Agenda

"Powerful stuff...That's what you are made of, girlfriend." These words found their way into my inbox today. It is always nice to be reminded. My parents would agree with my friend's assessment. Much to my mother's chagrin, I was born with my father's "scrapper" instincts. Personally, I count this as one of my best attributes. Perhaps at times I tend to be argumentative. Most of the time that is not my intention. I do, though, own my convictions and hold steadfast to a certain perception of who I am. Sometimes maybe self-assurance is a bit intimidating to others. Wow ~ powerful stuff! My three daughters get it honestly. Use it well, girls.

On another note, the school year is winding down. My classroom will be empty of first graders very soon. We have accomplished much since August, but with summer vacation's impending arrival, I keep thinking of how much more we could have learned. I love you, kiddos. I hope I've helped establish the roots that will enable you to grow wings. Fly high!

And regarding wings...for the third year in a row I have a House Finch nest in one of my hanging baskets on the porch. This year the birds chose the flowers in closest proximity to my front door as their home. I am excited to watch the parentage nurture their two little eggs. It has really helped to put summer forefront on my mind. Summer... So much to do and yet the days will pass quickly by. My four year-old, Lane, is determined to learn to read. Nurturing this ability is at the top of my to-do list! My nine year-old, Ally, is longing to study the Underground Railroad and I have been appointed the task (by her, of course) of arranging educational travel plans around that theme. My eighteen year-old, McKenzie, is counting the days until she sets up house in a new dorm room. Since her boyfriend is vacationing overseas for an entire month, I'll need to maximize the time I have with her before he returns. I think, at that point, I'll be saying goodbye long before she actually heads off to college. Afterall, she is eighteen.

As for me, I've begun a list of "chores" for myself over this upcoming break. The first ten items are book titles. "A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it." ~William Styron It looks like I've got a lot of traveling to do! And then after family time, travels to see friends, cooking, cleaning, laundry and reading, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna start writing my book! I really must get started on what I anticipate to be a very lengthy project because, as Ernest Hemingway said, "The first draft of anything is shit."

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-West