Edgartown: Can’t wait to meet the new students

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Welcome, September! Fall seems like it bounded in on us in a hurry this year. I’m hoping that the weather over the past week or so isn’t here for good, and that we will still get some lasting beach days through September.

Excitement was in the air at the Edgartown School last week as the teachers readied their classrooms for the new year. The school looks great, as always. We have such a bright and beautifully clean school. And the classrooms are ready to welcome the happy and excited faces that are going to walk through the doors this week. It always takes a few weeks to settle in and hit a comfortable stride at the beginning of the year, but before we know it, everyone will be relaxed and comfortable. I can’t wait to meet all the new students and catch up with all the kids returning.

Happy birthday wishes go out this week to Debra Gaines and Alison Taylor Enos, who celebrated on Sept. 4, Kathy Pogue and Sarah Parece on Sept. 5,Susan King on Sept. 7, and Alana Morris on Sept. 8.

M.V. Mediation is offering a free workshop, Family Property Disputes, at the Edgartown library on Sept. 12 from 6 pm until 8 pm. Disputes among family members involving family property, estates, trusts, and businesses can be challenging. When a patriarch or matriarch gives up control or has died, the adult children are often left with uncertainty or, worse, contrary beliefs about their rightful role. Disputes surface that are usually less about ill will than about conflicting feelings, misunderstandings of intent, conflicting expectations, resistance to change or unspoken fears. The public is invited to join M.V. Mediation and their panel guests, John “Jack” Wofford and Martin V. Tomassian Jr., as they discuss these conflicts and how mediation can help.

My condolences go out this week to Tony and Erika Bettencourt and their extended family. As most of you probably know by now, Tony’s mother, Kay Bettencourt, passed away last week. I can’t say that I knew Kay very well, but I will say that she was always an excellent role model for me and other young women. She was strong and independent, and very adept at her career. She was most definitely someone to look up to and learn from. She will be missed.

I’m also sad to share the news that my cousin, Paul David Corwin, passed away last week as well. It has brought up so many memories of our childhood, growing up together in Edgartown. Back in the day, the Corwins lived at the Triangle, about where Granite is right now. We lived with them for awhile before moving over to a house on Oakdale Drive, and then to Katama. There were eight kids in all, within a year or two of each other, and they were cousins but also our first real friends as well. We’d do everything together, from walks to the DQ, back when the Browns owned it and it was on the other side of Upper Main Street, sleeping out in their shed, State Beach all day, at “the sign” instead of “the raft,” as it was known back then, as opposed to “the Bend.” The raft was reserved for special days or cookouts for dinner as a gang. Our holidays were huge, especially when my Uncle Frankie’s family moved here and all my mother’s side was here together. It was really an idyllic childhood that I wouldn’t trade for anything. He is our first loss of our generation on that side, and he was, I think, the sweetest and most gentle of all of us. We’re going to miss him.

 

The Martha’s Vineyard Partnership for Health (MVPH) is offering a new training session, “My Life, My Health – Become a Health-Self-Manager for Chronic or Multiple Conditions.”

If you have a chronic health condition, or are a caregiver for someone who has a chronic health condition such as arthritis, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, asthma, depression, or pain, you will become empowered by participating in this series. “My Life, My Health” is proven program designed to give participants the knowledge and skills needed to take a more active role in their own health or that of the people they’re caring for.

The MV Partnership for Health has funding from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder

Affairs and the Federal Administration for Community Living to offer this free six-session series. Call or email to find out the dates and location of our next series, starting Sept. 7, 3 pm until 5:30 pm in Oak Bluffs. Preregistration is required. Call 508-627-5797, ext. 114, or infoMVPH@ihimv.org to register or for more information.

That’s it for this week! We kick into high gear right away, as most families do this time of year. Dance starts up again next Monday, something Amelia and I are a little out of practice with after so much time off with her injuries. We’re going to have to relearn how to schedule all of that driving and dancing and dancing and driving, combined with lesson planning and homework. Riley starts back to the Sea Cadets on the 16th, but with a driver’s license and a little more practice driving on the highway, those trips may rapidly become solo endeavors for him. It’s a very busy time of year for all, as we adjust to fall sports and other activities. Relax and have fun. No matter who you are, you worked hard this summer I’m sure, even if it was just trying to keep a level head, calm spirit, and warm smile going during the traffic and hubbub that is summer on M.V. Congratulations. You made it. Enjoy September.