Remembering Joseph Roberto

Joseph Roberto

37 years old

Midland, New Jersey

A Family is

a circle of strength and love.

With every birth and every union the circle grows.

Every joy shared adds more love.

Every crisis faced together

makes the circle stronger.

Joseph "Joe" Roberto was a son, brother, uncle, husband, and father.

He was devoted to his family and his family devoted to him.

He was a friend and colleague.

He maintained a solid work ethic and held himself to high expectations.

He enjoyed life: motorcycles, riding his motorcycle and investigating the battlefields in Virginia and West Virginia, exploring nature with his son, collecting coins, putting up his parents holiday decorations and gathering his own.

He is loved.

When I first received my name from the 2996 project I felt an immediate connection to Joseph Roberto as he shares a variation of my father's name. As I started my research I found it difficult to find much information to share, but I continued to dig and search. Finally I found this site and I learned much more about this person whom we all lost on September 11, 2001. I am honored and humbled to share this tribute today on the 8th anniversary of the greatest loss we have felt on our soil. May the Roberto family be blessed and my God bless the United States of America.

Peace

Troubles

car troubles, sleep troubles, family troubles..... lots going on.... all will be well. I hope. Family troubles might linger. Seems my brother isn't speaking to me at the moment. Sigh. All having to do with the sale of Dad's house and his (my brother's) current economic predicament. Car is in the shop to be fixed which means I must hitch a ride with my friend 'S' to get to school. I hate asking for help! Sigh again. Sleep troubles are hopefully over... 'n' had bad dreams and climbed in last night at 3am. Not much sleep to be had between 3 and 5:30. Tired. Heading to bed now for much needed rest.

Peace!


sorry this isn't my usual upbeat post, guess I had to vent for just a minute Thanks for listening :)

The First Week

Well we've done it! We made it through the first full week of school. I now have a fifth grader in middle school as well as a third grader. Both children are happy. The first day gave us all butterflies. I walked 'N' to the bus stop at the very end of the street. I was the only mom to walk to the bus stop. I was unsure if I should stay with him or not. He gave me the ok to go back home but when I turned around he was just standing alone. I was so worried for him and remembering how I felt when I went to middle school. I was so happy to see his face when he walked home from the bus stop. Smiles and excitement... so much better than last year. In contrast 'n' was thrilled to get to school we walked into school and delivered special notes and snacks to her 2nd grade teacher as well as her new 3rd grade teacher before she spent a few minutes at the morning YMCA before school program. Her new teacher is lovely and the classroom is one of the best rooms in the building. There was minimal homework this week and lots of interesting stories. So far so good.

I started back at my school too. I met the children in both the morning and afternoon classes over the last two days. The children seem to be very excited to come back to school, meet new friends and reconnect with their old friends. Looking forward to a good year.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Looking forward to an extra day off.

Peace!

Back to School Blues

Well tomorrow is the first day back to school for N, n and me! I have to say that I am so sad to see our summer end. I have truly enjoyed being with my children. We spent the entire summer together. There were days when we were all frazzled but for the most part we enjoyed each others company. We went to the beach, visited with friends, spent some time with Papa, did errands and spent time just lounging around the house. It was a relaxed time enjoyed by all. As every fall begins I end up with butterflies in my stomach. I guess I'm nervous for the new challenges that lie ahead for my children as they enter into a new stage of their education and the challenges that I face with a two new classes of preschoolers and their families. This year brings additional challenges at work as we face a Reaccreditation visit from the NAEYC as well as the continued uncertainty of the current economic climate. I think that I will be filling out paperwork to start substitute teaching on Mondays and Fridays at my local elementary school. I'm thinking that now at 40 I need to prepare for my own future as well as that of my children. I don't think working 24 hours at a preschool is going to pay for college or retirement. I feel like I will be facing a crossroads of sorts this year. The feeling is a bit unsettling. Stay tuned!

Peace!

How Fitting

Quote of the Day:

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.
Jesse Jackson

What a fitting quote for the day that Senator Kennedy is laid to rest.

Peace!

Shared Responsibility.... YOU CAN make a difference!

Friends,




I just signed this petition to honor Ted Kennedy, which will be delivered to senators on Monday:
"Ted Kennedy was a courageous champion for health care reform his entire life. In his honor, name the reform bill that passed Kennedy's health committee 'The Kennedy Bill' -- then pass it, and nothing less, through the Senate."


Kennedy's bill includes a public health insurance option, and it would be an honor to Kennedy's memory if it passed the Senate. Will you sign the petition? You can sign here.


Thanks.

Join Us

So here I am happily checking out my blogger friends when I come to Alicia's post about signing up to remember the victims of 9/11. I remember reading her post last year. I also remember exactly what I was doing on that fateful morning. In the past I have posted on 9/11 and reflected on that day. After checking out the Project 2,996 site I have decided to sign up to honor the life of one of the victims of 9/11. I'm looking forward to receiving my name and researching and writing a memorial. 687 bloggers have signed up to remember. I hope you will join us in creating a post that will honor those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Peace!

Waves

Well hurricane Bill blew through the east coast last night and left behind some incredible surf! Mid day 'n' and I went down to the beach to see if any treasures had washed ashore. We decided to take a short walk as the tide was coming in and the waves were huge. We met up with our friend J the lobster man. He was retrieving one of his pots that had come undone and was being washed ashore. As we walked further we saw another of J's pots. I tried to retrieve it for him but only ended up getting completely soaked from the wast down by the huge waves crashing on shore. I have to say that the waves were so large that they made me a bit nervous. We went back to tell J about the other trap and walked over to help him retrieve it before it ended up washed out to sea or crashed against the rocks. So as we pulled in the trap J noticed that it held a good sized lobster. Once again we were the proud recipients of a yummy lobster lunch. I can't wait till baking weather returns so that I can make my Mum's homemade Irish bread and bring him a loaf to thank him for his generosity. He is such a nice man and reminds me so much of a grandfather figure from my youth. So back to the lobster... J showed me how to hold the lobster so that I wouldn't get pinched and he told me (in his Irish brogue) to run it home and boil it up right away. That is exactly what we did, well we didn't actually run but boy did we walk fast!

After lunch we decided that we would return to the beach at high tide with camera in hand to check out the surf. It was unbelievable. The sound of the surf crashing against the beach sounded like thunder. I've never seen the tide that high. I ended up taking over 900 photos! I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites with you here.

Summer

So we're having a real stretch of summer weather this week. It has been hot and humid for the last several days with temps reaching mid 90's. We've had a relatively cool summer so it's nice to have some of this hot weather before everyone gets ready to go back to school. 'n' and I have been going to the beach and swimming in the ocean. Yesterday the water was cold but the last few time prior the water has been warm and lovely. Even when it's cold there is something wonderful about swimming in the ocean. I love it.

Just a quick update. It's time to suit up and get ready for another beach morning.

Peace!

Party in Pictures!

Partay!

Well the parties are over! The kids had a blast this weekend. 'n' enjoyed having her girlfriends over yesterday. Unfortunately only three girls were able to come to the party and one came down with the stomach bug the day before the party. The two girls who came had to leave early but we were able to fit all the festivities into the shortened party. The girls decorated canvas bags, enjoyed water gun fights...especially chasing 'N'..., ate snacks, played limbo, had cake and ice cream, opened presents and destroyed the fish pinata! We got all this done between 1 and 2:30/3:00. It was jam packed fun!

Decorating bags :)

Girl power!



Get Him!!!!

You can't get me!

'N' a good sport for letting the girls chase him down and soak him with the water guns and pails of water! He had a blast too.

LIMBO.....

How low can you go?

Cake and ice cream!

So today was 'N's party. I'll post about that tomorrow.

Peace! (and quiet)

The Birthday Marathon!

So it began two days ago with the arrival of a package from Grammy (via cousin A) and a card from Auntie 'F' for 'n's 9th birthday. She was sooo excited. Usually when we receive gifts from Grammy they come in a box unwrapped well not this time. 'n' was so excited to unwrap her gift. Check it out.


wonder what's inside this package?

oooh look it's wrapped.....

I know I can get this out...



This is so fun!

Wii American Idol 2 Yay!!!!!

NOW I'll read the card.

The marathon continued with her actual birthday..... August 6th...... special tv privileges, special lunch, special treat from Rose and Vickie's up the street, trip to the jewelry store to order a cape cod bracelet. What a great day.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear 'n'

Happy Birthday to you!


Lest you think the marathon is over......it is not. The big party is tomorrow. 'n' only invited a few friends, her best friend might not be here as she had some sort of stomach bug. Very disappointing but we'll do the best we can to have a fun day. We worked on her cake tonight. She is having a beach themed party. 'N' will be celebrating his birthday on Sunday. Definitely the marathon weekend.


The ocean cake

working on the cake

kelp in the ocean

fish in the sea




Where have the 9 years gone???

African Prayer

I found this prayer over at Coy's blog. It struck a cord in me as did the rest of her post and I just had to share it with everyone.

a traditional African prayer ... Let us take care of our children for they have a long way to go ... Let us take care of our elders for they have come a long way ... Let us take care of those of us in between for we do the work ...


Peace!

What A Day!

So today was a beautiful warm summer day and we were lucky enough to spend a good deal of it on our beach down the street. 'N' was reluctant as he is most days when we venture out but 'n' and I convinced him that a trip to the beach would be great. Every time we go down we have a blast...usually just the three of us...and today was no different. High tide was around 10:30 and we were at the beach and in the water by 11:00. It was cold at first but soon we became accustomed to the temperature of the water; about 67 degrees according to online resources; and spent almost three hours straight in the water. Oh what a gift to be able to float on the ocean waves, feel the sun on my body, breathe in the salty air and listen to the shore birds and boats in the distance. Aaahhhh. While we were on the beach we saw our fisherman friend 'J'. He was returning from checking his 10 lobster pots. We were happy to see him. He commented on the fact that he had not seen us on the beach lately and wanted to know if we were OK. We chatted for a bit as he was getting ready to go up his set of stairs. Then he offered us one of his 4 lobsters. I said "no,no,no you don't have to do that", but sure enough about 45 minutes to an hour later he came down with a lobster cooked and ready to eat. That marked the end of our beach trip. We drove home, showered off and had a delectable lobster lunch!

Later in the afternoon we got a call from an investor who is quite interested in Dad's home. We have a tentative appointment to show him the house this Thursday afternoon. Please send positive energy our way that day for the best result possible. More about this in another post.

Peace!