The challenge ends today, but I don’t want the consistency in my writing practice to end. These past thirty-one days have shown me that I can set and achieve a goal by consistently prioritizing it. I made room each day to write and post. While I know I won’t be posting every day, I want to stay connected with the other writers in the community and post on Tuesdays each week.

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts from around the world. I appreciate the thoughtful comments on my posts and the wealth of inspiration I have received.

A couple of other areas in my life could use a little consistency, so I will stop procrastinating and start making room each day for those other things that need attention. Completing this challenge has reminded me that I can accomplish anything I want. It won’t be easy every day, but nothing worthwhile is easy.

On to the next challenge – a poem a day in April!

This format caught my eye during the Slice of Life Challenge, so I wrote it in my notebook to use later. Unfortunately, I don’t know whose blog I saw it on because I forgot to write that information down. Whoever you are, thank you for sharing it.

Five Things About Me
I married my high school sweetheart. We have been together for over 51 years and will be married for 45 years in August.
I live in the Philadelphia suburbs and am a die-hard Phillies fan.
I love to write essays and poetry. I belong to a poetry writing group at my local library.
I hate to cook. My husband is a retired chef, so I have no need to cook, thank goodness.
I want to learn to speak Italian. I have a 150-day streak on Duolingo.

Would my answers be different if I wrote this on another day? Humm.

My day is busy right from the start

Yes, it is full, but so is my heart. 

Today, I get to see all of my Grands

Just need to show up and follow the plan. 

Honors Band Concert

Lunch

Time to chill

Windows open

Cool breeze

Bird songs

Watch the Phillies game

Pizza

Dairy Queen

Puzzle time

Kid talk

It is a perfect way to spend a Saturday! 

Yesterday,

Yesterday, franki22 wrote about little surprises; today, I received one!

One of my work friends, Kathy C., surprised me with a gorgeous book of poetry. It was the perfect way to end a week of standardized testing that felt more like two weeks.

Kathy and I often give each other book recommendations, and we have talked about starting a book club at school but haven’t followed through.

I told her I joined a poetry writing group at my local library, and she told me she reads a poem every night before going to sleep. Kathy bought herself the same book of poetry, so maybe we could have a poetry club to discuss poems instead of a book club.

As I said, it has been a long week, and that poetry anthology awaits me downstairs. That makes for a short Friday night post.

It’s my favorite day of the year—MLB’s OPENING DAY. Baseball makes me nostalgic for simple summer days when arguments were usually smack talk between a Phillies fan and a Mets fan. I love watching baseball and hearing the crack of the bat and the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt. It is music to my ears. I can put the world’s worries on a shelf for a few hours and cheer (or yell at) my favorite team. Life is good.

Opening Day of MLB
Phillies Phans are Pheeling Phine
Energized for another season
Nine innings of nail-biting nervousness
Insurance runs a plus
Never count us out
Going yard – ring the bell

Day game or night
America’s Pastime lives on
Young & old alike

Barometric Effect

Weather changes

ethmoidal sinuses

Pulsating pressure

Facial pain

Brain blood vessels dilate

maxillary sinuses:

Throbbing headache

Eye tearing

Nasal congestion

frontal sinuses

Allergy exacerbation

Postnasal drip

sphenoidal sinuses

Sinus pressure is no joke! Even my eyes feel heavy, and I want to sleep. I borrowed lines from various articles on barometric pressure and sinuses to craft my poem.

It’s standardized test week here, and I proctor the tests for 19 students in my 7th-grade homeroom. Each day, a different subject is tested. Today, there are two 40-minute reading tests.

As I look around the room, I get a chance to really look at each student. Some are deep in thought; others are plodding through, while still others have dashed their way through the test and are sitting waiting patiently or reading a book.

I would like to know what the future holds for each of them. Are future doctors, lawyers, or teachers sitting before me? Is the next great fashion designer, architect, or electrician in this room? At 13, do they have any ideas of what they might like to do for a job in the future? There may be a couple of budding attorneys with how some would like to negotiate!

What does the future hold for these students? I keep telling them that they are our future, that they can be change-makers, that they can use their voices for good. I hope they do.

Some people tell me I am naive or Pollyanna-like, but I am cautiously optimistic. Each generation has the power to work for change to make this world a better place. I am counting on great things from the group who sits before me today.

It has been a jam-packed weekend, and I am tired, but in a good way. I am struggling to find inspiration and a slice right now. I have perused other writers’ slices, and nothing. I’ve looked around the room where I’m trying to write, and nothing. Where are all the words hiding? Why can’t I come up with an idea?!? Do you know why? All the ideas are hiding from me in a twisted game of Hide-and-Seek!

Where exactly do writing ideas hide?

• in memories
• in worries about upcoming events
• in the songs of the birds and the whispers of the trees
• in tales told by your grandchildren
• in bits and pieces of overheard conversations
• in heartache and disappointment
• in laughter and smiles, sadness and joy
• in full-circle moments
• in favorite sweaters and stories of where they have been
• in chaos and in quiet

Writing ideas are hiding everywhere, some in plain sight. Here’s to hoping tomorrow I have the energy to get in the game and coax those illusive ideas out of their hiding places.

Today, we attended our granddaughter’s Spring Showcase. She is eleven and has been dancing for about eight years, but this is her first year participating in a performance group. What a treat! E. danced in a duo, a jazz group, and a lyrical group.

The dancers were beautiful, elegant, and dynamic. I was in awe of their fluid bodies and facial expressions as they moved across the stage, interpreting the music. I admire their vulnerability and willingness to share the feelings and movements that surely emanated from their souls.

Thank goodness for the arts.