The Sunrise Story

I've been thinking a lot about the world today and how different it is from the world when I grew up. This leads me to consider my upbringing and my parents. My parents always taught me and my sister to be kind...to everyone. They taught us this lesson with their actions more than anything. We watched them. We noticed. We followed. I'm grateful to my mom and my dad for teaching us this valuable lesson. This world needs kindness more than ever. Today would have been my dad's seventy-first birthday. He died almost eleven years ago. It's important to me to remember my dad and to honor him on his birthday.   Last year, I assigned special "Dad Homework". It was ice cream for all. That was certainly a hit! You can read about it here . This year, I want to go bigger. My original idea was to complete 71 acts of kindness. Immediately, I panicked! How could I do that and keep track of it? That's when it hit me...I don't have to do it alone.  ...

Ten years since we've talked. Ten years since I got a hug from you. Ten years since we went for ice cream. Ten years since we saw each other. Ten years since we talked and talked and talked. Ten years since I've gotten advice from you. Ten years since I've heard your laugh. Ten years since we fought over who gets the last cucumber. Ten years since I heard you say, "I love you!" But, you are with me every day. You are there when I succeed. You are there when I fail. You are there when I walk my dog. You are there when I sing along to the radio. You are there when I'm comforting a struggling student. You are there when I'm writing and writing and writing. You are there  in the tears, in the laughter, in the confusion, in the joy, in the fear, in the wonder, in the sorrow in the love... you are there. I miss you. Recently, a friend shared these words of comfort,  "I realized the beauty of missing someone is the r...

This week has been filled with ups and downs, but there is so much to celebrate! Monday would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. He passed away almost ten years ago. This year, I talked to my students about my dad and I told them about his birthday. We talked about remembering those we love and I decided to invite them to do some extra homework. The typical middle school moans and groans could be heard when I announced that, but they were immediately silenced when I told them their assignment...eat ice cream.  Ice cream was Dad's favorite treat, Dairy Queen, to be exact...so I told them how every year on his birthday and important "Dad Days", I go to DQ and order my favorite blizzard. The classroom exploded with excitement! Many students grabbed their agendas to record their homework and even more demanded I sign their agendas. "My parents won't believe me!" Here are a couple of agenda entries from my sixth, seventh, and eighth graders... Wha...

I love my blog because it gives me an opportunity to look back and see where I was. Today I searched for posts about Father's Day and I've never written a post about it before...interesting. Today, I'm celebrating Father's Day. I was blessed with a wonderful dad. I'm grateful for all of his love and support throughout my life. I miss him everyday. He died nine years ago, but his presence in my life is still noticeable. Here are some things that I celebrate about my Dad: I celebrate his JOY. I celebrate his positive attitude. I celebrate his love for his children. I celebrate his enthusiasm. I celebrate his risk-taking. I celebrate his ability to reflect. I celebrate his presence. Dad was there. He showed up. He and I loved to talk and talk and talk. My favorite times with him were road trips or walks. We would just spend time together and have fun. Dad made mistakes too. He owned his mistakes and worked to improve himself. Dad was fiercely independent and he...

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 . "How you start your day is how you live your day. How you live your day is how you live your life." ~Louise Hay Morning is the best way to begin the day. I’m an early bird. I like early mornings. I wake up early by myself, usually before the alarm goes off. There was a time in my life that I wasn’t like this...high school. In high school, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed. I would ignore my alarm. It was the only time that my parents struggled with getting me up and out to school. One day, my dad said, “Enough!” I’d slept through my alarm, again, and he knocked on my door and did that “dad thing” and he yelled, “Michelle! Time to get uuuppp!” I did the kid thing and mumbled, “...in a minute,” and I rolled back over and re...

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 . I like that this challenge starts on March 1st. This is a special day for me. It's the day I lost my dad. It's been nine years. I miss him so much! There is at least one moment in every day that I remember him and think about him. Nine years ago, this day was about sadness and loss. I ached because I would never get to talk to my dad again! Nine years later this day is about celebrating our memories and telling dad stories. My dad's name was Charles Towne Haseltine, but everyone called him Chris...except me, I called him Dad! Dad grew up in Springfield, Vermont with an older brother and three younger sisters. He worked in insurance, but he always wanted to be a teacher. I think he liked that I was a teacher. Dad and I s...