old so numbers are a must!) and a scratch free face. I pulled the pin out of the “lock position” and immediately the second hand started moving. Tick tock tick tock. Yep, someone was an idiot. The retail price? $175.00 for the watch. My price, free. But do remember I am owner and I really do spent a lot of money at this place. I appreciate the garage sales and always roll my eyes when people return things like $275 boots because they’re dirty or $100 Keen dress shoes because they “squeak”.

Shop at REI, pay a little more for the reassurance that if you’re gear truly does suck, you can take it back.

I enrolled in graduate school at Duquesne University in spring 1998 to begin work on my Master’s degree in English Education. I was excited to get into the classroom and work with students. My internship was at Baldwin High School where I was a student myself. It was surreal giving my sister a hall pass and teaching a friend of our family, who we would see socially on the weekends. While the internship was awesome, student teaching was the real deal.

I won’t forget the day I walked into the graduate offices and was given my student teaching placement. In script handwriting it said “Barbara Schomer, Mt Lebanon High School”. While I didn’t know the woman, I knew the school. Mt Lebanon is one of the top public high schools on the east coast, and I was excited to get into such a prestigious school. My grades were near perfect, my professors lauded me each week, and now I was going to Lebo.

In late Spring I went to meet Barb Schomer. She was a short, older woman who demanded respect and was a solidly important part of the English faculty. I remember the box of novels she handed me to read over the summer and her showing me “my desk” in the corner near hers. We talked for quite a bit and I was under the impression that she was one of the more rigorous cooperating teachers in our program, but I was use to working with these sorts of educators. Student teaching began day one with students and I stayed until late December. Barb started our relationship as the pedagogist and me as the clerical mind. I helped keep things organized, took attendance, kept us both sane. She said she loved that about me. She told me that at home Barb’s husband, Bru, took on that role and it was nice to have me around. Her former student teacher was a performer with a background in theatre. Barb would hand her the lesson plan and the woman would do it. That was just enough. Then I came along with a background in literature and a strong pedagogical presence. By the semester’s end, our relationship shifted. I continued my clerical organization but segued them smoothly into my relationship teaching the students and building a family in the classroom. I finished that semester winning Duquesne’s Student Teacher of the Year Award and that had everything to do with Barb.

I learned so much from this woman. I learned to always have things planned out “in case you get hit by a truck” as she would say. Have plans more than a week out. Always praise students before critiquing them, always help them genuinely get better in whatever you’re teaching, balance the line between teacher and friend.

I left Duquesne, Mt Lebanon and Pittsburgh in the summer of 1999 and for the first few years I reconnected with Barb and Bru over holidays. I remember when we took Claire to dinner and they were able to enjoy this new little girl throwing her cheerios across the table at them. They laughed and her and enjoyed her as their own grandchild. By now Barb retired and Bru still taught science nearby. Barb, always an outdoors women, spent more and more time volunteering around the world and living in their West Virginian cabin. She even made it out to AZ to visit friends where I was able to spend an evening with her.

In 2010, Barb was diagnosed with Cancer. Her and Bru quickly moved to Centreville, VA so Barb could be treated at Georgetown University Hospital’s cancer center. We continued our relationship via email She was able to visit her cabin and take short walks in nature. By spring she was able to make a trip to Las Vegas to visit family and I was happy to hear her traveling and getting by. By fall she’d been to Florida and was doing well. When she could not get out as much I printed and framed a photo she liked of mine that I shot in the Coconino National Forest this past March. In early fall Barb traveled to PA for a family reunion, and I wish I were there so I too could talk to her once more.

I was not there. I was teaching in Arizona where my own students tell me what I mean to them. They share their dreams, hopes, fears, and loves with me. They listen to my words of wisdom passed down from Barb. I had the honor of passing on Barb’s wisdom to both Joe Abbruscato and Lindsey Costley, my own two student teachers, and I live my teaching life in the shadowing grace of a giant of a woman who will always be missed by me and never forgotten, as today Barbara succumbed to her Cancer with Bru and her daughter’s at her side. She is peacefully walking the trails of nature, caving to the depths of infinity and watching over all of us. Thank you, Barb, I love you.