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Miss Lori has a gut feeling about Maxine Clark and St Louis, MO.

July 13, 2010 By 3 Comments

Do you believe in fate? I have to admit that I have wanted to, but my life hasn’t really rolled along like that. However, I do believe in gut instinct. Although, truth be told I believe it to be a muscle that you have to learn to exercise properly. I have always had “feelings,” but I haven’t always known how to listen to them, or to act upon them. This year I have had a recurring notion happening in my life. (Well, I have had a lot of them, but only one appears to be particularly positive.) Wait, I should back up to the beginning…last year.

My daughter has been struggling with an illness for a while now, but she has yet to be diagnosed. She has an enlarged pancreas but no one can seem to figure out why. It’s been excruciating emotionally, watching her struggle so. Particularly during the holidays last year. What made it worse was that with the piling up of medical bills money was really tight. For my beautiful daughter the one wish I had for her, beyond having her get better, was to be able to take her to Disney World. I wished it deep in my bones. I spoke it every night. I told the World. I put it out there, even though I had no possible way of fulfilling such a dream. Well, that is until I got a fateful email from Disney inviting me to be a part of the first Disney Social Media Moms Conference. And just like that a dream was fulfilled. Okay, but this is where the fate thing starts actually. (And you thought this was just going to be about my daughter? Who by the way is doing, better but still hasn’t been diagnosed and still suffers daily.) While attending the #Disneysmmoms conference I had the unique opportunity to not only meet, but hear an absolutely phenomenal woman speak. Maxine Clark, CEO of Build a Bear Workshop. Listening to her story, to her ideas about children, and community, and responsibility, and friendship… well I fell in love right then and there. No, I’m serious I started drawing her name in my notebook with little hearts around it. (Wait, strike that. I don’t want to get arrested for stalking). Okay, but it’s true that I was absolutely enamored. The little voice inside of me said, You are going to work with this woman!” Well, actually it wasn’t just the little voice inside of me, it was the big voice outside of me too. Because I told Maxine plainly that I absolutely wanted to work with her somehow, someway. I wrote about it, I tweeted it, I updated my facebook status about it. Well heck, I had such great success giving my dream up to the universe before, why stop now. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miss Lori At Home, Miss Lori's Conferences, Miss Lori's Thoughts, Miss Lori's Travels Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Miss Lori’s Census experience continues; a dramedy in three acts

March 31, 2010 By

I have been working for the US Census Bureau for almost two weeks now at a location in Chinatown. I have lived in this community for the last 8 years. I love it, and I am very happy to be able to give back to it. However, at the risk of talking myself out of a job, I have to say that I don’t feel that my actual site is really all that necessary, nor am I the right person to be stationed at it. Why? because I don’t speak Chinese. Yes, I have helped a few people in the ten days I have worked. But most people who truly require assistance have a language issue. I have utilized the language guides that the Bureau provided for me, but mostly I use hand gesture and smiles to make do. Language guides don’t inspire confidence or foster trust. And let’s face it, that’s what my community is really looking for.

These last two weeks have been equal parts boring and ridiculous. Who says government doesn’t support the arts. From my vantage point the Census Bureau is filled with drama. First the comedy. [Read more...]

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Chuck Holton, a quiet National hero disguised in Daddy clothing

February 24, 2010 By 13 Comments

When I was growing up we did a few projects at school where they would ask you to name what you parents did for a living. Answering about my Mom was easy, she was a therapist. I always new that. Heck anyone could figure that out just by talking to her for 5 minutes because invariably you would start telling her your life story. She just has that way about her. But my father, well that was a little more difficult. You see, what I knew about my father’s job was that he got up and went to work early in the morning, and came home fairly regularly around 530 at night. Usually I only saw him fleetingly for dinner just before I would rush out the door with my mother and sister to an evening dance class or rehearsal. But nevertheless I did have an answer for people who asked what my father did. He gave away the free cheese! See in Wisconsin there was this program that gave away free cheese to people in need. And though I didn’t know much else about my father’s job, I did know that he had something to do with that program. As I got older I finally got a real title for my father. He was the Regional Director for Health and Social Services for the State of Wisconsin. I still didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it was a great title!

That was his present while I was growing up. His past was something a little more colorful, but truthfully still elusive. From 1952-58 my father was a Harlem Globetrotter. Yes, you heard me right. He was a Harlem Globetrotter. And the only reason I have the dates down pat was because he had this award from the organization that hung in our house and it had the dates in raised characters on the front. I memorized them. I had to, because that was about as much detail as I ever really got about his experience. It’s not his fault totally. I don’t remember if I have ever really asked for detailed memories, I’m embarrassed to say. Amazing how we take the people close to us for granted. Their histories.

Last week I learned something more about my father that I didn’t know. Not from him, but from a newspaper article. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miss Lori At Home, Miss Lori On Education, Miss Lori's Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Miss Lori’s getaway to The Abbey in Lake Geneva

December 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I needed a vacation. I really needed to get away. So often my family vacations are really out of town engagements when I have to perform and my kids get the vacation. Not awful, my kids certainly need play time. But also not ideal because I am left tired and unable to participate in the fun. Not so this Thanksgiving thanks to the wonderfully generous people at The Abbey in Lake Geneva.

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