The Sunrise Story

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  My last day of work for the 2014-2015 school year was June 17th. I presented at a conference on June 19th. I left for a week long writing retreat, or unworkshop, on June 22nd. I had company upon my return. My summer begins today. I am a creature of habit and I do well with routine. The week long writing retreat instilled in me some good routines that I plan on implementing this summer...beginning today. Wake up. No alarm. I'm naturally an early riser, so this shouldn't be a problem. Shower. Breakfast. Walk the dog. Gather my things and off to write. I am going to write every morning for a couple of hours. I'm serious about writing a book and I'm hopeful that by setting a deliberate writing routine, this will help...

Thank you to  Ruth Ayres  for the opportunity to focus on celebrations every week!  I celebrate writing. I just reread my celebration post from last week  and I'm grateful to be a writer, especially a blogger. I can look back and see such change and growth.  I celebrate risks. This past week I spent in a new place, meeting new people, and finally believing in my heart that I am a writer. Being surrounded by brilliant and supportive writers and being counted one of them, BY them has inspired me so much. It's changed me.  I celebrate the act of writing. Sitting down. Butt in chair. I celebrate the moments of despair and the moments of clarity that often follow the despair. I celebrate the work...the journey.  I celebrate the friends I made at this retreat. I can't say enough about these strong, smart, funny, inspiring women!  I celebrate a new goal. Writing a book. I've begun. It's at the very beginning...page 1, even befo...

Written Thursday at The Highlights Foundation Tomorrow I will go home. Tonight I think about what my goals were for this retreat... Go. Show up. Write. Meet some people. I did. I achieved all of these goals and much, much more. Go. I am here. This place is magical. Everyone is kind and helpful and supportive.  The food is delicious and nutritious. The weather has been comfortable. Show up. I introduced myself to people. I met new people. I listened. I learned. I asked questions. I shared. Write. Oh did I write. I wrote a lot. I flushed out ideas for two possible possible books. I wrote four blog posts. I wrote pages and pages in my notebook. I wrote a lot. Meet some people. I thought I'd meet people. I didn't expect to meet a dog and a bear too.  Back to the people...I didn't expect to make real connections. I didn't expect to leave here with friends. New friends and old friends... Writer friends. Also... I laugh...

Written Wednesday at the  Highlights Foundation ... I slept through yoga. It was a wonderful, restful, and relaxing sleep. Breakfast was powerful. The food is yummy...always yummy (I eat so quickly that I always seem to forget to take a picture!) This morning the group at the breakfast table got into such a powerful discussion about...life, race, gender, relationships, writing...you name it we discussed it. It reminded me of the conversations I used to have in college that lasted for hours. We had to cut it short, but it stayed with me.  We walked back to the lodge...the four of us. Making plans to keep in touch as Dana was leaving today. I'm so grateful we stopped and took this picture of the four of us... Dana, Lori, Stacey, Michelle Now, down to the writing today. Something about writing is tiring. At the end of the day, it feels like a day well spent. There was lots of writing today. We took a walk after lunch and that helped my afternoon productivity.  ...

Blog written Tuesday at the Highlights Foundation ... Here are some things I learned today. It's 2:22 in the afternoon and I need a brain break...so I'm blogging. Starting the day with yoga is perfect. The stretches felt good...down to my soul. I discovered that I'm asymmetrical and it's ok. We relaxed...right down to our brains.  I have to walk down to the Barn for yoga and all of the meals. It's a short, beautiful walk. Take a look at my scenery as I meander down to the barn a few times each day... Cabins Writing is hard and tiring and exciting and fun and hard again. It requires focus and concentration and a healthy dose of faith! The support from the people here inspires me. I've met people yesterday and we are already sharing ideas and encouraging words. We are listening to our stories and sharing our struggles and our successes. Yummy food. Doesn't food always taste better when someone else makes it? Imagine writing for three hours and sh...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  I love road trips! Long drives! There's something about them...I feel free.  I blast music and sing loudly...or I listen to an audiobook. I stop whenever I want. There are only two things that potentially ruin road trips. Getting lost and traffic. Don't get me wrong, I love the poetic idea of getting lost and discovering myself and the world around me...I just don't want to do it after I've been in the car for five or more hours. Traffic bums me out too! I prefer to leave at times when I know the roads will be empty. I ran into both problems yesterday, but it didn't matter because the destination is so worth the trouble. I am at a writing retreat...with writers. (Shhh, they don't know I'm not a writer.) That's how...

Thank you to Ruth Ayres for the opportunity to focus on celebrations every week!  Life is messy. There is pain. There is joy. It's all messy and confusing. It's hard. I struggle to write a post of celebration because of the world today. I hesitate because of the suffering. I hesitate because of the hurt. I don't know what to do. Everywhere you look, people insist that everyone MUST...change, talk about it, protest, speak up, be quiet...and on and on. I don't know what to do. I sit here frozen. I know that there are nine families and a church family dealing with unimaginable pain today. I don't understand. I don't pretend to understand. The only thing I know to do is to listen and learn and work to be better. Today, I will push on and celebrate as best as I can. I celebrate talking on the phone this morning with my family. I celebrate the quiet Saturday morning with no grading or planning hanging over my head. I celebrate ending the school yea...

Thank you to Holly for the opportunity to write and reflect and share my spiritual journey. Today our topic is laughter. Join us here ! Laughter. Laughter is the soundtrack to my life. When I think of laughter, I imagine a life preserver. Laughter has saved my life, saved my sanity over and over again.  I remember when my dad was in the ICU at the hospital, my sister and I started playing around with his cell phone. Changing ring tones. Taking silly selfies (before anyone knew what selfies were)...and the giggles started. My sister is someone with whom I've shared some of the best moments of laughter.  Laughter is healing. I believe that laughter signals that no matter how bad things are, everything will be okay. I'm blessed to share my life with friends who are hilarious! Friends who know when I need them to crack a joke, or point out the irony in a situation.   Laughter is holy. As Anne Lamott says, "Laughter is carbonated holiness." I feel closer...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  Today is the last day of sixth grade. My students will leave this classroom and they will magically turn into seventh graders. I am sad. We have to say goodbye. Goodbye to our time together. It turns out...I'm not good at saying goodbye. Emotions overwhelm me and I pull back...I want to be strong for them. Today I want to BE in the moment as much as possible. I want to talk with my students and remember our good times together. I want to pay attention to the final moments of our community. We created strong communities this year and we took care of each other.  They are ready. Summer is waiting. Seventh grade is waiting. They have written and read and created and communicated and grown every single day. I'm proud of each of my students. I ...

Thank you  Ruth  for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  Ending the school year is like running a marathon! I'm at the 26th mile...only two-tenths left and like a marathon (or so I imagine, I've never run one) there are ups and downs, especially so close to the finish line. Exhaustion is setting in with all of us and worries about changes in routine and the unknown of next year. The anticipation and excitement to reach the end, to complete the goal, and to begin a season of fun, relaxation, and freedom also hovers. Focusing on the good helps me so much during the craziness of the end! Here are some reasons to celebrate this week... *Encouragement. I've been reminded this week of the power of encouragement. On Friday, I had the privilege of being the guest blogger at Two Writing Teachers blog and I wrote about notebooks. The comments and emails and messages that I received humbled me. Reading the words of encouragement from teac...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  Many of you are finished with school and you've started summer. To you, I say...I hope you are enjoying your time. For the rest of us, here is a post to help us survive the final days of school. DURING school... Be calm. Remember emotions are high for everyone. Have a sense of humor. Search out those moments of quiet. Keep a routine as long as possible. Share compliments with your students. OUTSIDE of school... Eat chocolate. Take long walks. Play high/low with a friend. Be grateful. Watch hilarious youtube videos. Need some suggestions? Check these out… I hope these videos brought you a laugh. Have any suggestions? Please share in the comments!!! Happy Last Week of School!