Why "Masker"?

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Northern Virginia, United States
In college, I was a member of a sorority that was known as Maskers. There were 11 of us girls, all juniors, and 11 seniors. I was the 1997-1998 Masker #7. It was a highlight of my college years and I have used it for computer user ids since then. In the 10 years that have followed, however, I am learning the value of taking off the fake "Mask" and being true and authentic with myself and others. THAT is the purpose of my blog.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Make new friends, but keep the old




It's been a sick week-again-for us at the Hoffman home. Cassie has been sick since we got home from Pennsylvania so I took her to the doctor yesterday, just to make sure there wasn't something serious going on. She checked out okay...guess she just has a really bad cold. I suspect she's also getting some new teeth since she seems to be especially drippy-drooley. As usual, she seems to be making lots of new discoveries while sick...new words, creative approaches to playtime, etc. Yesterday we talked about several new words-"doctor", "noodle" (it was Italian night so we were boiling noodles for dinner), "socks and shoes", "bear" "baby" etc. Her favorite words are still "apple" and "some". She uses "some" to ask for whatever it is I have that she wants. Guess I've asked her one too many times if she wants "some" and now she's picked up on that as a magic word. :)


Another precious development is Cassie's newfound interest in my childhood Stieff Bear, "Mary-Beary". My parents bought me Mary-beary when I was 5 or 6 as a comforting friend to sleep with and help me through scary times in the dark. Sadly, Mary-Beary never was able to irradicate my fears but she sure was special to me. Now, Cassie has begun carrying Mary all over the house...she rocks Mary in her rocking chair, hugs her and says 'baby'. It's quite sweet to see MY baby loving on Mary-beary...I never could have imagined as a child that the Mary-beary I cuddled at night would be the same one that MY baby would cuddle. Wow...almost makes me want to break into song, "the cirrrcle of liiiiife". Interesting too that when I googled Stieff stuffed animals I discovered that Mary-beary is now valued at $500 +. Oh well, too bad cause I'm not selling her!