Pink Giraffe Musing

I have been given all sorts of advice over the last 8 months.  It has all been well intentioned.  Some of it has really resonated with me.  Some of it, not so much.  One of my greatest sources of advice has been my husband's dearest friend.  Not only did he love Michael like a brother, he lost his father as a boy.  He is one of the few people who can come close to understanding the loss I feel, and also understands firsthand what my children are going through.  In the months since Michael's death his friend has become my friend too.  He texts me, calls me, messages me to check in.  He has been working on my deck to finish a project that Michael started.  He tells me sweet things that Michael said to him about me.  We share in each other sadness, and he gives me a picture into what my  kids are experiencing.  And he said to me one day......Beth, life is for the living.  And I have embraced that.  I have embraced it because I know it is what Michael would have wanted, and becau

This post is really for me.  It is probably more of a journal entry than a blog post.  I am writing it because I really believe in the power of positive thinking.  But, like many of us, I find myself dwelling on the negative from time to time.  Sometimes, it is in the form of problem solving, and that to me is okay short term, but sometimes I let it drag me down, and I have enough stuff in my life to drag me down these days.  So, in an effort to count my blessings I decided to write this. Last time I taught, I felt like I became jaded by the paperwork, meetings, parents in denial, but mostly all the time spent doing everything but teaching and planning (like making floats for the Christmas parade, lettering 500 certificates and meeting after meeting).  I found it frustrating enough that when my daughter was born I quit my job to be a mom, and never really looked back.  I taught part time in private settings, which was truly the perfect situation for me.  There was little or no pa