They call me Mr. Arbor

Jay graduated his eight grade class with high honors with a GPA of 4.13. He was expecting to do better and be the class valedictorian but there were at least 2 others who had better GPA in his graduating class of 130+ students. Proud of my boy... he did good and worked really hard. Here are some of his accomplishments this school year:

* American Legion award for outstanding male student who showed citizenship and commitment in this school year.
*National Junior Honor Society member
*Student Council member
*Yearbook Committee member
*Member of School Basketball, Volleyball and track team.
*Mathelete
*Scholastic bowl member
*SAK Basketball
*OF Flag football ( member of the Superbowl winning Patriots)
*Tinley Park Thunder Swimmer


He racked up a lot of hours doing community work in the village library, school and charity events held by the village. At 6'3" he stood tall above all his fellow eight graders( not that that is an achievement), since this is a log, I am merely mentioning it as this will be a reference point for years to come for him and generations to come :-).

He is keen on going to IMSA ( a public school for students who excel academically in Illinois). The admission process starts in September 2015 and we'll do our best to facilitate that, if he gets in , it will be awesome!. If not it will still be good as it a preparation process  and learning experience that is worth trying.

He is looking forward to his freshman year at High School and meeting new friends and teachers. He has already attended the weeklong boot-camp at high school so he has a heads up on what to expect in High school.The transition from Middle to High school can be intimidating....but he has already had a feel of of High school and ready to hit the ground running.

Jay has bee a good role model for his little brother who follows him ( much to his annoyance) and want to emulate him. Even though they fight and argue about silly stuff, I know that deep in their heart they love and care for each other.

Sounds of the River...

I spent a good part of my child hood in a small village called Cheruvally in Kerala. My maternal grandfather had his agricultural land here, the fertile soil could grow coconut, jackfruit, tapioca, paddy, a variety of root vegetables which are highly nutritios, mangoes, bananas, pineapple, pepper, coffee and the list goes on.
I am reminiscing about Cheruvally because of a small river that ran trough the heart of the river and was the source of water for the villagers.Banks of the river was the community place where everyone got together to socialize.

The sound of the river was soothing and relaxing and I would often drift off to sleep listening to the sound of the water gushing down stream.  Today I live in a small city and about half a mile from the Interstate-80 which runs across the US from East to West. When we moved here 15 years ago the constant sound of moving vehicles bothered me, but now it is background noise. Not only that, the sound has become like the sound of the river and it reminds me of the river in the tiny village that I grew up in. I guess as one gets old, life comes a full circle and you start associating things with your childhood.