Author: michardillo
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Room at the Inn
Not only was this Father’s Day weekend, but it was also my older daughter’s birthday weekend. We decided several weeks ago to drive to Pittsburgh to see her for her birthday on June 20th, and then we would all be together to celebrate Father’s Day the next day. We know this drill well. We’ve been…
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Sing It, Alice Cooper!
In the inimitable words of Alice Cooper, “School’s out for summer!” The end of the school year is a glorious thing for students. The countdown begins somewhere mid-4th quarter. Teachers are ready, too, and many post the countdown on their white boards, both as encouragement for their students to hang in there and finish strong,…
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A Rose by Any Other Name . . .
After nearly eleven years of faithful service, my 2001 silver Mazda MPV finally succumbed, or should I say, we finally succumbed to the recent spate of repairs to keep it running. It was such a great car, bought used in 2004. It took us on college tours, back and forth to Pittsburgh for six plus…
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The Fatal Bite
I didn’t go looking for drama; it came to me. In early 1984, I was at a very low and dark point in my personal and professional life. I went to work, came home, went to bed, got up, and repeated that process for weeks-no, months-on end. My only foray out of my apartment was…
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A Fresh Memory for Memorial Day
Frequent readers will know that my father passed away on Friday, May 8, 2015. On the following Tuesday, my brothers and I met with the funeral director to make the arrangements. There were not that many decisions to make, however, because in the 1990’s, unbeknownst to us at the time, my mother had made all…
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À bientôt
On Thursday, May 14, 2015, I said my final goodbye to my dad or at least my final goodbye in this life. Being a faithful Catholic, however, I truly believe that I will see him again in eternal life, so perhaps Thursday’s goodbye was merely à bientôt. His funeral was beautiful. My brothers and I…
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My Name is Michelle Ardillo and I am a . . .
It’s Saturday morning. Early spring. Birds are singing, bees are buzzing, the sun is shining. Right now, I should be doing laundry or changing the sheets on the beds or at least unloading the dishwasher. I could be grading papers or doing lesson plans, mapping out the remaining six weeks of school (but who’s counting,…
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Just Around the River Bend
In June of 1995 my older daughter turned five years old and just after her birthday a new Disney movie was released, Pocahontas. She was crazy about that movie. She had Pocahontas pajamas, t-shirts, bathing suit, bed sheets, and that Halloween she was Pocahontas head to toe. Just recently when going through some boxes of…
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The Top Ten Things Teaching Taught Me
In 2002 I left a stressful but lucrative job as a real estate paralegal to live abroad for two years as an expat trailing spouse. It was the first time in my adult life that I had nowhere to go each weekday. Other than maternity leave in 1990 and 1992, I had been employed full-time…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 