Month: March 2014

During the previous semester my principal had unceremoniously interrupted an interview I was conducting with two parents. He stood beside me, facing the parents, and told them that I was the most dynamic teacher he had on staff. Then he apologized for interrupting and sauntered away. I turned crimson and was at a loss for words.

“Wow!” the father said as he watched my principal leave.

“I paid him to say that,” I responded, trying to recover with some levity.

“I don’t think so,” replied the mother, “my son tells me the same thing. As a matter of fact, we came in tonight just to meet you.”

Once again I felt that feeling of unworthiness.

Excerpt From: A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching by John Fioravanti

Pondering this incident I wrote about in 2006, I remember posing the question to myself as to whether this demonstrated false modesty on my part. Then after much reflection on the entire journey that was my career, I concluded that I habitually viewed my actions, with a jaded eye and, therefore, myself. Continue reading “A Jaded Eye and a Mask”

After our return from a recent Caribbean cruise, I feel compelled to share three separate events that caused us both angst and some giggles too. John and I traveled with our friends Ron and Margie, our daughter Dianna, her fiance Stephene, and our eldest grandaughter Lexi. John, Ron, and Stephene needed to take their suits for the two formal nights aboard the cruise ship. After some alterations, John’s suit was ready to go, and the other two men had freshly pressed suits ready to go as well.

On the morning of our departure we were all very excited as the limousine whisked us towards the border and Buffalo Airport. It was an hour into the trip when our future son-in-law, Stephene, grew quiet and gloomy. As it turned out his suit was left behind – hanging in the closet so it wouldn’t get too creased before we left. What to do? If we went back, we’d miss our flight. Upon arriving in Fort Lauderdale where we stayed for three days, we planned a shopping trip at the Sawgrass Mills Mall. Stephene was a man on a mission the next day when we arrived at the mall. Before long he and Dianna came upon a high end men’s clothing store and found a Hugo Boss suit that fit perfectly. Problem solved! Now Stephene could breathe easier and grace us with a brilliant smile. Continue reading “A Yarn of Three Suits”

Recently Anne and I enjoyed our third cruise in the Caribbean Sea. It was especially enjoyable this year because we left behind the worst winter to hit our area in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario in about twenty years. As we left Buffalo the mercury registered -15 C. When we landed in overcast Fort Lauderdale it was a balmy +22 C – that took some getting used to! Cruising in the Caribbean aboard Royal Caribean’s Oasis of the Seas, took us into hot humid environs where the humidex registered in the mid to high 90s F.

Ah… winter in the Caribbean! As we toured Labadee, Haiti; the northern coast of Jamaica; and Cozumel, Mexico I began to think about the fictional planet which is the focus of my science fiction series launching this coming fall. The planet is called Genesis, which became home to a UN selection of survivors from Earth. After their departure in the mid twenty-first century to find a new world, humanity on Earth succumbed to a sentient biological weapon. The UN mission took two centuries to reach Genesis. Continue reading “Paradise on a Tropical World?”

Anne Fioravanti – February, 2014

Today, my post reflects on the “Forgotten Ones” – the elderly who are lost, lonely, and left behind.

My Aunt Agnes (Aggie) who just celebrated her 100th Christmas, lives in a long term care home. She suffers from Alzheimer’s. Her spotty memories focus on the distant past when she was a girl, but periodically revisit more recent times. She amazed us all this past Christmas Eve by playing Silent Night on the piano – an instrument she’s not played for decades.

Her residence is home to many Forgotten Ones. They rarely get visitors. They eat, they sleep, and they wait and watch from a row of chairs placed before the nurses desk. From there they can see who gets off the elevators. I wonder if they watch in hope that someone they know will suddenly appear. Aggie stays in her room, waiting and watching in her chair by the window, sometimes praying the rosary, sometimes falling asleep.

What I find so reprehensible is that so many of these forgotten ones have dedicated most of their lives to their families and to love, only to be cast aside and left to wither away with only the fragmented memories they have left.
These words come to mind when I ponder on Aggie’s plight: Continue reading “The Lost, the Lonely, the Left Behind”