Today is Friend’s Day

…or so says Facebook. There is always some sort of DAY, but this is one that Facebook can latch on to since most of us on Facebook post enormous numbers of photos that show us with our friends. Facebook just collects a bunch of those photos and makes a video. It’s fun to see your own and your friends’. Here is mine.

A former student lamented that she did not have enough content on her Facebook page to make a video yet she has been on the site for five years. She is a self-proclaimed introvert who rarely posts any photos so I could understand the lack of material with which to work. When I pointed out to her that she needed to post more pictures of her friends, she replied that she has let her friendships slide.

As I tell everyone, you are never too old to make new friends. It’s important to stay in touch with old friends, but many of them do float away. A woman whom I considered my best friend just a few years ago has done that. No matter how I tried to stay in contact, she has drifted away. Our monthly contacts have become yearly. It makes me sad, but it is the way the world works. So, keep making new friends.

To make new friends, one must be engaged in the world. There must be a connection. Funny thing about social media, people complain about it yet it’s a good way to make connections and stay connected to people we might not otherwise see. Like that old friend of mine. We could be more connected if she would join Facebook, but she refuses to do so. My blog friends know more about my life than she does.

Back to my former student, I advised her to make new friends. She’s going to college and has small children so there should be a few places to meet new friends who have similar interests. My daughter has made new friends through her children’s schools.

There is also the old adage, to have a friend, you must be a friend. Show yourself friendly to others.

 

Convocation begins the new school year

I have no idea what that title means except that is what happened today. The superintendent of the very large school district had all 20,000+ employees show up at the largest entertainment venue (and where the district holds high school graduations) this morning to kick off the new year.

Fortunately, each employee did not have to drive their car and cause a massive traffic jam that would make the entire city hate them. The hundreds of buses used to transport thousands of students, who have not yet started back to school, were used today to transport thousands of faculty and staff.

Many of my Facebook friends who are current district employees posted photos of the scene.

I cannot even begin to tell you, dear Reader, how grateful I felt to NOT BE THERE. In the past year I have realized, with great clarity, that I cannot deal with large crowds like this, crammed into a stadium-like setting, who was supposed to be paying attention and doing something purposeful.

That was the case this morning, I assume, but no one yet has been able to tell me what they learned or what they will be doing with the knowledge they supposedly received. Anyone who has taught knows there has to be a take-away for the lesson to have been successful. But, do you think, in these conditions, that much could have been accomplished?

The teachers had to return to their schools afterwards, but I do not know what they were assigned to do. Perhaps to write up the morning’s experience? Most probably wanted to work in their classroom, getting it ready for the students who will arrive August 19.

Not like any other summer day

Yesterday started out like any other summer day. The house cool and quiet early in the morning. I got up and ran the sprinklers, fed the cats, unloaded the dishwasher. Those mundane things we do in the morning, but which at this time of the year, with the light streaming in, give me such joy. Summer mornings are my favorite time of the year.

Then, as is my usual routine, I turned on my iPhone to check email and read Facebook posts. I go to bed early and most people keep posting, way into the late night, and there is always so much to read in the mornings. Yesterday, though, I was immediately hit with the top post telling me that a little boy from our church had disappeared the day before. Police, FBI, and our pastor were on the hunt for him.

This little guy, 10 years old, is the brother to a little girl I had in my Sunday School class this past year. He was in the class next door to mine and I would see him every Sunday. He and his sister walk to church as they live only a couple of blocks away. The parents do not attend church but I would often see their mother, who also grew up in the church, on campus for certain events.

In the early hours there was little information except that he did not come home the previous evening. These children are left to their own devices during the day, especially with school vacation being in effect, and they wander the streets. I sent out a post to all my Facebook friends to pray for his safe return. My lovely summer morning had taken an ominous turn.

As the morning wore on, and searches were made, our church’s new pastor put out a request from the FBI that church members deliver meals to the family. It was a tangible thing I could do so I called the office and set up a schedule for meals after which I when to Target and bought a supply of paper plates, cups, utensils, etc., so the family wouldn’t have to wash dishes. I got food for breakfast and a box of ice cream bars as I had been told the little sister was asking for ice cream.

Upon arriving in the neighborhood where the family lives, only blocks from our church, I was greeted with streets filled with police cars and TV trucks. On the family’s street, the TV cameras were set up in many of the neighbor’s yards with interviews being done as I hauled the food supplies to the house. I was stopped outside by a Fresno police officer and an FBI agent who told me the house was being processed and I would not be allowed in. They were quite pleased, though, that I had come bearing food and allowed the mother to take it in.

The day progressed with few updates except that the police were going door-to-door, a nearby canal was being searched, a helicopter was circling the area. Late in the afternoon I got word that the boy had been seen at a nearby school and the police were there, investigating. Just as the 5 o’clock news was starting word came that the boy had been found, alive. Our prayers had been answered.

This morning, another typically warm Fresno day has begun. The cats fed, the sprinklers run, the dishwasher emptied. This is the news article from the morning paper:

Fresno boy is found

By Jim Guy and Angel Moreno A 10-year-old Fresno boy who went missing on Wednesday was found Thursday afternoon in the custody of a man who was later arrested on suspicion of child concealment.

 Levon McDaniel, 36, was arrested after an officer spotted him walking with the boy near Fresno and Ashlan avenues around 4:15 p.m., said Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer.

 The arrest capped a day-long hunt by dozens of law enforcement officers, the FBI and volunteers for Michael Letendre, who had gone to a friend’s home about midday on Wednesday and failed to return home that night.

 His panicked mother called police to report her son missing, launching a hunt of the neighborhood in the 900 block of East Lansing Avenue. Even a nearby canal was checked.

 Police got a break when a neighborhood juvenile told a detective he saw Michael on Wednesday with McDaniel, the juvenile’s godfather.

 An officer later spotted the boy and McDaniel in central Fresno. Dyer said the two apparently had known each other. He said there was no evidence the boy was harmed.

 “We do not know if Michael was with McDaniel voluntarily, forced to be with him or … was prevented from escaping,” Dyer said. “But he definitely concealed Michael from the police department and his parents.”

 Michael was turned over to Child Protective Services as the investigation is ongoing, he said.

There is more to this story than I have told you, as you can probably guess by that last paragraph. The little sister has also been removed from the house and on last night’s news, the mother told the reporter that she hoped to have the children returned to the family’s home on Monday. I continue to pray for these children, who although found, still have a ways to go before being safe at home.