Samantha's World

Even though Sam's a year younger than Chris, her world is pretty wild, too. She had to give up her spot in winter guard because she auditioned for--and made--jazz band. She put aside life as an alto sax player and moved up to big old bari sax after much encouragement from her band director. She loves honking out those lower notes and even finds herself dancing as she plays. I think she truly enjoys the more upbeat reportoire. And she especially enjoys the upcoming band trip to St. Louis where they'll perform in a competition, hit Six Flags, and take in other touristy stuff. It's her first multi-night stint away from home (except with grandparents), so it's a big step.

Sam spends her spare time writing poetry and stories which she shares with other teens on HarperTeen's website. She's made a lot of friends through the book-centered site and has gained much self-esteem from all the positive feedback about her writing. I think our big summer project is going to be to work on a teen novel centered around the colorguard world. She has some of the character charts and goal/motivation/conflict matrices done, so outlining the plot comes next. When she grows up, she wants to be a journalist. Wow, sounds kinda familiar (laughs)! She'd like to go to UMass like I did, but I keep telling her the best J-schools are Northwestern and University of Missouri/Columbia.

For the most part Sam's health has been good, but we're starting to have a more persistent problem with migraines. She sees a specialist to look into that early next month.