Jamie Janosz

This year, on October 6th, our daughter Sabrina will turn 14. We will celebrate another birthday that same day. Our other daughter, Noellia, lives in the Dominican Republic. Noellia and Sabrina share the same birthday, the same age, born on the exact same day. We support Noellia through the sponsor-a-child program at World Vision. http://www.worldvision.org/ Our daughter, Sabrina, loves to read. She is always on her computer. She loves anime and cosplay and Japanese food. She gives a creative spark to everything she does, whether it is the clothes she chooses to wear or her hair styles. She is kind hearted and a wonderful friend. She is extremely smart and humble. Her dad and I are very proud of her. We have never met Noellia. But, she has a smile that lights up every photo. She has been our sponsored child for about five years through World Vision. She has a pet goat. She helps her parents with chores like carrying water. She has resilience and determination and ...

I stood in the middle of Miami International Airport, arms spread, palms facing up, feet on the two yellow footprints painted on the cement floor. The female security agent was a foot shorter than me, her brown braided hair came only to my chin. She pulled on latex gloves. "I'm going to pat you down," she said, "But when I come to sensitive areas, I'll use the back of my hand." I nodded. "Would you prefer to move to a private area?" she asked, her eyes softening. "No," I shrugged. "This is fine." My husband was behind me in line - and another security agent was being summoned to give him the same inspection. We had decided to opt out of the x-ray machine that was scrutinizing everyone attempting to fly out of Miami. The funny thing is that even after passengers were x-rayed, another agent was patting them down anyway. Regardless, the whole process made me feel like a common criminal. Between the spread-eagle pat do...

The first two times I watched the smash hit television series Glee , I hated it. I didn't like the characters or the plot - and, frankly, I found some of it offensive. But this summer, I found it again on Netflix - so, starting from the beginning, my soon-to-be 8th grader daughter and I watched it. I was hooked. I had thought this was a show about high school and singing - and it is. But it is also a show about people who are multi-faceted and quirky - people who don't fit in or who don't think they fit in high school or in society. People like me. I have now watcheed Glee up until mid-season 2. And, while I would still offer some parental cautions abou the show's content - I think there is much about it to love: 1) Will Schuster - Here is a teacher who loves his students. I had a few teachers like this in high school who loved us - and we knew it. One was my English teacher, Mr. Gansauer. We loved to talk to him and listen to his stories. He was funny and sm...

Thanks to my friend, writer, and fellow blogger Amanda Cleary Eastep for passing along this blog prompt. Try it out on your blog or just enjoy reading it and meeting some new bloggers! What do you think of when you the hear the word tag? I think of recess at Parkside School in Thornton, Illinois. I remember being "it" a lot because I wasn't so good at running or any type of outdoor activity. I also remember the "cootie" stage where the girls would try to catch the boys or boys catch the girls and "infect" them. Do you think you’re hot? Last week, I was extremely hot :-). The humidity was killing me. My husband and I did the air conditioning battle - he inched the dial up - and I put it back down. No - seriously - I feel like at age 45 I am finally growing into my body and becoming less worried about my appearance. Upload a picture or wallpaper that you’re using at the moment. This is a sunset in Door County, Wisconsin - always one of my favorite ...