2020 - A Different Kind of Commitment #SOSMagic

Three hundred and sixty-five days ago, I chose the word commit as my one little word and made a list of my "ten commitments." I glued them in my notebook as a reminder of the ten things I wanted to be more mindful of and committed to:  my family, my health, my teaching. my writing, my reading, my faith, my communities, and limiting my distractions.

Little did I know that 2020 would hold one of the biggest commitments I have ever made. A commitment to keep me, my family, and others safe.

Because it does me no good to dwell on how the year turned out, today, I decided to make a list of other "commitments" that came up during our pandemic time this year.

I became committed to:

• baking banana bread at least once a week. The sweet aroma of banana bread drifting through the house will always be tied to pandemic baking. 
• being the one to put the last puzzle piece in. Megan and I worked many, many puzzles, and sometimes we would "fight" over who got to put the last piece in. We had to stop working them because no puzzles could be found in our small town. We ended up "trading" puzzles with other family members and friends like elementary kids would trade Pokemon cards.
• staying up late. I am not an early morning person, and having a flexible school schedule allowed me to stay up late and maybe sneak a nap in the late afternoon.
• staying in comfy clothes for as long as possible. Enough said about this one.
• annoying my daughter by taking pictures of things on our daily spring walks. I would stop to take a picture of flowers, bugs, the view, the sky, animals, and oh, did I say flowers? She would be 50 steps ahead of me before she realized I had stopped. She would turn and sigh, "Oh Mom! What are you taking a picture of now?"
• finding toilet paper. I considered it a challenge to be one in the house who could find toilet paper. It was like winning the lottery!

Yes, this year was a difficult one. But these not-written-down-on-paper commitments are the ones I will always remember. They kept me laughing and hoping and surviving the year 2020!

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic

It's (finally) a Boy! #joysof2020

I think we can all say the 2020 has been challenging, and often it became hard to focus on the positive things. This month the Teach Write Community is closing out the year with looking back at 2020 and finding the joy. We know it is there, but sometimes we just have to look a little bit harder to find it. Check out the #joysof2020 by joining our Teach Write Community.

My mother-in-law was an amazing person. She was a stay-at-home mom and raised seven children. When her youngest, who also happens to be a friend of mine, started college, Marge did too. She became a teacher and eventually taught 4th grade. 

I happened to have followed in her footsteps. I was a stay-at-home mom and when my youngest went to first grade, I went back to school also. I became a 4th grade teacher at the same school, same hallway, same room where she taught.

Back in mid February my sister-in-law gave me a card that belonged to my mother-in-law. It was a birth congratulations card from her Bridge Club friends. At the time, Marge had four girls and was praying for a boy. Her prayer was answered, and my husband-to-be was born.

A Six-word Memoir