Today I had a conversation with a colleague from work, a wise and wonderful mentor and friend.  I sought her out originally to discuss a work situation, but we ended up talking about faith and hope and the sphere of influence that women can have in the lives of those around us.

  We talked about how important it is to recognize the right of every individual to have his own beliefs and to work out his own life, whatever that may be.  We talked about how important it is to keep our friends and family around us, especially when their beliefs differ from ours, rather than push them away with any kind of judgment or intolerance. 

 We talked about the desire we have to be examples of women of faith,  whose faith works for them in their lives, so that those we love can see the power of that truth in our lives, and at least see that for us, faith has real power.

We talked about the importance of loving others well and truly, so that our example earns the respect of those we love and care about. 

 We talked about how hard it must be for people experiencing trials to live life without the power of faith.  We talked about our gratitude for our faith, and our realization of its blessing in our lives. 

 We talked about control, and how one of the main things to learn in life is how to let go of it, and how to open the door to accept whatever paths life takes us in and whatever challenges life throws at us with our faith intact, so that it can shore us up and keep us going.

  We talked about the importance of deciding to enjoy each day that life brings us, and rejoice in every good moment.

We talked about our children, and how much we love each and every one of them, and how so many of our students need our love as well. 

 We talked about the spirituality inherent in all people, and the different ways that spirituality is expressed, and the different paths we all take to feel that spiritual connection.   We talked about the fact that every person's path is different, and every person is at a different place in the traveling of it.

 I thought about how even though she and I are of different faiths, and have different religious cultures,  the deep spiritual truths that life is teaching us seem to be identical.  

I realized anew that there are so many different ways to learn truths, and remembering that always fuels my faith and my hope, and leaves me feeling more connected to the world, and all the different types of people sharing it with me.

Rock gone! Ready to roll...

Can I tell you how wonderful it feels the moment after you pass a kidney stone?  It makes you feel like your formerly mundane and tedious life has turned magical.  It felt so much better teaching without the stone than with the stone that I almost felt I was high on drugs.   I just so appreciated not having to work through that added barrier of pain.

 It is too bad we can't hang on to that same state of appreciation forever.  I am really enjoying my job this year, however, and am truly grateful for the company of 120 fourteen year old girls each day.  They keep me young and  keep me thinking and definitely keep me on my toes. 

I realize how lucky I am to have a passion that so engages me now that all my children have left home.  I am staying at school later than ever as there is no reason to rush home, but I don't mind it because I enjoy percolating ideas in my room and creating all kinds of new things that I never had time to create before.

I have learned how to do power points and websites and have redone lessons, and I have even done lessons for other  members of my department because it is rewarding and creatively satisfying.  Yes, La Reina is becoming more and more a part of my life, but it is great to finally have arrived at a place in my career when I have enough experience under my belt to find my work not very stressful, and mostly  just a lot of fun.  

I was thinking today of how I always thought teaching was fun from the time I was a little girl and my favorite thing to do was to lure innocent neighborhood children  into our garage, which I had converted into a schoolroom, and give them lots of work to do. 

Today I spent the whole day grading essays, and I didn't even mind it that much, because I kept thinking how much worse it would have been trying to do them with a kidney stone.

Mainly tonight  I am really happy that I am able to go to work every day and enjoy doing what I do best.