Six Months Later

I last posted in this blog almost exactly six months ago when the winter was in the process of kicking the stuffin's out of me. I thought I would update with the same view out the same window in my office - this time with no ice and lots of greenery. The boats have returned to their docks and sometimes I can see fishermen walking around down there with their catches after a day on the lake. 

But beyond living through this hard winter, I've gone through a lot of other things in my life too. Nothing too dramatic or upsetting ... but life-changing nonetheless.

 

I finished my first year of teaching English Composition at the local college, and I like it well enough to do it again for another year, and perhaps take on more classes. I finally feel like a real, honest-to-goodness teacher.

 

I have finally extracted myself from a difficult and increasingly distressing volunteer situation, that was taking too much of my time and making me feel way too miserable.  I decided I could answer the door to "nasty" knocking on the other side only so many times, and I reached my limit. I feel better than I have in a long time.

 

I went to a writing conference, sponsored by the University of Michigan, and came away feeling renewed about my writing. I immediately came up with a top 10 list of goals for the next 18 months - some harder to accomplish than others - but it feels good to have something to aim toward.

 

And, my daughter became engaged.  She's getting married next summer. I have had such a hard time coming to grips with her moving so far away, and now I have to come to grips with this too.  But I feel okay about it. She'll be home for most of the summer working a summer teaching job, and that will probably be the last time she spends any amount of time here. But now I know I can enjoy her while she's here, and take the rest of the stuff one day at a time.

 

So, all in all it has been a productive first half of the year when it comes to all those internal things a person has to do to get her mind straight... now let's see if I can apply this new found peace of mind and get some writing done.  Before winter comes again!