A Woman I Met

So!

Yesterday was super cool.

I participated in the Chicago "Principal for A Day" program.

Myself, Stacy and Erin headed out to Schiller Elementary School and shadowed the school's principal, and we ourselves did various principal-y duties.

This school is located "IN" Cabrini Green,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini-Green

So needless to say it was an eye-opening experience and heartwarming as well.

There were teachers there working SO hard, and really changing the lives of some of these young kids. We will continue working with this school by implementing reading and tutoring mentors from our organization!

As part of this "Principal for a Day" program, we attended a luncheon to meet and network with other "Prinicipals" from the city.

We heard a rousing and energetic speech from the Mayor,

Saw various local celebrities, one of which was David Schwimmer, also know as Ross, from Friends,

But the woman that will stick in my memory the most was one Margaret Burroughs,

http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=39

This woman just sat down at our table, but she was awesome. 91 years old and just living life.

I think what I liked the most about her was her unabashedly amazing sense of self. I think that must just come with being 91 years old. You most likely get to that point in your life where you really and TRULY don't care too much what people think of you.

She:

1) Had a FANTASTIC outfit of wild prints, large baubles on her hands, a cool hat, etc.

2) Stashed the rest of her sandwich in her purse! Good thinking

3) She clapped, made drumming sounds and was HIGHLY spirited when the color guard and drums presented the American flag (by the way, I was doing all of these things in my head, but not in public, surrounded by roughly 1,000 super important Chicagoans, but why not?)

4) With no hesitation, she cleaned her teeth at our table, it needed to be done I guess! So just go for it.

I loved her.

You can see from her Bio that she has been really active with the DuSable Museum...she has written children's stories, she does art. We will certainly need her to visit us when we get the store open.

It was a really good day.

More tomorrow on our Halloween Hijinx!