Gratitude Post – 1 of 12

So here goes. Month #1. Post 1 of 12.

As 2008 drew to a close, I found myself grateful for the many memories and experiences the passing year brought me.

When I think back to college or graduate school, I can remember so many specifics about my daily life and weekend adventures – where I went, whom I went there with, what we talked about. Since then, however, I’ve often been feeling like the days, weeks, months, and even years just fly by and half the time I can’t remember what I do from one day to the next. I am so grateful that 2008 has been an exception to this, and as I look back on the year, I think, Wow. I really did something.

As my January gratitude post, I am grateful for the year we just closed.

________________________________

While there are many more than 14, I've written a list of specific experiences I am grateful for in 2008 (sometimes with a picture since that was, after all, last year’s resolution):

1. A fun birthday celebration at Eclipse di’Luna to begin my 27th year with some of my favorite people

2. An especially bright and unforgettable group of students whom I felt proud to have taught as they walked across the stage on graduation day – I am continually inspired in my profession by emails, notes, and visits from these kids, and I’m grateful to have mentored them.

3. An adorable niece born in March who could not be a more perfect addition to our family.

4. Two fabulous concerts in the month of May – Tea Leaf Green and Swell Season which, by the way, pleasantly surprised me as one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to.

5. A reunion with some college friends last June in Seaside, Florida – These girls never cease to entertain me or remind me of who I really am.

6. Our trip to Europe this summer which was absolutely the highlight of my year - There were so many simple moments on that trip – staring out the window of a train, overlooking a canal, enjoying a sidewalk café, or strolling city streets – when I had to pinch myself as a reminder that that it was real and it was perfect.

7. The Decatur Books Festival in August – Seeing Billy Collins read for the second time (and getting his autograph!) and meeting Lee Smith, one of my favorite novelists, was such a joy.

8. The Black Keys concert in October – yet another great night of music

9. A presidential election that made me proud to be a voter and an American and excited about the future direction of this country – one of hope and tolerance

10. The wedding of a dear friend where we watched her revel in her own happiness and we danced and danced and danced

11. A fabulous girls-only slumber party in November where we drank, laughed, gossiped, and watched True Blood until we fell asleep

12. A family photo shoot I’ve already mentioned in a previous post that reminds me how lucky I am to have the family that I do

13. A November reunion dinner party with a cozy outdoor fireplace and the greatest company ever

14. Closing 2008 with some of the best holiday fun and relaxation I can remember in recent years


So when I look back at the year in review, I realize it was, indeed, quite a year and I look forward to the many things 2009 has to offer. My hope is that this little monthly exercise will make me take a look at these experiences as I'm having them, not just after they pass. The challenge is, as Jane Austen says, to “feel the importance of every day, of every hour, as it passes.”

Happy 2009, everyone! I wish you the best of luck with your resolutions, whatever they may be.

New Year's Resolution

So New Year’s resolutions come and go, but as I mentioned on my last post, I had a great idea for 2009’s resolution that involves this blog. Last year, my resolution was to take more photographs, and I really felt like I followed through with that one, giving me hope that I can stick it out if I put my mind to it. So this year’s goal? To complete a gratitude journal. This is certainly not an original idea, and if you peruse the self-help section or the journal selection at any Barnes & Noble, you can see the plethora of gratitude-focused books and journals, but I pledge to do this once a month and post it here. While a few others read this, the idea honestly is that it's primarily for my benefit. It will allow me the time and space to reflect on the many things in my life that are worthy of gratitude and shift my focus away from the things I complain about far too much.

My goal is to post an entry the first week of every month and to be as specific as possible in reference to what has passed that month…. Not simply “family” or “friends” but what about those people or situations is worthy of my recognition as a blessed individual. I'm sure that some months will yield shorter entries than others and some months it might seem hard to think of anything at all, but the truth is that I'm one lucky girl, and I want to use 2009 to focus on that.

Holiday Giving .... and Getting

Posting 2 days in a row? Impossible. See what happens when I have some time off school?

Christmas came and went in the usual whirlwind, but I feel like we enjoyed it more this year than ever before because Scott and I simplified a lot of the usual holiday craziness.

As gifts for each other, we decided to go in together and buy one great camera. It came in about a month ago, and we've already got some great stuff. I am excited to see what it gives us this year as I learn more about how to use it. So far Scott is way better at it than I am, but I'm learning!

As gifts for my mom and my grandparents, my sister and I decided to do a family photo session with photographer Kyle Hale. I discovered him through a college friend of mine when she posted some gorgeous family photos a few months ago. Kyle was reasonably priced, easy to work with, and he came up to our home to do the pictures which I loved. The final results really feel like home - which is probably because it is my home - but you know what I mean. I think our comfort really conveys itself in the photos because we are in familiar surroundings, and he came up with so many cool ideas and angles in and around our house. (If you are in Atlanta and need someone for a wedding or general family photography, check him out at http://www.kylehale.net/.) When we got the pictures back, Melissa and I decided that they were incredible enough to be our gifts to one another as well. I know it's partly because it's my own family and I love them, but these photos took my breath away the first time I saw them. This is just a sampling, and we received 114 photos that are ALL frame worthy.

All of us on the porch - Mom loved this one!

We somehow persuaded my camera-shy grandparents to stop by for a while.

my favorite one of Scott and me

with the kids

my sister and her beautiful family

I think this one is my favorite!

And lastly, Melissa with little Emmie

At first, we just wanted a unique Christmas gift idea, but now I am so happy we decided to do this, and I will definitely cherish them for quite some time. In addition to these fabulous pictures, I received some much needed photo albums for all our Europe pics, a camera bag for the new Nikon, a couple of new books, and ..... a Wii! My arms are sore as we speak because I couldn't stop playing for the past two days.

My sweet yearbook students all pitched in together to give me an American Express card that purchased two lovely Target bookshelves, and believe it or not, the majority of my books have now found their way out of the basement and in to a (somewhat) organized place on the shelves that now grace our dining room.

So all in all, a fabulous Christmas vacation thus far, and I am happy to say I have 6 days left. I have an interesting idea brewing for a New Year's resolution that pertains to this blog, but I'll be thinking on that before I unveil it. I hope everyone's holiday is going beautifully and we are all ready to be out with the old and in with the new. Happy holidays!

Ron Rash's Serena

Back in August, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a panel at the Decatur Books Festival. The discussion, entitled “Down from the Mountain,” featured two authors from the Appalachian region. I was certainly already familiar with Lee Smith as an author I adore, but Ron Rash was new to me. During the panel, he read from his newest work Serena, which had not been published at that time, and I was anxious to read it after his reading and explanation. The novel did not disappoint.

In short, it’s an Appalachian retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It does not follow the story precisely; Rash is far more creative than that. It does, however, hinge on the theme of blind ambition, and the story centers around a female character you love and hate at the same time, one who steers the ship for her husband as they encounter obstacles on the way to their success. It is this character, Serena Pemberton, who keeps you turning the pages and makes the novel worthy of its hype.

Originally from the mountains of Colorado, Serena meets her husband in Boston before the two of them establish a lumber empire in the North Carolina mountains. Life in the lumber business is hard, and the workers in the lumber camp often lose limbs and lives in their day-to-day work. It’s clearly no place for a woman, but Serena has no difficulty holding her own here, and furthermore, she manages to present herself as a superior when the workers quickly understand that she, even more so than her husband, is the one to answer to and the one to fear.

With a white horse and a trained eagle on her side, Serena’s character is unmistakably mythic in her capabilities and in Ron Rash’s description of her. Rash describes her training the eagle; “Each dawn the following weeks, Serena walked into the stable’s back stall and freed the eagle from the block perch. She and the bird spent the morning alone in tree-shorn plain below Half Acre Ridge…..By the fifth day the bird perched in Serena’s right forearm, its head black-hooded like an executioner, the five-foot leash tied to Serena’s right elbow and the leather bracelets around the raptor’s feet” (102). The image of Serena dashing across the mountain on her white horse with the eagle perched alongside her is one that makes quite an impression on the lumber workers and on the reader.

A story of a vast lumber empire is not what drives the plot of the novel, however. Soon after setting foot off the train from Boston, Serena learns firsthand that her husband’s previous relationship has produced a son in these mountains, and like Lady Macbeth, that seems to be the one thing she cannot give her groom. Many twists and turns ensue from there, and the ending of this novel is one of the most memorable conclusions I have ever read.

All in all, Ron Rash reveals a story of violence and misery but also one of love and devotion, and Serena Pemberton is a character who will stay with you long after the novel is finished. It's certainly one of my best reads of the year.

Slow Going

Current Read? It's a sloooooow go. Not that long ago, I heard of a little book that was getting a lot of attention, and I decided to pick it up and try it for myself.

So I am reading - or attempting to read - Verlyn Klinkenborg's Notes of an Abject Reptile, and I am simply not that into it. This surprises me since it sounded like it would be just my style. As a quick summation, it is musings on English countryside told through the eyes of a tortoise who resides on the garden of an accomplished naturalist. Usually beautiful style and philisophical meanderings can keep my attention, but as my students say, "I'm just not feelin' it" with this one. I'm no quitter, so I am determined to plow right through. Hopefully I can report back with a change of heart and "feel it" soon. We shall see.

Anyone read this one before and can offer an ounce of insight?