In Memoriam: Michael Antonelli

It’s not often that we actually recognize an angel here on earth. How amazingly blessed we were to know such an angel, to smile at him each Sunday, to enjoy dinner with him, to feel safe and protected in his hugs, to know without a doubt that he cared.

Michael was one of those amazing people who lived his faith. You could see it in the way he talked to people, the way he listened. It was easy to hear God in his voice. People magnetized to him because of that. He was a mentor, a teacher, a leader, a comforter, a hero, a friend.

At only 47 years old, a heart attack took Michael up to Heaven this past Saturday. Michael, along with the men’s group at church, was having a blast at their annual retreat – a weekend they all looked forward to throughout the year. He had been laughing when it happened. It didn’t take him immediately, so he was able to tell the men at the retreat he loved them and to tell his wife he loved her. The paramedics did everything they could, but there was no way to save him. They tried for two hours to bring him back. Michael was already with God, though.

Michael made such an imprint on my heart. Now as I sit here in Starbucks with tears in my eyes, I see snapshots of Michael over the 14 months we’ve known him…

• His genuine and welcoming smile when we first entered what would become our church…
• The concern he showed when he visited Scott in the hospital earlier this year…
• His laughter as he helped me organize paperwork for VBS training last May…
• The relish in which he ate the fajitas I served when he and his wife came over for dinner two weeks ago...
• The words of praise he poured over my husband, telling me how amazing Scott is and how lucky St. Andrew is to have him in his congregation…
• The day he caught me in the sanctuary and told me how impressed he was with Hayley doing the high ropes course…
• His arm around my shoulders as he’d ask how my week went…
• His honesty when he told me that life wouldn’t get any easier for a while – not until my home was free of teenage girls. (Joann whacked his arm and said, “Don’t tell her that!”)…
• The amazing way he greeted my parents when they came to service during a visit and his concerted offer to help my dad up to the alter for communion…

Michael was most definitely an angel on earth, so I have not a single doubt that he is now an angel in Heaven, watching down on his beautiful wife and daughters and all of us whom he touched so deeply.

I've been thinking a lot about the environment lately...

and I want to go green in my house. I feel like it's the one thing I can do to help the earth. I can't make a difference on carbon emissions. I can't control factory pollution. And you know what? If I call the Chinese government and ask them to make some serious and prolific environmental changes, I really don't think they'd listen. So in my small .07 acre of the world, I'm feeling the need to go green:

Here are a few green things we're doing already:

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle



• Buy many fragrance free, dye free products



• Switch household items to the less waste variety (microfiber clothes, one heavy duty tape dispenser, canvas shopping totes, etc.)



• Print on both sides of the paper



• Give the kids boxes, fabric scraps, egg cartons, etc. to play with



• Use tuppers to pack sandwiches for the kids' lunches



• Wash and reuse plastic baggies (the girls even bring the ones in their lunches home to reuse)
  

• Send reusable water bottles to school with the kiddos

• Replace old bulbs with flourescent

• Recently switched from paper to cloth napkins


• And most importantly, continuously impart the crucial needs of our earth to my children

Here's what I'd like to do:

• Put more plants around, including ferns since they're supposed to absorb extra chemicals.






• Get rid of toxic cleaning chemicals (I won't waste money, though. I'll use them till they run out, then use environmental alternatives.)





• Replace my teflon-coated pans with the old-fashioned variety. (My pots and pans are just fine, though, so this one won't happen any time soon.)




• Convince my local recycling plant to accept much more than they currently do.




• Eat organic. (Hahahahaha! When I win the lottery, that is...)

I was reading a book the other day about greening your home. Many, many useful tips, I thought. So many, in fact, I almost bought the book. But as I continued to read, my frustration grew as the author continuously intoned that I was killing my family because of the way I keep house. Yes, I use Comet to clean my sinks. Yes, I use dryer sheets. And yes, I do actually use the microwave!!!!! (This is where you take in a quick breath of horror and disbelievingly say, "No!")

I do have to live, you know!

The book ended up at the bottom of the pile we weren't buying. I'd love to read a less accusatory book about Going Green. Any suggestions? I'll have to peruse the online library catalog. (Oooohhh, totally off topic, but the city just broke ground on the new GIANT library! I'm so excited!!!)

Seriously, we're all so busy and overwhelmed. We need a book that can provide doable suggestions while understanding that as much as we want to make going green a priority, we have to be able to fit in around violin lessons and dr. appts and grocery shopping and Girl Scouts.

But tell me... what is it that you do in your home to go green? How much of a priority is it for you? Is your family cooperative?

I can't believe that I didn't...

put this in my post below regarding where I would go if I had time to myself...

If I had a free weekend, I would most definitely fly down to LA
and spend the weekend with Jessie!

Jessie is one of those amazing forever friends. We met on ParentsPlace.com, the predecessor to iVillage, when our ten year olds were newborns. At first we were just online friends, but shortly before our girls' first birthdays (they're 12 days apart), we arranged an actual family-to-family visit. Husbands immediately entered Geekville and stayed there for the entire visit while Jess and I got to know each other better. An fantastic friendship formed between us all!

She and her family then lived about an hour and a half northeast us, so we didn't see them as often as we would have liked. But Jess and I did talk on the phone practically every day during the years our daughters were two, three and four. And we always drove the distance for birthday parties, baby showers and other extra-special events.

They moved and we moved. Then they moved and we moved again. We ended up exactly three hours apart until my family and I up and moved to Chicago. Thank goodness for email because the two hour time difference was a killer! I'm back on the West Coast again, this time 1000 miles and 15 hours of drive time away.

So the further distance and crazy schedules currently prevent us from catching up as often as we'd like, but occasionally we'll catch up with an hour long call. No matter how long it's been since we've last talked, though, it's like we just talked the day before.

We've gotten each other through loneliness, financial crises, miscarriages, hospital stays, family drama, relocations, deaths, sick children and frustrating husbands. We've celebrated with each other through births, promotions, moves, job offers, amazing husbands and our children's milestones.

How blessed are we to have such a friendship?! I miss you, Jess!

Emma Plays Minuet 2 by Bach

Emma will be performing in her fall recital later this month. On October 25, she will stand in front of a sizable audience and play Bach's Minuets 1 and 2 and High School Musical's When There Was Me and You. She's currently memorized both Bach pieces and will soon have the HSM song committed to memory as well.

Later this month, our church is hosting a talent show. Emma is so excited about participating with her violin. These will be her third and fourth performances and while she gets a teeny-tiny bit nervous, it doesn't show. She speaks loudly and clearly while introducing herself and her music, then plays with a passion and flair not often seen in most 8 year olds!

In the above video, it's just about bedtime and she's getting s-l-e-e-e-e-e-p-y. That's why she's not smiling. It's taking all her energy to remember the notes!

Enjoy her performance!

"Pushing Daisies" is starting again tonight!!!!

I am so excited!!!!!

Scott and I have been anxiously awaiting ever since it went off the air last winter because of the dumb writer's strike.

If you haven't seen it before, start now! It is hysterical and completely random. And, unlike 99% percent of other shows in tv land, it's original! It's not the same insipid story line that we've all seen hundreds of times before. It's totally unique and well worth even the time it takes to sit through the commercials. (We TiVo almost everything we watch, then fast forward through all the ads. Pushing Daisies is worth watching on live tv!)

Tonight. 8 pm. ABC.