Andy Smallman

This picture really looks like a caricature of me, don’t you think? It was taken just a few minutes ago, as I was stretching in preparation for going out for my Wednesday training run (yeah, it’s that time of the year when I’m running outside, training for the Seattle Marathon, at night in the dark, hence the bright orange windbreaker). When I took a look at the picture, my head seemed pretty big in relationship to the rest of my body.

Yeah, well, some people have told me I have a big head. But I thought they were speaking metaphorically…

Come to think of it, my dad has a big, as in large, head. It’s hard for him to get hats that fit. The same was true for his father. And, yes, I have a large, as in big, head.

Big head. Smallman.

After last night’s silly post, I just want to take a minute to assure everyone that I’m just fine. Everything’s okay.

It’s fun to get a little silly at times and write a post that might not make much sense, one that has some inside jokes and all, right? I had fun writing it, and that counts for something.

In fact, it reminds me of the time we traded Melinda for Rick Steves… Ah, those were the days, back during the sabbatical when life was simple.

To prove how normal everything is, I just took this picture of myself with PhotoBooth on my Mac laptop. Melinda loves it when I look over the top of my glasses like that. Catch the sarcasm? 🙂

So, yeah, Melinda and I were in Metropolitan Market over the weekend and saw a display for the Perrin family wine. Made me think that we should get some kind of discount, given Perrin is our niece and all. You know, family?!

I tried explaining this to no one in particular, thinking that’s all it would take to get the discount. But I might as well have been talking to myself, given how much good it did me (Hmmm… Come to think of it, I may have been talking to myself. Come to think of it further, some of the best “good” I’ve gotten involves talking to myself – “That’s right, Andy. You really are a nice person.” See!).

In hindsight, maybe it was the cold medicine doing the talking. I told Melinda I really didn’t want to go the store. But she wanted the company.

Reminds me of the time in France when we went to this vineyard…

The date on this photo is May, 1994 which means two specific things. One, it means Chloe wasn’t really a baby. She was really 15 months old. And two, given the heavy jackets and such, it must have been cold for May.

That is especially intriguing right now considering it’s October and it was 74 degrees in Seattle today without a cloud in the sky. I just don’t remember what chilly and gray weather is like, which is perfectly fine with me and more than perfectly fine with Melinda.

Anyway, back to the subject of the Baby Chloe Fan Club. All the charter members are in this picture, Tammy, Stephanie, and Granny. The club held its first meeting in March of 1993 at the home of my parents, specifically on their living room floor where Melinda had placed a two-week old Chloe in front of her cousins and doting grandmother.

I’m not sure when the fan club last met. But if I can be so bold and include myself as a member of the club, I’m pleased to report that Chloe is doing quite well in college. Not quote as cute, perhaps, as she was back in the mid 90’s (that may depend on who you talk to), however.

Yesterday’s post was entitled “Blah” and today’s could be called “Blah x 2” or “Blah Squared” or something else mathematical that includes the word blah. I’ve been grouchy and bad company all day long. Just ask Melinda. I’m sure she’d be pleased to have someone pleasant to talk to.

And this was after I slept for about 12 hours last night and took an hour-long nap early this afternoon.

Blah + Blah = 2Blah.

This “Blahness” is kind of a shame because Chloe and Alex are down from college for the night and Sieglinde, our new Director of Advancement at PSCS, came for dinner. You see, Sieglinde learned about PSCS from Alex’s family so we invited her over to see Alex and meet Chloe.

And to give Melinda someone pleasant to talk to.

So I’m fighting the illness, or one of the illnesses, that has hit PSCS this week. At the start of the school day yesterday, six students were absent. By noon, a seventh was sick and in the process of being picked up by his mother. Then another went home from the potluck last night not feeling well.

When there are only 41 students in the whole school, having 8 be sick is a pretty high percentage. It was probably a good thing that we had an in-service day today. It gave that students a chance to get well.

I snagged today’s photo from Facebook where I had been tagged as being in it. It was posted by a PSCS parent and taken at last night’s potluck.

We’re just back from the fall potluck at PSCS, one of our annual whole group community gatherings at the school each year. This one was more lightly attended than most, having to do with, I suspect, the number of students who have been sick lately. Of our 41 students, 6 were out sick today and a 7th went home not feeling well at noon. We also have 1 staff member out.

Still, regardless of size these are always feel-good events. We end each of these sitting in a large group circle and sharing what at PSCS we call “appreciations.” Un-facilitated, for 30 minutes people say things they are grateful for. It may sound a little corny in print but in practice it’s pretty special.

Today’s picture is of Ella that was taken at a park near the school (see how I managed to include both a member of my family and a reference to PSCS in there?).

I was interviewed yesterday for a podcast that was released today. The interview came about because one of the PSCS board members connected with a person (the interviewer) who was looking for people who are living their passions. I wrote to her about the school and included a link to the “kindness school” video made a year ago. She wrote back, telling me that the video had brought her to tears and that she wanted to book me for her show as soon as possible.

Fun.

Today’s photo is actually a snippet of a screenshot from the website in which the audio of the interview is embedded.

I hope you can tolerate a little shameless self-promotion.

In fact, we had a lovely chat with Chloe by phone tonight. We really haven’t heard much from her since she returned to college for her sophomore year a little more than a month ago. She wrapped up what is called her first “block” last Wednesday (and was pleased to say she did quite well) and spent the extended weekend camping with friends. Now she’s studying Ecology for her second block. I’m excited to report that she’ll be home for a night on Saturday.

Coincidentally, I was cleaning up files on my laptop and discovered today’s photo, a scan of a picture I took of Chloe in 1994. I was standing outside of the living room of the house we lived in back then, while Chloe was looking out. If I recall correctly, I’m pretty sure she was looking at the goats Melinda rented to eat back the blackberry bushes in our side yard.

Chloe referred to those goats as “Go, go.” That’s one of those names that just sticks with a person.

I’ve long been a big fan of something called positive psychology. Learn more by reading this Wikipedia entry on the subject, but for a short intro understand that it has to do with people learning to live more fulfilling lives. Much of PSCS, much of my life for that matter, is summed up by the concepts of positive psych.

As it pertains to PSCS, I’ve long looked for ways to further incorporate positive psychology into the school. One way I am doing it this year is to have our 6th & 7th graders learn some the concepts through a program called GoStrengths!

Designed to help children (and adults) learn resiliency and happiness skills, GoStrengths provides a series of animated modules that are both entertaining and informative. I’m writing about it tonight as I’ve spent the last hour reviewing material for a lesson I’ll be facilitating at PSCS tomorrow on something called “Thoughtholes.”