He's All Grown Up

My little brother is not so little anymore. Reaching nearly 5'10 at age 14, he now towers over me and beats me at races to the park and races to the other side of the swimming pool. He scarfs down a spaghetti meal before I finish my salad, and he loves Chinese food more than anything. Not only that, he can read a book in a day that takes me over a month to finish. I can't believe Michael is going to High School this Fall.


Last week was Michael's 8th grade graduation at St. John Catholic school. Our family decided to place him in a private school because we felt he would do better in an environment with smaller class sizes and more one on one attention with the faculty. We are so glad we made this decision.

During the graduation ceremony, Michael had a monologue he shared that made my Mom so incredibly proud. From each confident glance up to the audience to every perfectly enunciated word, my Mom was gleaming with a look that only said, "Wow, that's my son!" As the reception followed, the faculty put together a slide show that included photos of the students when they were babies, toddlers, and now young adults. It's amazing, really, how fast these kids have grown, blossomed and matured. The slide show was so touching and pretty much left everyone in the room tearing up. My mom and I had enough tears coming out of our eyes to donate to the Valdosta water treatment plant. 

The best part of Michael being a part of St. John school would probably be the friendships he had made.  Surprisingly, in the entire 8th grade, there were only 20 students.  Even more surprising is that 16 of them were girls leaving just Michael and three others the only guys in the entire 8th grade.  Needless to say, those guys were able to develop a lot of bonding since the girls all thought they had cooties and stayed away.

Next year, he'll be going to Valdosta High School where my two sisters and I have gone many years ago.  A lot has changed since we were there, though.  I heard they have a new Freshmen Academy that helps the freshmen get acquainted to high school life.  They have their own wing that is totally separated from the rest of the high schoolers.  Wow, back in the day, we freshmen had to take harassment from the upperclassmen and get stuff into lockers.  jk.  That never happened to me.  

After the reception, my mother and I thanked Michael's teachers for teaching him valuable lessons and helping him get through classes.  Almost all of them noted Michael's charm and sense of humor, which made me think...  Michael has developed a pretty thick skin to be able to still carry on a sense of humor after so much nagging from his mom and three older sisters every single day.  

I'm so thankful to have him as my younger brother.  He's brought the entire family a lot of joy and laughter, and we are so very proud of him.  I have no doubt that he will enjoy High School. 

Alice:  "All he has to do is stick with a lot of sports"

Emily:  "NO!!!  Put him in debate camp!!"

Mom:   "No!  Put him at Garden Villas!"

Dad:  "No, lah.  He can come with me to work."

I think Michael will figure out what he wants to do. =D

My first experience in a medical school

I decided to take a trip to see Benji in Sint Maarten for two weeks because I knew this would most likely be my last time to spend some good quality time with him before I start PA school in August. We traveled and did some sight seeing around the island that made me wonder how a small island could be so filled with exciting and interesting things to do.

• We got our SCUBA certification!
• Visited many beaches in St. Maarten like Orient Beach, Mullet Bay, Red Bay, Pinell Island, and Dawn Beach
• Traveled to Anguilla by ferry and explored the island and it's AWESOME Rendevous salt pond.  
• Hiked in Cul-de-Sac and searched for wild mangos on top of Pic Paradis
• Did the extreme zip lining at Lotterie Farms
• Explored Ft. Louis and Ft. Amsterdam
• Shopped in Marigot market and the area
• Sipped a REAL coconut
• Found and claimed Irene island
• Joined the Carnival parade 
• Dressed up in scrubs and acted as a TA
• Dined at a restaurant that proved that French people really are RUDE.  jk  hehe :)

I think I would have to say that my favorite thing about the island is that it's shared with two totally different countries with totally different cultures: the Dutch and French.  My favorite side is the French because it seems more laid back, clean, and the scenery seems to be a lot more beautiful.  They really try their best to preserve the beauty of St. Martin by placing recycling bins everywhere, providing clean and smooth roads, offering scenic trails along a cliffside overlooking the gorgeous beaches, and also complementing their laid back personality with nude beaches that convince me to believe that the French are free, genuine, and beautiful people.  

During my first visit to Sint Martin with Benji's mom, brothers Justin and Jason and my Mom, we traveled to the French side and dined at a totally random French restaurant in Case Grande.  Their menu was all in French and we just asked the owner for some of his recommendations.  His wife prepared wonderfully delicious plates that were both aesthetically and tastefully pleasing.  During this trip, Benji and I revisited the restaurant and discovered that the restaurant's name must be Cool Heure because it was the only sign we could find on its building.  On its menu that was entirely in French, I thought I saw the word "moutarde" that I thought was mustard, so I ordered it.  The owner explained to me that this was "dinkey."  Dinkey?  I thought he was trying to tell me donkey, so I was thinking, "oh, okay, what an adventurous dish.  I'll take it!"  He asked his wife if she could help translate the word for me.  She didn't know either so she whipped out an invoice with words that read, "kidney."  Benji and I had a really good laugh and we enjoyed our meal once again.  Cool Heure is now my most favorite French restaurant in the entire world!

 

My Dinkey Dish

So, we did all of these things before Benji started his third semester in med school.  Once it started, I joined him in his classes that included pathology I, microbiology II, and physiology II.  All classes were a great glimpse of what Benji goes through in medical school and the immense amount of information they're responsible for retaining for their professional career.  It made me so very proud of him and what he's doing for the future.  It also made me very excited to start my own Physician Assistant program and eager to start learning how to be a great team member in the field.  

While in his class, I not only listened to the professor's lectures, but also did my own thing.  I completed an employee handbook for the Garden Villas, did some work for the office, applied for a student loan, shopped for a stethoscope and apartments in Miami.  I am thinking of purchasing this stethoscope, but I'm not sure if it is good for a PA student.  Any suggestions?

Well, class is done for the day and it's time to hit the beach to go snorkeling!  

Happy Birthday Chris! And thank you so much Benji for your love, honesty, support and great time in St. Maarten!