I have the below article framed in my office. It proudly resides in a shadow box that sits on a little black table in the corner off to the right of my computer desk. The box shares its space with various cards, dried orchid petals, a ceramic dragon and, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway… a dragonfly! A colorful origami bird even nests atop the box. Get the picture?
This article is special to me because it was written twelve years ago by my daughter, Maggie, the summer after eighth grade, as an audition piece for our local paper’s Teens in the Newsroom program. As you can see, she was accepted, and she remained on the teen staff throughout all of high school and a bit beyond! She was the first person in the family to have a paid writing gig!
Now this article is doubly special to me because one of the student ambassadors whom Maggie interviewed was her brother, Andrew (see picture). At the time we hadn’t been made aware that she wasn’t supposed to submit a piece that included a family member, but good work is good work, so the article ran. Maggie got to share Andrew’s incredible experience, and I was able to commemorate a wonderful daughter/son memory!
The article is a bit blurry, but still very readable. The program’s motto of “Peace Through Understanding” drives this service-based organization in its endeavor to bring the world closer together. Spreading connection and understanding is a noble goal, and a daily reminder of that sits across from me in my office inspiring me to do the same.
Finding the Write Words 
Well done! A most appropriate message for today!
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You always want energy to flow more easily and openly. Understanding and connection help make that possible!
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Years ago when my children were young we hosted two girls from Japan and it was a wonderful experience.
Sharing ideas and learning new things. Lots of lessons learned. My children got to go to Ireland and it was so funny to watch them experience the Irish culture. I am Irish and things I took for granted and not given a thought to they were puzzled by. One thing that stands out to me is the hot and cold faucets in the bathroom, they could not figure out how to get the water to come out together. I had to explain to them you put the stopper in the sink and then turn on both faucets So simple but they needed help figuring it out. Some of the restaurants we visited were in people’s homes and the kids wanted to know if we were related to the people and how did we know them.
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When we open our eyes to other ways of doing things, possibilities and understanding expand! I would imagine that the students you hosted were just as bewildered by how we operate here in the U.S. as your own children were in Ireland!
And I bet that what they all learned away from home has never been forgotten. I know that my time living in Germany is forever etched in my memory!
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