SOLSC #12 How can it be 30?

I am participating in the
March 2018 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary...Tony and I, unbelievably, are celebrating 30 years together. I feel so blessed, so lucky, so happy. Way back when, when we got married, I'm not sure I imagined 30 years...that sounded outstandingly far away. Yet, here we are, 30 years in and hopeful for another 30 more. May it be so!

We celebrated by doing one of our favorite activities - getting outside in nature and walking! We did a weekend away in the mountains (Berkeley Springs, West Virginia)...here are a few pictures from a walk we did along the Potomac River in western Maryland:












I'm not writing much today - my gift to myself, my gift to us. Just savoring this accomplishment. Love rocks!

Tuesday SOL: What is death?

I am participating in the
Tuesday Slice of Life.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

"One can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead." Benjamin Franklin



We buried Flash the betta fish this week. I noticed he was slowing down one day. The next day when I came in, I didn't even see him in the tank. I looked more closely at the tank and there he was, in long, narrow leaves of the fake seagrass. Imagine, this tiny little life still having the desire and power to die in solitude...living life in a glass bowl, everyone looking at you, and then when it is time to die, finding the one available place of solitude to die.

I shared the news of Flash's death with the preschoolers. I let them see him in the reeds. They asked,
"Is he stuck?"
"Is he tired?"
"Why is he hiding?"
"Why did he die?"
"Is he sick?"

I removed him from the tank and into a paper cup with water, so that we could transport him to the garden for burial. I let the children look into the cup one by one, so that they could each be assured he was no longer alive. They asked,
"Why is he not swimming?"
"Is he sleeping?"
 "Can we make him move?"
"Is the cup too small?" asked one.
When the cup jostled, one declared,
"Flash is moving!"
I asked the children to put a hand over their heart. "Do you feel it beating? You are alive! Flash is no longer alive. He lived a good, long life."

We had a solemn procession down the hall and out the door to bury Flash in the garden. We dug a deep hole, placed Flash within, and then covered him over with dirt. I explained, "Flash the fish will help enrich our garden soil. We will be able to visit him in the garden, should the need arise." The children shared a few words,
"I like Flash."
"I miss Flash."
"Flash is in the dirt."

My colleague took several photos and I was truly surprised and moved by this one; I had not even realized this was happening, in the moment:

Do you see how one preschooler is supporting me, as I prepare to place Flash in the burial spot? It is so beautiful, the empathy and concern of preschoolers. It makes me so hopeful for our world!


***

Alongside everyone in our nation, I woke up to the news about the carnage in Las Vegas yesterday morning. Another horrific mass shooting.

Our nation will throw heart-wrenching memorials, so many flowers and candles, surrounded by breath-taking photographs of our deceased loved ones. We will weep, sob, cry out in grief. We will head right back out to the gun shop when we are done. What is life? What is the value of life? 

We are teaching our children to take it all in stride.  

Our Mommies, Daddies, sisters, brothers, grandparents, neighbors, colleagues, friends, lovers, fish,

all come and go.

We go through the pantomime of caring. Against all odds.

"One can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead." Benjamin Franklin

What can we tell about a culture by the way it treats life?

sol17-28 Who's the very best?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

I have learned through the years that the more precisely I have planned out my day, the more likely something unexpected will wreak havoc with these plans. I should have known that something new would be thrown my way today, when I was almost on autopilot from the get-go.

The alarm goes off early, there is a very full day ahead. Everything is precisely planned. Make tea, do my morning workout, eat breakfast, shower and get dressed, head out the door. I'm not taking metro today because there is an evening meeting at school and metro service is much less regular in the evenings. I won't be home until 8pm; I'll drive to school. Throughout the drive, my mind races, as I review all my to do's of the day ahead. I park the car and start to walk away.

"Ma'am! Hello, Ma'am!," someone driving by tries to get my attention,

"Yes?" I answer.

"Your front left tire - it's really low - not quite flat. But you want to fix that."

Oops.

"Thank you!" I answer.

And I freeze. I just stare at the tire.

Yes, it is really, really low.

Can I make the 30 minute drive home with the tire like that?

Ugh.

What to do?

This is not a day when I have a moment to breathe.

I'll be driving home in the dark.

Ugh.

I know who will help me think this through.

I call my husband as I walk towards school and I tell him the situation, to find out if he thinks I can get home on the tire. 

Without any hesitation, he replies,

"Oh, I noticed that yesterday and I meant to take care of it. I'll slip over to your school and fix the tire while you are teaching."

I think I have the very best husband in the world.

sol17-12 What are we celebrating?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

I am delighted to say, today is my 29th wedding anniversary! I came home to beautiful roses and funny candy on Friday after school. Funny candy? "Riesens" - Tony called them "the many Riesens for loving me" - yes, funny candy! Truly, we have celebrated our anniversary all weekend long.

My gift to him? I decided to write - of course! He was the inspiration, with his silly Riesens. I wrote down 29 reasons I loved him - plus 1 more to grow on. I wrote each reason on a tiny sliver of paper, like a fortune; I scrolled each one up and filled a very small box, and presented him with these treasures. It was a lovely reflection process for me - thinking about all that has happened over the many years of our marriage, and why I hope for many more years. May it be so.

Happy day, happy us, feeling very blessed.