Too much..or how I am learning to set limits...

This will be my final blog entry. In a world of "x number of characters allowed", I will need to rely on Facebook and texting to stay in virtual touch with friends and family. I will be relinquishing this element as another way my time and energy gets used (albeit not regularly). With what faces me in the next 9 months, I will not need a venue for writing. So, this blog will be closed, and along with it, a really fun way to clear my mind.

Starting next week, my final coursework begins at Capella - 2 classes plus online student teaching PLUS my last PhD conference at the end of March (basically an abundance of writing). Between April-June, I will need to successfully complete my PhD Comps (written exams). Finally, over the summer, and to see this to its end and move forward with "Life After Doctoral Work", I have been promised the summer off to complete my historical dissertation. Obviously, this is plenty of writing...my brain will be so worked over that communication will only be effective if completed in 250 characters or less. Seems reasonable.

Concurrently, I will have several of my own classes to lead and teach in Red Wing. These begin in a couple of weeks. Much is needed to finish before the first classes begin. For example, I am designing, leading, and facilitating a middle school  tutoring program through Hispanic Outreach. This is Tues/Thur afternoons. Then I will head to the high school to teach my Accelerated Latino GED course, which will begin on the 17th. This is 6 week course designed to move adult Latino learners toward successfully completing their American GED education. I am so stinking PSYCHED about this class, I cannot even put it into words. I have done a lot of the work so far to get this class on its feet...and I have several more hours of work ahead of me prior to the first class.

Also for Hiawatha Valley Adult Basic Ed, I was accepted into a program, along with a colleague, designed to assist ABE programs to deliver efficient, measurable, meaningful, and effective curriculum to the adult learner. This begins with a day-long conference at the end of next week. Then I will be responsible for incorporating this training into my current and future GED/ELL courses as the year progresses.

There also might be another course to teach in Goodhue on Mon/Wed evenings. Basically, between my work responsibilities and obligations, and my own educational goals and objectives, I will be unable to also blog about my life. So, it makes sense to close the blog rather than have it hanging out there in cyber-space, waiting for me to attend to its bloggy needs. I don't know if I will restart a blog at the end of 2012. If I am writing professionally, then I will not need to also satisfy that urge with a blog. But it is neither here nor there at this point - I have much to finish this year. Streamlined and efficient are the way to go. I have enjoyed writing on the blog, enjoy reading other blogs, and completely understand why blogging is so popular as a hobby. It's been fun. However, I am moving forward back into my professional life. Updates on me and my family will have to be done in a modest amount of characters from this point forward.

Thanks for letting me play. HAPPY 2012!!

Life's Unexpected Moments of Clarity

Having ties to MN's North Shore keeps us in the proverbial loop of what takes place in the small community where we have our beloved cabin and wooded property. Last week, a tragedy occurred and lives were changed in less than a moment.


Even when these events occur and we have no connection at all, they can be moments where we find ourselves stopping in our tracks to "regroup". We assess, at that moment, what is to be valued and cherished in our lives and a vow to try to treat all other minor irritations and hurdles with the level of attention deserved.


The shooting at the Cook County Courthouse last week was a full body reaction moment - where we really did stop, and shivered , and sent our thoughts and prayers out to those directly involved. And then taking the deliberate time to say "I love you" to those around. And to remind ourselves that this life is very much a gift  not to be discarded or treated with negligence.


So I am grateful that those involved will be okay again. I am grateful for the moment to stop and breathe and physically hold onto those I love the most. The moment to find gratitude in all that I have been blessed to experience. The moment to release the frustrations and seemingly insignificant irritations that can so easily overwhelm us on a day to day basis. It's cliche to grab these moments of suffering and tragedy for ourselves as a "reason" to be grateful for our lives but I was cliche "in spades" last week and over the weekend.