I was having a tough time choosing a topic for today. I searched writing prompts and came across this one: write a letter to your 14 year old self. So here goes….

Dear Rita,

I know that being a high school freshman is not the easiest place to be because it is both exciting and petrifying at the same time. I want to let you know that you should not be apprehensive; life won’t always be easy, but it will be good.

Next year you will meet the boy of your dreams, and he will be your date at the Soph Hop and the Junior and Senior Proms. He will be your forever date. He will be with you when you play in the All-City Orchestra at the Academy of Music and as you make your way to college to study music and become a music teacher.

You will get married, buy a house, and have two children. You will make some great decisions, and some not so great ones, but you will figure it out. You will weather loss of jobs, loss of friends, and loss of a couple of things you will forever miss (high school ring, Mom’s cross). Yet, you will be blessed in so many ways.

You will remain close to your siblings, and they will become your angels on earth who you can always depend on to come through in a pinch. But don’t worry – Sunday will still be “Pick on Rita Day!”

You will become a music teacher and share your love with countless children and eventually return to your love of writing. Being a teacher was who you were meant to be. You will travel a little, but your favorite place to be will be at home with your family gathered around the dinner table.

You will face your share of challenges, but you will always find a way to move forward, survive, and thrive. You will be OK – more than OK. Try not to worry so much over things you can’t control, but it is not an easy habit to break.

Enjoy every moment of every day because life flies by. It will seem to go faster as you grow older. You will look back and laugh at the bell-bottom jeans, fly – eye large glasses, and oh those hair styles!

Each of your experiences will be mold you into a woman of character, kindness, and compassion. And you will have the cutest grandchildren on the face of the earth!

Take care,

Your slightly past middle-aged self.

No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers.

Wolfgang Riebe

What would you erase from your life if you had a magic eraser? I started thinking about this after getting the above quote as a text message from an inspirational app.

I would love to erase 50 – 75 pounds! I would erase the negative talk that sometimes plays in my head, and of course my credit card debt. Away would go the clutter lurking in my closets and spare rooms, junk mail, and robocalls. What next? Gone would be alarm clocks, loading the dishwasher, and grading papers. Wow, this is fun! What about you? Will it be your noisy neighbor or data overages on your cell phone?

As much as I really would like to get rid of some of these things and have a clean slate, life isn’t perfect. If it were, what lessons would we learn? What experiences would we miss? Because I know I am far from perfect, I am glad that each night I lay my head on the pillow and close my eyes I get to erase the stress of the day and start over in the morning…after hitting the snooze button a couple of times!

Sometimes saying “I love you” is more than those three little words. This August, I will be married 40 years, and come December my husband I will have been together 47 years. We were high school sweethearts who have spent nearly five decades of learning, and laughing, and loving this life we have created. What I have learned over these many years is that “I love you” in many unstated ways.

Here are some of the ways my husband tells me he loves me without uttering those three little words.

• shopping for groceries
• cooking dinner every night
• filling my car with gas each week
• making sure the doors are locked at night
• calling me on his break at work
• doing laundry
• sharing our favorite stories over and over
• always supporting my dreams
• being my biggest cheerleader
• telling me to have a good day every morning
• telling me to be careful when I go out

I am sure that there are many more that aren’t coming to mind right now. I always say that I am not high maintenance, but I am treated like a princess, and I definitely married a prince.

My favorite sport is baseball, and there is nothing better than counting down to opening day. I really can’t wait until my beloved Phillies take the field, and I am listening to the crack of the bat. But until then I am making a point to watch basketball with my husband. I figure since there are only the two of us living in our home, we shouldn’t always be watching different TV programs in different rooms.

It is not like I hate basketball; its just not my favorite, but Chuck is my favorite person to spend time with. Watching the Sixers or college games together gives us another layer of things to add to our conversations.

What have we been discussing?

• Why is Joel Embiid shushing the crowd?
• Why can’t the 76ers win on the road?
• Why do professional athletes complain when the crowd boos? Aren’t they being paid to perform?
• Why can’t Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid get along and “blend?”

Now the answers to these questions are not going to solve world problems, but we like to compare our answers with the sports pundits. Being totally truthful – sometimes one or both of us falls asleep during the game, and we watch the highlights later! Togetherness.

Today is the start of “Slice of Life 2020.” This blogging challenge is sponsored by twowritingteachers.com and is in its 13th year. It was this challenge that inspired me to finally start my blog. I had been seeing writing colleagues’ posts and so wanted to be a part of the excitement. I finally mustered up enough courage to begin my blog, “Practicing What I Teach,” and join in the fun. This is my fifth year participating in the challenge.

For those of you who may not know, the challenge is to write and post on my blog everyday in the month of March; then upload my post to twowritingteachers.com and comment on at least three other posts. Some days the writing comes easy; other days it is a struggle, but I have successfully completed the challenge the past four years, so I am hoping I can do it again this year.

I am so grateful to the other participants of this challenge for their inspiration. As I read and comment on various posts each day, I find so many ideas for things to write about. I get a chance to see glimpses of the world through the eyes of others and gain a new perspective. The words of encouragement I receive from other writers always reminds me of what I should and hopefully am doing for my students as well as my writing communities.

Even though I am a little apprehensive beginning this challenge, I know that I will become a better writer, responder, and teacher because of it. Let the March blogging begin!

For about a month my lower right back tooth was starting to be sensitive to cold. I couldn’t tell if it was the last of my wisdom teeth or the crown next to it that was actually giving me trouble. I made an appointment with the dentist and low and behold, the wisdom tooth had a rather large cavity and need to be pulled.

The first of my wisdom teeth were pulled in my dentist’s office when I was in my 20’s – easy peasy. The third one was about five years ago in my current dentist’s office. It was not pleasant, and I swore I would never get another tooth pulled unless I went to an oral surgeon and was knocked out cold!

Well, I guess time has a way of making you forget about things. How bad could it be? AWFUL!!! I took the dentist at least 45 minutes to get the tooth out of my mouth. He drilled; he yanked; he had to get another instrument. I could hear the breaking of the tooth, the whirring of the drill, and the instruments scraping along the tooth without getting a good grip. Needless to say, I felt quite beaten up.

I managed some scrambled eggs for dinner and a call to get a sub for Tuesday, and then I settled into the recliner for the night. That’s where I stayed all day Tuesday. Returning to school on Wednesday, I thought everything would gradually begin to feel better. Not the case.

Each day things got worse. By the weekend I was cancelling plans and counting the hours until I could call the dentist on Monday morning. Long story shortish- I have dry socket. It is very painful. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I have to see the dentist every day until it heals. I will spare you the gory details.

I researched and less than 1-5% of people who get teeth extracted end up with dry socket. Lucky me! Maybe I should head to Vegas!

Moral of the story: Get your wisdom teeth taken out when you are young!