Have not been here for awhile and being busy is not real excuse. Just have done what I should ;somewhat like my students. Well, guess I am human after all.

Lost the last living relative in the aunt and uncle category Saturday night. Mary was 97 and had led a good life. She was the farmer of the three children in her family and my memories of her are related to her garden and her horse drawn plow. She was one of those strong women who survived and did without the drama. Her life was family, and she and her husband Park cared for her parents. Goodbye Mayme you are loved still.

Her passing signaled the end of the generation. My cousins and I are now the older generation. This means that I have to readjust my thinking about myself. Not actually as I accept my age but now there is no one to look back too. My children are far from children as the youngest turns 40 this July. Where does time go?

So here I am pondering the past and wondering about the future and knowing that only it is today and what I do with that matters. One is gone and the other is not yet here. Is that not how the old saying goes? Tonight I will attend parent teachers conferences no matter how short a time as that matters.


My mind is wandering all over. One ex student is published ( makes 2 out of the fall creative writing class), another is suffering from junior year college boredom, and still another is critical in the hospital after a car accident and two surgeries. Hard to focus on any one of them for a long time. ADHD teacher style has hit. They the students touch our lives if we really care about our jobs and you know they respond in kind. If they feel we really care,then they care. As Martha says that is a good thing.

Allowing people in is a dangerous undertaking and you have to be strong enough to take the hits that happen when you allow yourself to care. You will be hurt but hopefully not scarred.Yet when it works out the feeling of accomplishment is like little else in the world. Opening your spirit and mind can allow you to give to others and to receive when they return the care, It is an unbelievable enrichment to the quality of your life--- wheter it is a student, a colleague or just afirend outside the realm of work. My adivce give caring and openness a try.