Thank You for Saving My Passion For Writing

Three years ago my writing journey took a new turn when my friends Betsy Hubbard and Robin Sheldon convinced me to create a blog so I could join in on the Slice of Life challenges.  I can not thank them enough for nudging me in that direction for a lot of different reasons.
Before I started making the commitment to write posts on my blog I was struggling with so many issues in my life. Although I really enjoyed writing it was becoming a more of a burden on my mind. For so many years I prided myself in applying the newest and latest writing techniques into my classroom. The moment the new Lucy Calkins writing units were released I was one of the first teachers to use it in my building and I watched for any of the latest professional development books to come out so that I could make sure I was up to date.  I modeled my writing often for my children, at the time I taught 1st grade and they were enthralled to learn any new tidbit of information about my life and they could relate to many of my stories.   But then I hit a roadblock!  When I had a tragedy in my life it became much too difficult to share stories because the exposed wound was too raw and it brought too many emotions to the surface.  So, I became afraid to share, and I am ashamed to say I limited my modeling to safe topics.  I stopped journaling because I would start and not know where to go.  I worried about writing in the presence of my family for fear they would think I had lost my mind or worse they would want to read it.  There were many started entries in my journal but nothing ever was finished.

Meanwhile I  berated myself, thinking all the time about what I could write or what I should write knowing it would be a great healing strategy. Meanwhile the deep fear that if I didn't start journaling about my son, Trent that all those memories would be gone forever and that he would be forever be forgotten.  That wasn't helping it only put more pressure on me that I shut down further.
Fortunately for me my two friends and colleagues coincidentally began sharing with me this notion of Slice of Life.  Thus began my blog!
I didn't even care if anyone even read my posts but then Betsy and Robin faithfully read as well as commented on all of my posts.  It was the encouragement I needed and I began to write again.  It helped me personally and professionally.  Empathizing with my students when they hit a roadblock, understanding how just a little encouraging could be that little nudge to write.
So to my friends Betsy Hubbard I'm Living My Words   and Robin Sheldon Teaching Tomorrow's Leaders  Thank you so much for saving my passion for writing which allowed me to not only share my life's journey but also record memories of my son so that his spirit can carry on forever!