When I woke up today the porch was covered with frost.  The flowers were still blooming  but they were also covered with frost.  It was a beautiful sight.  It was as if we had one foot still in summer and one moving closer and closer to winter. This afternoon the flowers are no longer blooming and it looks like we have totally moved into winter which is as it should be.  Sometimes it is hard to totally move into the next step of our journey which I have learned is ok.  I like to take my time, to study and think about what comes next ,and then make my move.  For the past three years, I have been studying and thinking about what should come next for me.  As I sit here pondering what to write next, I really am comfortable writing that I am going to put more and more effort into writing and giving workshops on all of the things that I have learned during the past three years.  I have begun to do this on a volunteer basis and I plan to do this either as a volunteer or a a paid consultant whichever offer comes my way. Although the money is important it is not as important as being able to share with others what I have learned about the importance of valuing yourself and the abilities you have. 
This week I will be discussing the types of  simple things we can do to make our lives a little brighter each day with a group of teachers. One simple thing that I do is to begin each day with a cup of coffee.  While drinking my coffee, I look out of our kitchen window and admire the big tree that sits in the middle of our yard.  It gives me such a sense of peace to begin my day looking at nature and watching the tree grow and change with the seasons.  It is a perfect reminder that we all are continually growing and changing and that we need to recognize and celebrate both the changes and the growth that are part of our lives.

My writing teacher has said several times that you can have unexpected results when you write in a place other than your home.  She has suggested going to the park, writing at the coffee shop, in a mall, or wherever you can find a place to sit down and write.  Today I was waiting for friends in a coffee shop that was full of young mothers and their children.  The moms were visiting and the kids were playing and it was a fun place to be and to watch people.  After a few minutes I remembered that I had my notebook with me and so I thought I would take Beth's advice and begin writing.  What I produced was not really different from what I might have written at home but what I realized today was that no matter how noisy or how busy a place is once I start writing I am in my own little world.  Writing is becoming very special to me.  I have been looking for a creative outlook that makes a difference in my life and I think I may have found it.  This discovery maybe one of the very best gifts I receive all season.

Today was a great day.  I met with 15 teachers for the first time to set goals and make vision boards.  It was a great session and I know by the comments that were made that it was a successful workshop.  There was a lot of laughter and everyone was wonderful about sharing their goals.
After leaving the workshop, I went directly to my writing class.  I really enjoy meeting with this group each Tuesday.  It is a very warm encouraging group of women and I love hearing the stories they write.  Writing is something I enjoy doing very much and it is great to be able to share my work with people who seem to enjoy writing as much as I do.  I think back to the writing I did as a student or even when I was in the classroom as the teacher and I think it is so sad that we have to grade everyone's work.  It is so much better to be free to write and express one's self without fear of spelling something wrong or forgetting a punctuation mark.  Of course, that fear is still with me when I blog because I don't want to seem like I don't know what I am doing.  But I am getting better about the amount of time I spend proofreading my work. Now I just enjoy being able to put my words down for others to read if they choose to do so.