Deep Thoughts*

  • Deep Thoughts*,  Teaching*

    The Last One.

    I am officially the last one. A few years ago, I worked with a group of teachers who quickly became my friends. We were all in LTOs (Long Term Occasional / Temporary teaching contracts) and had all been hired by the board at roughly the same time. We had all slogged through the early years of trying to get work, all had families now and all were putting in our time until a permanent position opened for us. One found work at her #1 choice school a few years ago, and I was SO happy for her. Then it was just three of us, putting in time until a job…

  • Deep Thoughts*

    Deep Thoughts.

    I was in a deep funk for most of yesterday… and I’m going to try and explain why in a long and maybe rambling post. W had been up often the night before and wouldn’t nap, so it didn’t begin well, and then I spent much of the day wrestling with some difficult feelings. I’ve been brooding about an experience recently where I felt like my feelings on something were… diminished. I’ll own the fact that I was perhaps not vocal or direct enough about how I felt, and I made assumptions based on my ideals of mutual respect. I was wrong. I ended up in a situation that was…

  • Deep Thoughts*

    Faith*

    I don’t often write about my faith on here. I mean, I allude to it or mention it in passing every once in a while, and I’m sure anyone who has been following me long enough has been able to put two and two together. But to just come out and talk about it makes me nervous, particularly when it’s with anyone who doesn’t know me well yet. Why, you ask? When it has come up with others in the past, my quiet statement of, “yes, I go to church” is often met with a small but weighted response: “Oh”. It’s just two letters, but it often feels SO loaded.…

  • Gratitude*,  Deep Thoughts*

    I share a lot about my life.

    Usually it doesn’t bother me at all. Mostly I enjoy feeling like I’m letting people get to know the real me–even the ugly bits. Sometimes I pause and wonder what it’s like on the other side, for you, the wonderful people who read my never ending ramblings. I wonder sometimes how people “see” me… particularly those whom I interact with in real life. You know that I try to be open and honest about what I call the “good, the bad and the ugly” parts of my life. I talk a lot about my thoughts and the things I’m struggling with. I think that’s important. I think that so much…

  • Deep Thoughts*,  Memories*

    30 Going on 13*

    I found this old photo a little while ago. I was just shy of my 14th birthday when it was taken. I had planned to share it with some mocking self-deprecating comment about how awkward I looked, but as I thought about it, I realized that those awkward preteen years weren’t all that bad. I sometimes feel like I had a better sense of who I was at 13 than I do at 36. It was 1999. The year of our class Toronto Trip. Coming from small town Northern Ontario, that was a BIG deal. I was beginning to sort out my own sense of style, and I kept flip…