New Beginnings and Blank Pages

When I was a young girl there wasn’t much I enjoyed about school. I was never one of those people who wished they could go back and live those school years again. I was pretty much happy to be finished with my school years. I didn’t enjoy the social aspects of school. While I loved to learn new things I didn’t like being told what to learn and when to stop learning something. I REALLY
hated…….um, strongly disliked math (although I did have a SUPER COOL geometry teacher who made a huge impact on my life, but I digress).
One thing I did LOVE with a super great passion was new notebooks! I loved the way they smelled. I loved the fresh, uncreased covers; I loved the way they felt in my hand and the smooth surface of the pages. But I think what I really loved most was the potential that they represented. Those new notebooks were like new beginnings. They lured me in with the idea that I could start over. I could start my school year however I wanted. I could be a success! I could accomplish my dreams! I could maybe, just maybe do…..whatever I wanted! I could take that blank page and create something that would be perfect: a school year that would fit my ideals. It never seemed to turn out that way, though. I had good days and bad days. I made good friends and lost friends. I made good grades and bad grades. I wrote successful poems and stories and non-fiction papers and I flunked math several times. At the end of the year I didn’t have a perfect notebook or a perfect school year but I had something even better: life.
Aren’t new beginnings inspiring? The blank pages of life lay before us, each one of us, every day. We can choose to see the opportunities that we have as a springboard for perfection or we can view them as God intended, life affirming, life living, beautiful, messy notebooks filled with the experiences that shape us. As we, my students and I, start this blogging journey I am looking forward to this new beginning and I am grateful that I learned that perfection isn’t the goal anymore. Life is. Thanks for joining us on our journey. Thanks for living life with us. You’re welcome to comment here, visit my student’s blogs, some of which you will find linked to the side bar on the right, and comment there. As you read their entries be prepared to be inspired to write in your own notebook of life, maybe even with a blog site of your own!

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