Tag Archives: developmental activities

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 24

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Posted by on in children, Community, Entertainment, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 14,2026-Hana spent the afternoon singing and dancing. I am not sure what prompted this, but in between the songs and dances, she called out “Ha!” and stood without any support. She kept at it, at one point staying upright for 8 seconds. My granddaughter has a plan, an agenda.

Her mother is working from home, this week, on-boarding for a new position. So, Hana also is taking up a position in the play pen with a view of Yunhee’s office. Maybe that’s the reason for the songs and dances. She knows how much this ne job means to her mother.

HANA’S NOTE– I am glad for Mommy. I felt like singing, so I just sang a tune that came into my head.

EXPANDING CIRCLES– East Texas- This area is indeed “a whole ‘nother Texas, as a friend from Palestine (pronounced Pal-es-TEEN) once told me. The Turf- East Texas also is watered by the Red River, its northern border with Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Sabine also waters this vast sectorof piny woods and wetlands. “East’ comes to a southern end, of sorts, with Big Thicket National Preserve.

First Nation- East Texas is the ancestral home of the Caddo people.

I’ve never been to the Thicket, but would like to include it on my itinerary some day. My experience with East Texas has been in Texarkana, which at the time I was there had worse traffic than our Collin County. A local who knew a shortcut was in front of me, saw my then-out-of-state plates (Arizona) and waved to me to follow him. I did so, and we drove past a three-mile line of stalled traffic. I’ve also been to Tyler, a nice, small city; Palestine, where I almost went to a child’s birthday party-until it was postponed because of a storm;and to Grand Saline, where a video store was opening and the owners were giving away hot dogs-by the dozen. Those are all in the middle of East Texas. I passed through Longview, a bit east of Tyler, as well as Marshall, Sulphur Springs and Greenville. We stayed overnight in Tyler, in the 2000s and I’ve recently been invited to go back there. There is a fine Rose Garden in Tyler, that Hana may well like to see. I’d also like to bring her along to Marshall’s Festival of Lights, one year soon.

To the south, on the way to Houston, are East Texas’s southern tier towns: Nacogdoches and Lufkin. Hana’s parents have friends in Nacogdoches, so I can see us heading down that way, at some point in the near future. It is also the “oldest town in Texas”, and Sam Houston hung his shingle in Nacogdoches, so I am sure there is a wealth of historical treasure there.

At the northern edge of “East” lies Paris,TX. It has had a history of particular tension between Blacks and Whites. I would like to go by there at some point, and talk to folks, as I did a few years ago in Philadelphia and Ruleville, MS, to see what the situation is now. That’s probably not something I’d do with Hana along, though, at least not until she is in her teens.

NEXT: Houston and the Texas Bayous.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 7

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 28, 2026- “Let’s go.” With that remark, Hana stood at the gate to her playpen, and was ready for me to help her take some steps. She is not shy about asking for help, or,as was the case today, telling me she wants assistance. I carefully opened the gate and we took about a dozen steps, almost making it to her mother’s office. She stopped at the small rise between her play pit and the front door. After thinking for a few minutes, she took the step up and made it along the wooden floor as far as her father’s pair of sneakers. Her mother came out of the office and Hana decided she’d done enough step-taking for the morning.

The three of us went shopping at Costco, as Aram was at work. When Yunhee said she was going into the fruit cooler, to get blueberries, Hana excitedly said “Yum!” She can’t get enough of them. The four of us do go through blueberries rather quickly.

She was exhausted by day’s end, not letting herself sleep, even when put down for a nap. She had to keep practicing standing and scooting, much of the afternoon. After her bath, she was in bed by 6:45, and out like a light.

HANA’S NOTE- I am glad that Papa understands me, when I say some words in his language. I am understanding his language, and my Mama’s, more and more.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2011 Aram made the call, while I was at work, in the last few days of February. Penny’s visiting doctor and home nurse had both come down with the flu and were unable to fulfill their visits. She needed care, regardless, so back to the Hospice she went. We spent most of our time there, the next several days. Penny began to throw out the artwork that visiting children had left, and she was asleep most of the time, anyway. My wife of twenty nine years became unresponsive in the evening of March 3. She remained in laboured breathing, the next day. as there was no available room for me to stay that night, Aram and I went home.

The next morning, I awoke to a heavy presence that filled our bedroom. I knew Penny was saying goodbye. Getting up and readying for the day, I took a call from the Hospice, just after 6 a.m. We had to go there quickly. When Aram and I arrived at the Hospice, the air was still, but there was a light spiral of dust and leaves going upward, near the front door. We went inside, where the nurse said she had just checked on Penny and she was lying calmly, in shallow breath. That breath had stopped, however, at 6:03, and her still warm body was lifeless, as I held her hand. We summoned the doctor, called a friend who was a mortician, and spent about thirty minutes saying our own goodbyes. We then had to drive to Prescott, and sat with Penny’s parents, in this time that no parent should have to endure.

The following Tuesday, I wrapped my beloved’s body in silk, carefully following the directions I was getting from her spirit. It was a dignified ending, to a horrific eight years of physical and mental decline. It had witnessed me grappling with every bit of self-loathing, while I kept going because Penny needed me, our son needed me and, I needed myself to get a grip and somehow pull through.

Family came, we gave her a loving funeral and then, I was alone, save for our son. I went back to work at Dysart and Glendale Union, the following Monday. Outside of work, though, I was a shell of a person, for two months. In May, Aram and I drove east, to my third niece’s wedding, in New Hampshire, one for which Penny and I had prayed for most of our last year together. It was an event that I needed to attend, even if some of the family thought it was too soon for me to be out. It was a beautiful affair.

Summer came soon after. Aram entered the Navy. I moved my belongings to Prescott, leaving behind our home of eight years. Then I drove east, again, spending a week at Louhelen Baha’i School, slowly pulling myself together. Visits with family in Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts were alternately hard and comforting, but I’m glad to have made them. When I went back to Prescott, it felt like I was settling into a haven of peace. Gradually, I would shed the cloak of self-loathing and earn the respect of all but one or two of my family members. I would also feel like I had found community, at long last.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 14

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Historical, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

July 5, 2026- The fireworks were so much fun for people, the past two nights, that there were a few sets going off tonight. We just went about our business. For Hana, that meant sleeping soundly through it all.

She is focused on her sitting up, which is getting longer, with less help. She knows now to use one hand to prop herself and can stay upright for 4-5 minutes, before wanting to move on to something else-and then sitting up again.

Our focus today was an early birthday celebration for Aram, who has chosen to work on Tuesday, his actual birthday. Hana understood that it was Daddy’s special day. When I left, in mid-morning, for a Baha’i devotional, she was puzzled as to why I was leaving the house alone. I promised that I would be back in time for the family outing.

At noon, we all went to a place called BBQ Chicken, and enjoyed two varieties of said item, Hana sat patiently in her stroller, while the three of us ate. We then went to Daiso, a Japanese dry goods store and picked up a few things-among them, a rain coat for me and a body bib for Hana. I also stopped in at 85 C and bought mini pineapple cakes for Aram’s birthday celebration. It was a nice afternoon, though probably less than exciting for our girl.

HANA’S NOTE- I was confused when Papa went out alone, after my parents said we were all going somewhere. I asked Papa why he was leaving, and he said it was to a devotional, whatever that is. Anyway, he came back right at Noon, and we went for Daddy’s birthday. This is the first time I have heard the word birthday. Yesterday was “America’s” birthday. I would like t meet that lady someday. She seems pretty popular.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1957 During the second half of First Grade, Miss Lavin took us, on foot, to the Saugus Public Library. She rang her bell the whole way down Central Street. We were all guided by police officers, who stood at each intersection. It was a nice introduction to the Library and I got my first card that day.

In the summer,I was given my First Communion, a Roman Catholic sacrament. It was my first time wearing a suit and tie, also. For the next six years, I had to go to Sunday school, every week after Mass.

Second Grade started in September. Mrs. McCarrier was our teacher. She showed us subtraction and two-digit addition, plus how to tell nouns from verbs and articles. We began the SRA program, a reading enhancement tool. I did well in it, but didn’t get along with the instructor, who had no patience for students who read at a higher level. I never understood her reasoning. In October, our Principal. Mr. Lynch, told us about the launch of Sputnik, a Russian satellite, which was the first rocket launched into space, That was our first school-wide assembly.

Celebrations, Losses and Growth

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 17, 2026- Hana slept through the night,at least from her midnight feeding to 6:30. when we woke her for her breakfast feeding. She might have slept longer, but was very happy to get breakfast. She is growing at a steady pace and is awake more during the day, alternating between our developmental activities with her and gazing up at a revolving mobile, talking to the animals in her soft voice-which gets loud when she needs something from us.

Today was a day of two celebrations: Mardi Gras and Lunar New Year (The Year of the Fire Horse begins today,) Mardi Gras is not such a big deal here, though many Texans, like Arizonans, will tell you “It’s Fat Tuesday, because we speak English in America”. Still, there are some Cajun and Creole places here. We observed Mardi Gras with a simple Cajun chicken salad for dinner. We don’t go out much at night, so costumes were not on the agenda. The Year of the Fire Horse will see us celebrating a bit more, over the next fifteen days. Penny was born during a Year of the Horse (1954). Hana’s birthday came at the end of the Year of the Snake, and she definitely has some Fire Horse qualities, especially being assertive and outspoken-like her grandmother was.

We lost two noteworthy people, yesterday and today. Robert Duvall was another of the greats of cinema to leave our midst. His roles, especially in “Apocalypse Now”, “The Godfather” and the television series. “Lonesome Dove”, showed characters of steel and velvet. He famously objected to the cutting of a scene in “Apocalypse Now”, in which his hard-nosed character saves the life of a Vietnamese child. He was in life, a man of integrity and conviction.

So, too, was Jesse Jackson. I recall his first run for the Democratic Presidential nomination, in 1984. Many who were disturbed by the Iran-Contra matter and who were equally put off by the “business-as-usual” nomination of Walter Mondale, gravitated towards the Reverend from South Carolina and Chicago. He made a respectable showing that Spring, and maintained a presence on the national scene for decades afterward, before a neurological disease ended his mobility and, today, his life. Jesse Jackson extended the reach of the Civil Rights movement- pointing out that “all means all”. Regardless of how uncomfortable that made many feel sometimes, he did not flinch.

Lastly, my heart goes to the family of a woman of whom many had never heard before today. Linda Davis was a highly-regarded Special Education teacher in Savannah, She was killed, while on her way to work, when an undocumented migrant from Guatemala panicked during an ICE traffic stop, and fled the scene, ran a red light and made a u-turn, before crashing into Dr. Davis’ car. It is unclear as to whether officers were “chasing” him, but what is clear is that Dr. Linda Davis died unnecessarily. My heart goes to her family, colleagues and students, whoby all accounts, loved and cherished her.

Growth, celebration and loss are inextricably intertwined.