This is the Schneider-Farris Family's Blog. Keep up with what we are doing by logging into this site regularly! (The reason this site is called "Tragedy and Triumph" is that when I first founded this site, my husband, Dan, had been in a horrible accident, and he recovered. His recovery was a miracle! Go back to the 2005 archives to read our story.)

Monday, September 28, 2015

THE BEST LOST AND FOUND STORY EVER!



For as long as I remember, since I was a child, our family has been used to my dad misplacing things and always finding them.

For my entire life, it seemed like my mom, my dad's secretary, me, my sister, my brother, my kids, my grandmother, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, my nieces and nephews, my cousins, and my husband and friends have helped my dad find keys, pens, phones, even cars!, important papers, phone numbers, passwords, electronic devices, books, jackets, .....etc...the list goes on and on.....we are used to it...

Of course, my dad always finds everything he temporarily misplaces...

Today was the BEST Lost and Found Story EVER!

My dad misplaced his Kindle reader and looked in what he described as "All the Usual Places." It seemed to be gone, but he was determined to find the device and retraced his steps over and over again.

Finally, he went to a bench in a public place where he'd been reading and didn't see the device when he arrived there, but thought he'd ask the man that was now sitting on the bench if he'd seen the reader.

The man promptly pulled the device out of his bag and told my dad he'd just put the device in his bag hoping that the rightful owner would return to the bench and ask if he'd found it. The man who was sitting on the bench explained he had decided to wait at the bench protecting the device rather than leave the reader out in the open for someone to take.

What an amazing story and also this proves there are still honest people in this world! And...my dad has his reader tonight and continues to enjoy reading the books on it!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Valley House 1960 and 2015

The first house my family owned was in Canoga Park, California. Here's a photo of the way it looked then in 1960 and the way it looks now in 2015!




Sunday, September 06, 2015

I Have a Feeling That My Family Doesn't Fit In "Little Boxes"....

Two weeks ago, on August 19, 2015, my husband, Dan, and I, took our daughter Rebekah to college. We did the usual "parent thing." We moved her into the dorms, went to the new student-parent weekend, and hugged Rebekah good-bye as she began her new life and adventure as a college student and freshman.

Well...that was not meant to be.

 A week later, Rebekah realized she'd chosen the wrong college for herself, for her future, and for her passions.  She withdrew from Colorado Western State University on Friday, August 28, and on Saturday, August 29, Dan and Annabelle drove to Gunnison (while I was away in Lake Placid) and brought Rebekah home.

By Tuesday, Rebekah had lined up an interview, and instead of spending this year living in a college dorm and doing the "liberal arts college student thing," she will be doing an internship at the Colorado Springs Conservatory, developing her musical talents and acting skills, teaching young kids at The Conservatory, and she also has been chosen for a lead role in two plays at The Mezzanine!

Rebekah will eventually go to a college or university that is right for her. It will be one where she can follow her passions.  The Conservatory is committed to helping her meet that goal.

This experience has made me realize that the Schneider-Farris family and the way I brought up my children in a unschool-homeschool-skating lifestyle means we do not fit into "Little Boxes".....

 


Little Boxes

Words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1962

Sung by Pete Seeger


Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

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Jo Ann Schneider Farris has participated in skating for most of her life as a competitor, coach, and author.

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