Where has the time gone this week?. . . Whew! (Although, I think I always feel this way the last week before we (teachers) must return to school. We start early here in Arizona, & I have spent most mornings over in my new (old) classroom. . . way to long of a story - but after 14 years. . . I am having to move classrooms. . . sigh. So I have been on campus trying to get everything ready so that this next week - a week that will be filled with meetings - at least my room will be ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the rains that we have had are bringing the promised ‘second spring’. It seems as if everything is blooming (or trying to) & there is a soft coating of green covering the mountain bases. The flowering bush in the photos is a plant called a Texas Ranger. . . bursting out blooms with all it can muster. All around us, all of the desert dust has been washed away & to me everything seems so much clearer. . . (I mean everything!) I know that may sound a little heady - but it really has had that effect on me. We have such a mild winter & our spring season is not as pronounced as in other climates. . . so for me - these rains bring about the feeling of a kind of re-birth. They get us to look at what we have more clearly. . . & appreciate it.

All I know is that - it seems like I’m seeing things more clearly than I have in a long time. . . not just the flowers & trees & mountainsides. . . but also those things that I’m supposed to pay attention to in my lifetime. . .  some things that I think I have been maybe running away from a little bit. . . At least things I have definitely not wanted to look at, or give any attention to. But the reality is. . . these things never go away. . . they patiently wait for us to be ready to face them. . . and it feels as if I’m more ready than I have been in years to accept some things that have come into my life & to embrace them for what they are. Some are actual blessings (!), & some are more challenging & will mean that will have to possibly give up some things. . . but, they are all a part of the path that I walk. . . & it’s feeling better to start to see what is surrounding me on this path. . . & to appreciate what I do have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lately, I have been asked, on several occasions, to give a biography of myself. . . & it has really made me think. I have been places that I never thought I would have been. . . from working in refugee camps in southeast Asia, to creating interiors for celebrity clients in Santa Barbara, to having the privilege of being challenged by teenagers as a teacher for the past fourteen years, to helping care for my aging parents (but gosh. . . we all are aging. . . yes?!). My days have been filled with events & people & places that I never thought would be where my life would take me. Sometimes, when I stop & think about all the things I’ve experienced - some of it seems like a lifetime ago. . . and I have to pinch myself to realize that I really lived through those events.

But they were all for something. . . I truly believe that the experiences we have in life are for a purpose. . . & we can either choose to build on these experiences in a positive way, or to be buried by them.  So, as I look around me today (& within). . . I choose to build. . . gratefully.