The Sunrise Story

Sharing an original poem everyday in the month of April. Happy National Poetry Month! I spent Saturday at the Claggett Center  for the Courage to Teach and Lead Retreat . I found out about this opportunity late on Friday and I was able to participate for the day. It was amazing. Here's a found poem from my day. These words and lines are words I heard and wrote throughout my time with the amazing teachers and leaders at this spectacular location... Words carry power bring meaning bear our history and experiences Let’s respond with silence a kind heart faith. Listen to what’s being said behind the words… Listen with compassion instead of fear and anger. Dig beyond the Words. Words I will carry with me from this day… Prayer is a conversation Moments of wonder in life Always start with the gratitude What is sacred? Transformational, spiritual change What in our lives do we bow to? Showing gratitude Being v...

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 . Do you have dreams? Kids are good at dreaming. I find many adults struggle with it. Speaking for myself, I get so caught up in the everyday drudgery of life, that dreams get nudged aside until they disappear.  It's important to have dreams. I've been writing about my dreams in my notebook and so I thought I'd share my dreams here... 1. Writing a book.  While I'd love to get a book published, my dream is to write a book...to complete the act of writing it.  I've started on this dream and it's hard and challenging and exciting and amazing.  2. Living at the beach.    I love the water, the waves, the ocean smell, the seafood, the sand...all of it! The Outer Banks is my favorite place in the...

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 . Writing is how I make sense of the world...how I make sense of my world. I've worked hard to meaningfully incorporate writing into my daily life again and I've seen the difference. I've returned to the practice of morning pages and I couldn't be happier. I wake at about 4:00 or 4:30 in  the morning and walk down the hall to my writing room. I light a candle, turn on the twinkle lights and write. The first page is always slow...ten minutes...as my brain is waking up. The next couple of pages come more smoothly. After that, I work on my writing or a blog post or I write out a card. I allow myself to work on what I want to work on to begin my day. It's lovely. I've missed one day so far and I felt the lack in the ...

Thank you to Ruth Ayres for the opportunity to focus on celebrations every week! Please join us! I celebrate perspective today. December can be a hard month. It's had a rocky start for me. People are stressed and pushed to their limits. As teachers, sometimes we are on the receiving end of this stress in our communications. In one day, I received two very different emails with two very different tones. One knocked me down and the other lifted me back up. Everyone has a story and I remind myself of that daily. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that minute by minute. I believe we are all doing our best. Getting knocked down is hard. It stinks. It's no fun...but it makes the kindness so much sweeter. I'm trying to model focusing on the good with my students. It's a practice I began in the beginning of November called The Best Part of My Day! I look for things to notice and then post about it after the students go home. No one has said anything, but tha...

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...