One Word at a Time

Today, my two little minions found some balance. One is crazy, energetic, and completely unpredictable. One is quiet, slow-moving, and utterly typical. Most times they act as polar opposites - while she runs laps around the house, jumping on top of furniture and puffing up her tail, he sits quietly on a blanket, watching her intently, then falling back asleep. But sometimes, on an odd day, he gets a little friskier or she gets a little quieter, and they find a quiet balance. Today was one of those days.

Yesterday, I woke up leisurely to my alarm, lollygagging in bed, hitting the snooze button a few times. Today, I woke up before my alarm and continually checked my phone for half an hour, before falling back asleep. Yesterday, I looked out the window and saw buds on trees and green grass. Today, I looked out the window and saw snow, snow, and more snow. Yesterday, I ate my breakfast standing up while I did my makeup and braided my hair. Today, I ate my breakfast in my rocking chair, reading a book, while my cats napped on my lap. Yesterday, by noon I had been in two different meetings and done one pile of paperwork. Today, by noon I had eaten breakfast, read half a novel, and was still in my pajamas. Yesterday, my afternoon consisted of planning, errands, more planning, and writing. Today, my afternoon consists of The Office reruns and writing. "Record warmth today, plowable snow tomorrow"  -Welcome to New England!

Children have a Tooth Fairy. Students have a Desk Fairy. I have a magical Beer Fairy. The Tooth Fairy leaves money under a pillow. The Desk Fairy leaves stickers and notes inside a desk. The Beer Fairy leaves delicious beer on my front step. Whoopee!  The Beer Fairy has been here! My friend and her husband are beer connoisseurs. He knows more than I ever will about beer, especially about craft beers.  They've traveled extensively and taste and sample everywhere they go.  They built a pub in their basement, where friends and family come to relax, catch a game, and always drink some delicious beer. As we became friends, she and I began planning trips to breweries, pubs, and restaurants that carried specialty craft beers.  Our friendship grew over those many pints and all that live music.  She began to learn what tastes my husband enjoys (stouts, coffee-flavored anything, nothing hoppy) and what tastes I love (IPA, Double IPA, the hoppier t...

I am blessed. In 1995, when I was in middle school, the University of Connecticut Huskies, a relatively unknown team, won their first National Championship. In 1999, the United States Women's National Team won the World Cup in an amazing shoot-out. In the 2000's, Serena Williams were lighting up the tennis courts. In 2003, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman (since Babe  Didrikson Zaharias in 1945) to play in a PGA Tour Event. In 2005, Danica Patrick entered the NASCAR scene and became the first woman to lead a lap at the Indy 500. In 2012, Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin were headliners at the Summer Olympics in London. In 2014, Mo'ne Davis became the first girl to win a game in Little League World Series history. Over and over again, I've seen women win and I've seen them lose. I've seen them break barriers and fight barriers. I've seen them overcome odds when they seemed insurmountable.  I've seen them be the first, the second, th...

The alarm went off at 5:45 and I hit snooze . . . again . . . and again . . . and again.  Every time I opened my eyes, I could hear the rain against the window.  As it trickled down the pane, I could feel my eyes slowly closing.  The cats, one tucked under an arm, the other between my legs, gently purred, lulling me back to sleep. Finally, at 6:30, I woke up enough to realize what time it was.  I slowly sat up, stretching, and, seeing that the day was going to be gray and dreary, quickly showered and threw up my hair in a bun. After a dry drive into work, the rain started falling again as I was heading out to morning duty. Usually punctuated by smiling faces and energetic "hello!"s, everyone seemed to be moving slower and quieter today. All day, things seemed to move slowly - no one seemed to have the energy to exclaim  or exalt  - every seemed to  murmur or  whisper . Now I'm home, snuggled up on the couch - again with one cat under an ar...

I had a chance today to speak with a coach about my own coaching. I've been having less success with one of my grade level teams. I don't have the same level of relationship with them that I do with the other team I coach. I struggle to get into their classrooms - and when I do come in, I still get the, "Can I help you with something?" question. My coach and I were able to brainstorm what we believed may be the sources of the problems, we thought about what I could do to address the problems, and creatively thought about some "out of the box" things to try. After about thirty minutes, I hung up, feeling good about the plan we had made.  It was nice to be the coachee instead of the coach!

Click here to read Part 1. ~*~ Life continued on for the young man and the young woman. ~*~ Autumn came, dimming the celebratory feelings of the wedding season. Life was back to routine for the young man. But a routine that had once invigorated him comfort was now causing boredom. Every day, he got up and got dressed and went to work. He had ideas, of course, had dreamed of ways to make this work. He tried changing the way things were done, making the job more interactive - nothing was working. He was afraid.  Afraid of being unhappy in his job, of living out the rest of his life dreading every weekday, of it making him miserable in and out of work. He tried to deflect his unhappiness. Their weeknights and their weekends were filled with friends, and fun, and food, and family, and frivolity - but every morning, after his wife kissed him on the forehead and left for work, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Something had to be done. ~*~ Autumn came, and with ...