Today’s Jetpack prompt is: What activities do you lose yourself in?

This was a tough one because I only wanted to write wonderful activities, but unfortunately, I can get lost in activities that don’t add anything to my life.

Losing myself in a good book is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening, but others like listening to relaxing music, journaling, and connecting with my family or friends are worth getting lost in too. When I do any of these things, two hours can seem like 10 minutes, and I am sorry when the time is up. These things refresh my soul.

There are other activities that I get lost in such as watching sports on TV, particularly baseball (14 days until Opening Day), watching a Hallmark Movie or a Netflix series that I enjoy, but exactly soul refreshing – more like relaxers.

Then there are the rabbit holes I get lost in which are energy drainers. These can eat away at your time and your spirit like termites eat away at your house – barely noticed until it is too late and an intervention is needed. What might they be you ask? Well… scrolling social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and sometimes Threads) is the number one culprit, but there are a couple of games I still play on my iPhone (Words With Friends, Bingo Clash) that can keep me glued to my screen for much too long!

Losing yourself in some activities can help you nurture your true self but others can also move you away from your true self. What activities do you lose yourself in? Are they helping you find your true self or leading you in the opposite direction?

This afternoon I opened a fortune cookie, and this was inside.

Everyone has some challenges in their life that can color the way they look at the world. We have the power to look at everything thrown our way, but only SEE what makes life worth living and makes us happy.

Isn’t it so true? We can wake up every day and choose to let the challenges we meet bring us down and make us miserable, OR we can choose to focus on what makes our day brighter and better. I believe happiness is a choice we make, and it is in the way we view our lives.

These are some of the things that have made me happy in the last 24 hours.

• Beautiful spring-like weather that greeted me as I walked to my car after school
• Finishing my book club book – The Lost Letters of Ireland by Susanne O’Leary
• Text messages from my six-year-old grandson. “I love you Nona, This is N.” followed by a emojis galore – of course there were some poop ones 🙂
• One-on-one tutoring and being able to make a more personal connection and build a trusting relationship
• New buds on the Weeping Willow tree around the corner
• Enjoying the Happy Hour menu (sodas only) at a neighborhood restaurant with my husband
• Missing the squirrel that darted in front of my car on the way to work. (It was close!)
• My entire homeroom was present today
• Phone calls with both of my children
• Almost finishing my grading for the trimester
• My back hasn’t gotten stuck when I bend over
• Bird serenades in the morning
• Having one more tea bag left in my stash at school

I am sure I could find more if I sat here long enough. Today had it’s challenges; one being I had no breaks (or yesterday) because a special teacher was home sick. In my younger days that would have been enough to have me growling for days, and then no one would be happy. Now I know better.

What happy thoughts or memories are in your mind right now?

Although I am of Italian and Polish descent, I have the luck ‘o the Irish when it comes to friends. I have always valued quality over quantity when it comes to friends, and my good friends hail from different times in my life, but I feel like I have known each of them forever.

Tonight I had an early dinner with a woman who was first a colleague at school who grew into a friend. Although we no longer work together, we have kept in touch via text with meetups as life allows.

It was so wonderful to catch up on each other’s lives. She wanted to know about my grandchildren, and I needed the rundown of her four children and what each was up to. I don’t know how it happened; we talked for two hours, but it seemed like only minutes. I am sure we had plenty more to talk about, but she is a busy mom of four and couldn’t stay as long as this empty nester.

I am not sure when we actually saw each other in person last, but today I realized how much I missed being with her in person. We promised to meet up again before the end of the school year. I can’t wait! Until then periodic text messages will just have to do.

Today was tough. It was difficult to get out of bed. I made it to work just in time to be on time, and the day didn’t get any easier from there.

I felt one step behind all day and was looking at the clock much too much. Long gone are the days when I could stay up until the wee hours of the morning and still feel energized enough to have a productive day. (And I don’t even drink coffee!)

I lost one measly hour of sleep yesterday, and you would have thought I tried to pull an all-nighter. (Which I couldn’t even do in college!) Now I could take into account my age (65) or the constantly changing barometer due to the manic weather in Pennsylvania or staying up to read “one more chapter” a few times, but I am blaming today on Daylight Savings Time. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

I was looking forward to my Aqua Fit class all week, and it did not disappoint. Making it to the Saturday morning class is always the goal, but not always possible, so despite the rainy forecast, I was out the door and on my way.

The class is all women but for one lone man. We spend 50 minutes working out to a variety of music playlists provided by our encouraging instructor. Today it was oldies – as in the 50s, 60, and 70s. I found myself singing along as I moved my body in ways that would be impossible on dry land. With the use of water weights and pool noodles muscles get a great workout while joints can glide easily in the water. No matter how my week was or my mood going into the pool, I always leave feeling better physically and mentally.

As a reward for spending 50 minutes working out (and to avoid a crowded locker room) I spend 10-15 minutes in the hot tub where the jets help to loosen the tough spots – hip flexors and lower back. Sometimes everyone in the spa is quiet and other times there are lively conversations. Today was a quiet day.

There are times when I think about going to a Tuesday or Thursday 6:00 PM class, but the thought vanishes at the thought of coming home in the dark. Since we are losing an hour of sleep tonight but gaining more daylight, those Tuesday and Thursday classes look more promising – especially during weeks where other plans preclude me from getting to class on Saturday. I need to start penciling them into my calendar and making time for my physical and mental wellbeing – once I make up from losing that hour of sleep tonight that is! Happy Weekend!

I thought this day would never come! After six days of standardized testing and rain, the week has finally come to an end. I love every Friday afternoon, but this one is particularly sweet.

For the first time this week, the sun is shining. The students are gone, my classroom is quiet, and I am taking home an almost empty backpack. Life is good.

I am looking forward to a weekend with minimal plans, no alarm clocks, and a new book to start. The only thing better would be if we were not losing an hour of sleep Saturday night, but that is an excuse to take a nap on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I have a ton of things on my “to do” list at home, but there is VERY little on my “must do” list.

I hope your Friday afternoon is landing easy and is a little slice of heaven.

My students have been taking standardized tests since March 1st. and will take the last one tomorrow. Each day there is a different subject area test administered first thing in the morning. The daily teaching schedule is altered, and we have shortened class periods. On top of that, the weather has not cooperated, and we have had indoor recesses all week. I can’t wait to be able to say TGIF!

This week is exhausting for the students who are taking the tests and the teachers who are administering them. My 7th graders are used to having 20-25 minutes to get outside and get some fresh air before they go to lunch. The boys usually spend that time burning off some pent-up energy by playing basketball or football. Needless to say, the energy level is VERY HIGH this week with no place to let off some steam. The boys have taken to making paper airplanes – some sophisticated ones – from our classroom stash of looseleaf and colored paper. Some of my colleagues are surprised to see paper airplanes flying every which way when they walk past my classroom. I am not usually one for chaos, but this was controlled chaos.

Time is a thief, and these middle-schoolers are already growing up too quickly. If I can give them some time to just be kids and use their creativity and laugh – a lot – then why not? As long as the planes get put back in the “hangars” when it’s time to get to work, these student “pilots” have my blessing.

When I hear words like aerodynamics, float, lift, speed, and balance flying around the room alongside the airplanes, I know there is learning going on. When I see one of my airplane “engineers” going back to the supplies to make changes to their glider designs or completely start over, I know there is learning going on. I don’t need a standardized test to prove that to me.

It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.

Joseph Conrad

The drive to school today was very foggy, a little rainy, and a tad dreary, but I do love the fog on Mann Road. I always want to stop and take pictures as long as there are no cars creeping up behind me. If I didn’t have to go to work, I would have been parking by the side of the road and writing in my notebook using the fog as a metaphor for this stage of my life. All I kept hearing in my head was “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2.

When I was younger with a growing family, I thought that once my kids were grown and on their own I would have life figured out. WRONG! Now that time is more precious, decision-making seems to be harder with more pressure to “get it right” whatever that means.

I look at those trees shrouded in fog and know that before too long they will be covered in leaves, and it will be hard to decipher one from branch from another. But today I can still see each individual tree and branch – some in the background – some in the foreground. Yet each plays an important role in this particular grove.

This foggy, rainy, dreary day has given me permission to go a little slower, think a little deeper, and trust a little more. No need to fear going into the unknown.