Today I Love the Slice of Life Story Challenge...Slice of Life 30 of 31

      There's only one more day left of the Slice of Life Story Challenge!  I can't believe it!  It seems like I was just hovering over that orange publish button yesterday, hyperventilating as I tried to get myself off that diving board into the "blogosphere"!  Because of the timing of a Certain Very Important Holiday, I'll be pretending for just a moment or two that today is the last day of the challenge.  Bear with me in that, won't you?

      This past month has been something else!  I have learned so very much...about writing, about teaching, about teaching writing, about reading, about parenting...about living.  

I've been challenged.

I've been encouraged.

I've been able to encourage. 

I've met new people.  

I've made new friends.

I've traveled vicariously both to new places and back in time.  

I've made connections, both with other teachers and with my own silly self.

I've thought new thoughts.

I've written more than I ever would have on my own...and maybe reached a few more folks than I would have before the challenge.  

I've written about more different things than I ever thought I could over the course of one month...as I look at the tags to the right as I type I giggle again over SMART phones, psychic toilets, The Waffle House, and kid snippets.

I've read more than I thought I could, but I still don't feel like it's been enough...so many many wonderful posts!  I am hoping they will still be there after the challenge is over so I can go back and keep exploring. 

I am so thankful to the whole community at Two Writing Teachers and the Slice of Life Challenge, especially Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz. I am indebted also to Cathy, who invited me here in the first place and helped encourage me to take that dive off the diving board.  I've received such great feedback and encouraging words, whether it was for something I had written or for a personal issue that had arisen that particular day. 

I'm looking forward to participating in the Slice of Life Tuesday Challenge.  But I'm really at that point where I need to decide how to continue with this whole Today I Love thing.  I am approaching a year of posting daily about something I love...today is Day 337.  I'm not sure what will happen once I cross Day 365.  Will I feel differently? (Probably not.)  Will I run out of things to love?  (Heavens no!)  Will I keep going?  Ummm...

That's the part I'm not sure about...I've been talking a lot about balance lately...but I haven't been walking a lot of balance beams.  I've mostly just been talking about it.  I'm thinking it's time I start walking my own talk.  

Well, as I tell my students on hard days when the schedule gets crinkly and tempers flare and we are all a little out of sorts, "Do you hear that?  Listen?  Shhh...listen...hear that?  Yup, the world's still spinning!"

And it will spin no matter what I do.  But for today...I think I'll just love this challenge.  It's been amazing.