Ebb and Flow
So, recently a teaching colleague convinced me to participate in the Slice of Life month of blogging, March 2015. It didn’t take much convincing. I am a new teacher and one of the newest staff members at a middle school. I believe passionately in modeling for my students the use and mastery of the skills I teach. So, I leapt at the chance.
But, when I dug into blogging a bit more I learned I have had a blog since 2009, http://speakingslowly-oicurcrazy2.blogspot.com/. I was gob smacked. Once I saw my one and only blog post I was teleported back in time to a lonely and aimless summer when I participated in a free class at our public library teaching how to blog. I promise to do a better job of blogging this time, at least for the 31 days of March.
As I read my previous post, I was humbled and grateful for the progress in my life since summer 2009. At that time I had a newly minted teaching license that I doubted I would ever get to use. The town I live in has a limited number of teaching positions and those few have little turn-over. But I have successfully worked in education, added to my skills and resume, and as of seven months ago, become a staff member at a local middle school.
But in every life, a little rain must fall. I grew up quite a bit since 2009. My mother became ill, requiring numerous hospitalizations and surgeries. For the first time in my life I saw how fragile my parents are. My intellect has always understood that my parents and I are aging and not immortal. But now I have heard the quiet only a hospital room contains. Now I have seen the pain and fear on a loved one’s face right before they wheel her into surgery. While I am grateful to say I still have both of my parents and we are closer than ever, I am much more conscious of how fleeting the times with family can be. To quote Gretchen Rubin, “The days are long but the years are short.” So go hug somebody you love, will ya?
