First Day

It's Monday, June 22, 2015, and I am officially living my first day (weekends don't count, of course) of retirement. After 31 years as a school media specialist, I've closed the book on my career, and am starting a new and different life.  I'm eager to make some changes (most minor, some major) in the way that I live each day. This blog is going to be part of that - I have NO interest in whether anyone reads this, or not. The blog's purpose is to be, at this point in time, a daily record of what I do, every day. A journal, a diary, a list. Ideally, as time passes, my daily entries will provide evidence that no day is wasted. That's not to say that I plan to move mountains, change the world, or drastically change my persona. I simply want to be able to say, at the end of each day, that something got done. A book was read, a walk was taken, a closet was cleaned out, time was spent with those I love.

I had a talk with my daughter-in-law, Jess, the other day, and the term "grit" came up. We talked about the fact that grit is a hot topic in education these days - kids need to have "grit" in school in order to succeed. Jess pointed out that educators (actually, education administrators) aren't really embracing the entire idea - they only focus on the perseverance part, when actually true grit (I'm sorry, John Wayne) is composed of three elements: perseverance, yes, but also passion, and self-empathy. You have to keep trying, but you also have to have an abiding love for what it is you're trying to do, and you have to be able to forgive yourself when you come up short.

I want my days to be gritty. I want to get something done every day, I want to love what I'm doing, and I want to forgive myself and move on when I don't quite get there.

So what have I done on this, first, day? I got up and walked for 5 miles, down to Riverton and onto East River Road, turning around at the 2.5 mile tree, and back. Came home and cleaned out the coffee/tea drawer. Made coffee.  Emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. Cleaned up my closet, which was quite the mess. Stripped beds in guest room and vacuumed cellar and cellar stairs. Did laundry.Went for a pedicure and out to lunch at Dish N' Dat with sister Becky. Mailed a birthday card. Bought thank you notes and a Wisconsin map at BN. Stopped to pick up 2 quarts of fresh native strawberries from Bristol Farm. Brought in trash and recycling bins and got mail, helped a lost taxicab find Hogback Road. Took this photo of my current handspinning project - Spunky Eclectic's February 2015 shipment of 4 ounces of Shetland wool in the "Gerbera" colorway AND posted it on Instagram to a June photo-a-day challenge (the June 22nd idea is "yellow").

Knitted. Spun. Posted this at 3:46 pm.