Letter to Phil Bredesen 8/19/08

For those who don't know, Phil Bredesen is the Governor of the state of Tennessee. This is a subject I feel strong about, so I decided to write to him, the rest should explain itself.

Dear Sir,
My name is Sarah Strasser and I am the mother of 2 beautiful boys. Adam Robert is 5 and Charlie Moss is 3. I am writing to you in response to my own disgust at the cuts in our school system, particularly the Pre K program. My oldest boy had the privilege to attend Pre K this year at College Grove Elementary for about 2 and a half months. In just that short amount of time, the benefits I saw, the changes in him, were astounding. I do credit this to a wonderful teacher (Ms. Rebecca Smith) and an even better school, but he wouldn't be where he is now without it. His drawings went from scribbles to taking shape: showing actual people, colors, objects. His letters became legible and he is even able to write his name and other words. He can read small words and sit, listening quietly to an entire story, maintaining interest the whole time. That is just a few of the academic changes. His self esteem shot through the roof. His personality exploded. It's like he just bloomed right before my eyes, in just 2 and a half months! Imagine the benefits to a child attending for the whole year! With the stiffening curriculum in kindergarten, I'm afraid he would've been lost when he began school a week ago. I've been keeping up with the news releases on all the happenings with Pre K cuts, but the most disturbing, and ultimately why I'm writing you, was what I read today. I read that testing was being done on kids that had gone through Pre K on completion of kindergarten and 1st grade. It said that there are benefits in the first 2 years but that by 2nd grade, the benefits had disappeared. Even if this is true, don't you think that:
A. The benefits to those first 2 years is well worth Pre K, and
B. The social, emotional, and self esteem benefits are just as important, and
C. That if the benefits fade by 2nd grade, that maybe we should take a look at what happens in that time to possibly continue those benefits?
I am devastated that Pre K may be gone by the time my youngest would enter, but I'm even more troubled that the government continues to steal our tax dollars are most needed: our schools. I do the best I can as a stay at home mother but I fight a disease called Lupus that, unfortunately, takes me away from my boys at times. After nearly losing my life several times in the last 3 years, I now realize how important these things are. I want to be sure my boys are well educated, even if I'm not here to oversee it.
Mr. Bredesen, I am a voter. I am a voter who has been in your corner if for nothing else, your stance and efforts in this issue. Please don't make me regret this fact.
I am 100% willing to volunteer my time and efforts to anything to help these things I've discussed. In fact, I volunteer almost daily at my son's school. Please notify me of anything I can do to help.
On one final note, I'd like to reiterate how fantastic I think College Grove Elementary is, as well as the rest of Williamson County schools. I'm amazed at how they care for my kids and do the best they can with what they have. They should be highly praised.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sarah Strasser
Mom to Adam and Charlie

Turning 30 (written 7/28/08)

Hello all... Ok. I turned the big 3-0 on Saturday. At midnight the night before I was out at a club with a girlfriend (don't that much anymore, ok, pretty much not at all). Everyone around me thought it was awesome and kept buying me shots. The next thing I remember....(how many stories start that way? Now I have the first drunken story of my thirties) I was on the dance floor. Long time since that happened too. I had so much fun. We went to another bar, then to breakfast at like 4am. We were back at my friend's place at 5am. I didn't tell her this, but I felt so happy I couldn't get to sleep. It was the first positive attention I'd gotten from someone other than my children or mother in a long time. To be very honest, I was dreading my birthday with a passion. By the morining of I felt okay with being thirty. So I go home and wait for my family to start with the birthday phone calls, my brother singing Happy Birthday to me, my sister being so sweet and wanting to know what I'd do for myself that day, my mom calling to tell me she remembered what she was doing exactly 30 years ago at that moment and then requesting"God Blessed Texas" from the radio station (because 30 years ago that day, He had...=), my dad calling to tell me how proud he is of me. But I come home, my husband is in bed, he barely wakes up and says Happy Birthday before he goes back to sleep. So I sit on the couch and wait for phone calls. I talked to my mother and I got a happy bday from her, but no one calls. I know I'm going to dinner at her house that night (which has been suspicious, but I had accepted that), but I really expected to hear from everyone. Dad calls to say, Happy Birthday now you are really old. Really Really old and I'll see you tonight. So I shower, get dressed and decide, I guess everyone is just going to see me tonight. So I get to mom's around 5pm to find this huge elaborate spread. All for me. My sister had been planning with my mom for months. It was beautiful, but to honest, I didn't get it when I first walked up. I thought, "Why has Robin brought pink tablecloths when my favorite color is purple?" Then, "Why are there wedding bells hanging from the walkway?" Then,"Why is everything labled strangly and so very southern (I'm not in denial, I do realize I'm a southern woman in every sense of the word, but still...)?" Then I get it. Robin (my sister-in a word FABULOUS) has planned this themed party after my favorite movie...Steel Magnolias. The tablecloths were blush and bashful. The wedding bells, the southern theme, the pork and beans. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it then read this again. Then everyone started showing up. All of my very favorite people in the world. My boys, my family, my brother,sister in law and the neices and nephews, including the brand new one in the oven (March 7th!). My cousins, aunts, uncles, parents in law, my best girlfriend, my best gay, everyone was there! I had no idea everyone would be there, I felt so loved. Then the best part, it's time for the cake. My amazing sister comes out with, you guessed it, a bleeding armadillo cake. (Like I said, watch the movie) It had grey icing, I don't even begin to know how you make grey icing. My sister made it herself. Imagine! So fabulous, as soon as I have pictures, I'll post. Then what my sister had made me. These plaques with my favorite lines from the movie. "Nothing like a good peice of ass" "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize" "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me" "No one cries alone in my presence." Then some left and I opened gifts. I got lots of great thing but the big thing from my husband and family was a professional mixer, something I've wanted since I got married but have never been able to afford it. It is so beautiful and I can't wait to use it. Then some more left and we were down to just a few. Me, my hubby, my sister, my mom and dad, my momo (think aunt, sort of), my friend, and my boys. My girlfriend sang for us, beautifully, my son peed in the yard and then my hubby took them to stay at the other grandparents for the night. He came back and we all sat up and told stories and laughed, discussed how I missed my grandmother and wished she could have been at the party. (I still miss you mother). Laughed, some drank, stayed up until 2am. I came back home to reall life yesterday morning but I'm sitting here thinking fondly of my birthday. Even watched Steel Magnolias yesterday afternoon. I didn't think I'd see thirty, now the outlook isn't so bad.

I'm tickled pink.

Love you all and thanks for the birthday wishes!

Sarah

Nell Guest (written1/28/08)

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to take a quick moment and memorialize my beloved grandmother who passed away early Saturday morning. She'd been ill and in the hospital for about a week and her tiny little body just wouldn't go anymore. While our family has had our differences with her, and I will say they were worse than most, I truly regret the years I didn't get to spend with her. However, as she and I had grown older and I had my boys, we became pretty close. She wasn't always the kindest person to others, but she would've given me the shirt off her back. I had a truly special bond with her and miss her so badly. I know that she's comfortable now lying with her husband in fields of white but I can't help but be a bit selfish and want her back. I miss you, Mother. Rest in peace. May the comfort of forgiveness find you.

*Hugs*

Sarah