morning mishap and self-reflection.

After the excitement of two very busy days at work and a crazy alarm clock mishap this morning, I’ve decided that I have to write tonight to settle down a bit. First off, I set my alarm last night for 5:00 (which gets me up and out of the house by 5:30) and I arrive at work a few minutes before 7:30. I haven’t shared this before, but I drive two hours each way to work. That’s a total of 4 hours, which contributes to the insanity in my life. Anyway, I set my alarm and fell asleep exhausted last night because I had a meeting with parents until 7:00 pm yesterday. When I woke up this morning, to the sound of the garbage truck, I was shocked that the garbage man was there so early and that it was light out… I rolled over to check the clock and noticed that it was 7:00 am -- I had set my alarm for 5:00 pm!!! I raced out of bed and into the shower, in less than three minutes I was out and throwing on clothes. In the haste, I forgot my lunch but managed to get into my car by 7:15 am, not bad for a woman, but not a good way to start the day. :) I then started my trek to work, starving and looking like crap! One day, I’ll write about all the funny things that I see when I drive but today I have to do something to get my mind off of the bad morning (although the day turned out ok).

I’m going to start answering some reflection questions that we give to our 7th graders at the end of the year but are actually really good self-reflection questions for anyone.

Question 1: What incredible things do you feel you have accomplished? How did you get there? (Did someone help you, did you finally get serious and take care of things, etc.) Consider the starting of a good habit, the end of a bad habit, showing signs of maturity, etc.

This year, and last, has been two of the more eventful and amazing years of my life. I graduated college with an Elementary Education degree and Mathematics minor. Keith, my fiancé, and I got engaged in Europe (which was my graduation present to myself). We traveled all around Europe for about a month and then when we returned, I pursued a teaching job and love my school. I found my first little apartment to live on my own (not with my parents but with Keith and my kitty, of course). That is a small synopsis of my life at this point and a snapshot of where I am.

How did I get there? Well, that’s a long story, to be exact a 23 year long story, because everyone and everything in my life up to this point helped me to get to the place that I am now. But, I can say that I have always had a drive and determination that has kept me going, no matter what problems I encounter. I feel that there are two types of people in this world, doers and followers. I’ve always been a doer; I got that from my dad. I work very hard to achieve my goals but I’m not afraid to ask for help or guidance along the way. I have many influential people in my life and I really wouldn’t be where I’m at without their support. Keith has been one of the most powerful forces in my life over the last few years. He is forever encouraging and accepts me for me. As my best friend stated, “He loves you but doesn’t take your bullshit.”

I have also ended a bad habit and I feel that it has brought me a lot of harmony. I used to not care about what other people thought and I still don’t to some degree, but I look at it differently than I did a few years ago. I used to feel that I could say anything or do anything because if someone found out that I was gossiping about them and didn’t like it, well I didn’t need them anyway. I now realize how precious relationships are and I work very hard to keep them. I try not to gossip or to talk about others, except to Keith. I’ll admit it, I still tell him pretty much everything and I definitely have my bitch sessions. Overall, however, I really treasure my friends, family, and coworkers and understand that their feelings are important and delicate. That’s a huge revelation for me!