Andy Smallman

A couple nights back I wrote about the Perretz-Rosales family, mentioning the De Colores Bookstore they created for Simon, their youngest member. In today’s photo I’m featuring Simon, or Si, in a picture I took of him in 1986 or ’87 in my apartment in Olympia. He’s 6 or 7 years-old.

Once a week back then I’d meet up with Si and his dad, Bob, late in the afternoon. As part of his therapy program, Si would run sprints not far from my apartment. I’d be there as part of his support team, and then bring him back to my apartment where the two of us would spend some time together and have dinner. He liked to listen to tapes while I made the meal.

On this particular night I remember making a stew. I asked Si what we should call it. He said, “Brunch.” So thereafter, this stew, this particular dinner, was known as Brunch.

Twice before (here and here), I’ve written about Dorothy, each time mentioning how she, our 93 year-old next door neighbor, was responsible for us being chosen to purchase our house (it was a seller’s market). What I haven’t said is that Dorothy regularly makes cookies for PSCS, a tradition that goes back several years.

In fact, Dorothy providing baked goods has traditional roots that extend beyond PSCS. She used to bring her home-baked thoughtfulness to one of the local hospitals. That is, until the administrators stopped the practice, since Dorothy’s kitchen is not health department approved. PSCS students and staff were only too happy to step in and provide taste buds and stomachs for Dorothy’s treats.

The school always makes a thank you note and in today’s photo you see Dorothy with the latest, the one that came in response to the cookies she provided last Friday. This note, created by a staff member and a student, involved a sewing machine and creative design. Dorothy was impressed.

A few years ago, under Melinda’s direction, the two of us installed, by ourselves, a 5 zone underground sprinkler system for our yard, garden & plants. Per her style, Melinda spent hours (days, really) mapping the whole thing out, doing oodles of research, fine-tuning everything, and otherwise accounting for practically every eventuality.

My job was to dig the trenches, something I did with glee. You see, I learned I like digging holes. It suits me and, perhaps, gives me something to fall back on if this education thing ever peters out.

Well, speaking of digging, a couple weeks back I was, under Melinda’s direction, digging a hole for a new plant she wanted in the back, near our outside stairs. I placed the shovel in the ground and, you guessed it, broke one of the sprinkler pipes. So, under Melinda’s direction, “we” fixed it today.

Melinda & I spent last night at the home of our dear friends, Bob, Griselda & Simon Perretz-Rosales in Olympia, about a 90 minute drive from our house in Seattle (that’s them in today’s photo). I met them in 1986 with Simon (Si) was, I think, 6. Si is severely brain-injured and Bob & Griselda were looking for a college intern to assist them with their home-based therapy program. I became that intern and the experience, to understate it, changed my life.

Frankly, they are the most remarkable people I’ve ever met.

In 2001, under Bob’s & Griselda’s leadership, De Colores Bookstore was created to provide Si a place to work while bringing meaning to his life AND to the lives of others. Si has a love for languages and the bookstore reflects this, helping people learn more about their culture and the cultures of others. It’s staffed by volunteers.

I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the brilliance of this bookstore in one blog entry, even if I wrote a thousand words. Please take my word that the place is magical, one of those things that transcends materialism and ego to just make sense. Learn more here and on Facebook.

It’s not Memorial Day weekend in France (given, this Monday is not a French holiday). But still, a year ago this weekend was a big deal for us in Nantes. It marked the return of the Royal de Luxe marionette company. I know I’ve talked about this many times before, but it really was a big deal for us, especially for Melinda. The weather was not only spectacular, the whole town shut down to celebrate.

I went to my photo archive for today’s photo, a picture I took last May in Nantes of a street poster announcing the return of the Royal de Luxe. And I point you to this entry I wrote a year ago today for more detail. You really should check this out.

So one of my students at PSCS has asked me to compile a list of my favorite books, something she can consider over time, perhaps as supplemental reading when she is at college this fall (as if college students needed more reading material). This brought me to my bookshelves at home and I took this picture of shelf #1.

On the far left is “To Kill a Mockingbird,” sure to be on the list. I’ve read the book many times and cry every time I get to the line, “Hey, Boo.”

I’m not sure if it will make the cut, but also in there is “I Heard the Owl Call My Name.” Want to appreciate life and understand wisdom a little more, check out that book.

Toward the right is one of my favorite books, “Laughing in the Hills.” It’s a philosophical look at one man’s experience trying his hand at being a professional horse race handicapper. I read it every few years and love it every time.

I haven’t been a perfect square in 13 years, since I was 36, and after the next 365 days I won’t be a perfect square again for 14 years, when I turn 64 (“when I get older, losing my hair, many years from now…”).

Perhaps, though, I have always been a square, just not a perfect one. I’ve never really fit into round holes, after all.

I do like the idea of being a perfect circle. You know, no sharp edges, smooth to the touch, well-rounded.

On what birthday can I say I’m well-rounded?

Not 49, when I’m perfectly square.

One of the values of PSCS is to be supportive of our neighbors. After all, COMMUNITY is in the school name, you know. So today, 42 of us, students, staff and parents, WALKED over to a nearby park to watch one of our neighbors play a game of baseball. Like I said, we want to support our neighbors.

It just so happens that this particular neighbor is the Seattle Mariners baseball team and the park in which they play is beautiful Safeco Field. And of all the many school groups that attended today’s day baseball game, I am confident that we were the only one who walked to and from the game from school.

As it turns out, we saw the Mariners win, something that happens less than the team not winning, if you know what I mean. And we saw a little bit of history, in that Mariner Alex Liddi hit a grand slam homerun, the first Italian-born player to hit a major league grand slam in over 50 years.

When I was a kid and my family went traveling, one of the things I did in hotel rooms was check the phone book for Smallmans. Let me tell you, you just don’t find that many. Finding one, I’d wonder if any of them were named Andy.

Similarly, I get a kick out of finding pictures of me on Facebook or even elsewhere online. Maybe I should get creeped out by it, but it just seems to be part of the 21st century. Check out this Google Image search for my name.

On that note, this photo of me was taken by a PSCS alumnus last Friday night at the big school event we call the Student Showcase. He posted it on his Facebook page and tagged me, which is how I found it.

Today’s picture is of my good friend, Laurent Boudeau, taken just moments after he had finished running the Nantes Marathon 13 months ago. It is Laurent who inspired me to take up running, and it is Laurent who inspired me to try running long distances. The fact that I took up running, and the subsequent getting in shape that resulted, is probably my most significant takeaway from the sabbatical. We’ve been back for 10 months and I’ve continued my running, even running the Seattle half-marathon last fall. I’ve registered to run the full marathon this fall.

During many of my runs I think of Laurent and imagine him running/training with me. Such thoughts continue to inspire me.

Today’s post is hereby dedicated to my friend Laurent who, incidentally, turned 50 last Friday.