Lets play catch up

So it's been a crazy week right? I haven't posted on here in 7 days and it's crazy how fast they went and the amount of "stuff" that we all have been faced to endure in those 7 days. Think about your last week, what sticks out to you. Here's my highlights, or maybe not so high for some, Penn State, true love, talked to my sister on the phone, talked to Trevor on the phone, my cousin from West Chester visited, created a 5 week unit plan with my partner, started researching a paper on alcoholism in the lives of Lost Generation Writers, met with Chad and discussed my faith or lack there of recently, battled a cold, realized my bank account is low, had an email exchange with my mentor from the Philly Seminar, had a family dinner with my Dads family, had a heart to heart with a struggling friend, Barney kissed Robin on How I Met Your Mother, Read The Great Gatsby, The Dolphins won, my dolphin chair got stolen, watched Crazy Stupid Love yada, yada, yada. Life is flying and honestly this list could have went on and on and I'm sure all of your lists do the same. The days don't get longer you know? And all this stuff piles up. I've got 100 projects, papers and books that have rapidly approaching due dates. Meanwhile I'm helping friends deal with their problems, because thats important to me. I'm fighting a cold, I'm worried I don't work out enough, I'm questioning love and faith and all the while I'm trying to convince 8th graders that grammar is fun. I don't know what to do about it all. It all seems so important and conflicting.

Natalie Goldberg who is an avid writer and does all kinds of talks and books on how to use writing as an outlet calls stress a state of ignorance. It makes us feel as if everything is an emergency when in reality, nothing is that important. I like this quote a lot but at the same time those due dates are still there, right? They never go away. And the deeper stuff, the faith issues, the love issues, the struggling friends stuff.. thats never going away either. I told my struggling friend that the show How I Met Your Mother is like therapy for me. Because above all it reminds me that it's all a journey, it's all relevant and it will ultimately all be ok. And she catered that analogy to her life by saying maybe this "guy" who has me all twisted up inside right now in the grand scheme of thing is just one episode. I think this simple lens of looking at things is so beautiful and true, all of it the stolen the chair, the cold, the grammar lessons it's all an episode, just one of Ted's illfated romances on the way to finding his true love. If you don't watch this show I'm sorry and you should, but I think you get the point. And here's the cool part, in the midst of all the crap life throws our way: the deadlines, the heartaches, the colds, all of it, there's the sweet stuff. The Dolphins won, I talke to Trev for over an hour, I got an email from my mentor and I had an awesome dinner with my family. So as I continue to form my life to relect who I want to be as a teacher, I'd say I want to take time to reflect with my students on whats going on in their lives. To bitch about the bad, and celebrate the awesome. Because in looking for the sparkle, among all the 'stuff' everything, even grammar, becomes tolerable.

Here's one of my all time favorite videos, speeches, songs whatever you want to call it. Watch it, and be inspired to deal with all the "stuff"