Peace On Earth

Another Christmas can now be stored in memory!

It comes fast. It goes faster!

The memories though include silly weather fears...family traveling in conditions that included lots of snow then rain and fog and finally deeply cold temperatures - the total mix to keep the anxiety high.

Everyone traveled safely though and my kids laughed at my preoccupation with the fears. In the end, the best present of the whole holiday is not only having time with my kids but also knowing that they arrived safely home!

Giving Thanks

Jim, Katie, and I made our annual trek to Columbus, Ohio to share Thanksgiving with Erin.

Holidays are hard on Jim unless he is with his own family. So this year, he wanted to make sure we had a hotel room so that he had some place to "get away" from all of the family time. His discomfort turns into a bit of stress for everyone. After 4 days of togetherness, we were all ready for some time apart.

Holiday stress is something that affects all families in one way or another. People are expected to stop their routines to cook more, eat more, spend more, visit more. And then at some point, one needs to just stop and reflect. What is this time supposed to be about anyway?

Thanksgiving should be about Giving Thanks! In all of the hustle of the days together, we did not give thanks! I want to do that now... I am so thankful for where I am in my life. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

• Erin and Katie and I have been through a great deal together. We share a bond, a very tight bond because of our life's events. Thank god we have each other!
• Erin and Katie have accomplished so much with their careers. It makes a mom very proud indeed.
• My job is one of continued satisfaction and yet I know that at any time I can retire. That is a very very nice feeling.
• Jim and I have a relationship that, although not perfect, is our own unique blend of support and freedom. I love him for that.

As I sit here now reflecting on Thanksgiving and listening to Christmas music, I am very content. Stress and frustration are just life and this life I would do it all over again, in a heartbeat!

Branson, MO - Home of the Lonesome Cowboy

So, Jim and I took a week off and decided to return to Branson, Missouri to see what the concerts were like during their Christmas season. I can now say there is such a thing as too much Christmas! Oh dear, it's still November!

The week was great though and a perfect time to get away. My job requires that I spend a great deal of time pulling teachers together to work on curriculum revisions. Well, they don't want to do that during the month of Parent Teacher Conferences! Good time for me to disappear!

Branson is like a haven for Tour Buses carrying retired folks! You need not worry about what to wear. Your sweatsuit and tennis shoes will do just fine. It's the lastest fashion there. Life moves at a slower pace. The cars drive slowly. People walk slowly, many supporting each other! Oh if life could be like this every day.

So this is much like that story "Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned in Kindergarten". This one is "And Everything Else Doesn't Matter!"

It was a great relaxing week that brought back some childhood memories, a few too many versions of Silent Night, but all in all a sense of joy!

Trip to Branson

LIfe is Good!

My birthday was yesterday. I had a great day! I have two thoughtful daughters who made sure that the day had all the right touches. No cake, but a great aromatic candle and flavored coffee. Then an unbelievable two hours of massage and scrub decadently scented in chocolate!

The day ended with a wonderful dinner, compliments of Jim. Tuscan foods and wine! The day was completely delicious, if a day can be that way!

Actually, as I read book after book about life and hardships in other countries and in other times, we have a stunning life! There is so much to be thankful for.

And yet...

People complain!

Everyday, I listen to issues related to having more, doing less, wanting different, expecting something other than what there is! So I find myself breathing in the silence, when it comes along gathering energy to listen to more issues come Monday!

This weekend was about breathing in thankfulness for a life that has been very good to me! I did not have a charmed childhood, nor did I have rousing encouragement as I took life's steps. It's because of that or in spite of that, that I have the life I have now.

And now is fantastic!

Nothing Lasts Forever

Hang on to the beauty of the day! The air is turning colder. The nights creep up quickly! Daylight is too often overcast now! Nothing about any of this sounds appealing! Hold on to the feelings! Hold on to the warmth! And remember, nothing stays as it is for long.

Fall Is In the Air

And so it should be. After all, it is October and it is Wisconsin! When seasons change so dramatically, as they do here in Wisconsin, though, the beauty of each day takes on a different meaning. Right now, I linger on each day of sunshine. It's like I want to harvest the warmth to have it available to me in the upcoming dreary months.

Fall is the smell of burning leaves, the brilliant colors of fall leaves, wooly bears creaping along pathways, geese and ducks flying in formation overhead.

Fall is the end. But fall is also preparation for something. The cycle never ends. It renews!

My thoughts always circle around the world I live in which is education. Each year, as a new school year begins at the end of a summer and the beginning of a fall, the visual scenery seems to shout in celebration! And yet, for all the living things, there is a saddness for the loss! For teachers, the lingering warmth, the long days, all give way to a hectic schedule and deadlines! For those who closed their classroom doors in early June and pursued other things during the summer months, it becomes a new stress over and over again, year after year.

The plants and animal kingdom has the beauty of predictability. It allows animals to prepare for the inevitable. If everything was predictable each fall in schools, the reentry would be less stressful. There is a desire and even heartfelt attempts to keep things predictable. Adults talk of children needing a sense of predictability and boundaries. Children are supposed to develop in a certain order that we can hold as a constant.

And yet, while adults try to hold on to these boundaries and this order, the world changes. The adults in the schools want to believe that September will always stand for specific activities, followed the same way by October, November, and December. And yet, the world does not see months of a year or developmental readiness. The world senses needs! The world reacts rapidly leaving some frozen in anxious contemplation. "What's going on around here?"

Everything spins when it should be slowing down for a long winter's nap! "Everything is out of control!" for some. We can not control the seasons...we can predict them. We can not control needs...we can predict them! We can not control change...it is part of the cycle of life! We can control how we react to it!