SOLSC 2022 #27 - Push ups

 

It is March 2022 and time for the

 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge  

Every single day, for all thirty-one days of March,

writers will share stories.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

Today, at this very moment, I have completed 21 pushups. 

How do you motivate yourself to move a little more each day? Here we are in our sixties, and we know this is an important goal. For about eight weeks now, Tony and I have been keeping a log of our daily pushups - a friendly competition, if you will. It's a simple notepad, and it is kept in plain view on our kitchen counter, so that we might keep these calisthenics in mind throughout the day. 

Although we can readily see each other's totals on a daily basis, I don't compete numerically with him - Tony is much more practiced at doing pushups and his totals are always considerably higher, at least twice mine, if not three times more, to be honest. I do notice, however, when he has logged in - which tends to inspire me to get down on the floor and do a few, or a few more, building my daily total. I have also noticed that, today, I am able to do more at one time ("in a set") than I was when we started - so, this simple logging game is definitely making me stronger - at least at this one skill. 

We are both finding that doing a quick set of pushups also serves to clear the mind. It gets us off the couch a bit. I've been doing a few after sitting and writing/sitting and thinking - particularly if I get a mental block. Which, actually, is why this 27th day of March is about pushups - hahaha! I had no other idea for today's slice! lol

Push on! The 31st of March is just around the corner.... 

SOL19 - Slice #1 Here I go again, in a new way

I am participating in the
 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOL19)
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for the month of March 2019.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Happy SOLSC!!

I have participated in Two Writing Teachers' fabulous Slice of Life Story Challenge for the past seven years, but this year feels very new for two reasons:

ONE:

I am using a different blog than I have used for SOLSC before.
Every other year I participated in SOLSC,
I used my blog about teaching preschool, and

I tried to focus on my classroom, my students, and my lessons.
A couple years ago, I created this new blog - "Writing Beside Me,"
to share my voice in new and different ways,
to write about other things besides teaching preschool,

and, honestly, 

I'm not really sure where I am headed, 

what I intend...

it's just an itch...

a writing itch,

an itch that I've had for several years, and
I've responded to in the most tentative, fragile of scratches.
There are not many posts associated with this blog!

Truly, at this point, I'm not even sure this IS a blog, I have written in it so rarely.

I wonder,
if I write 31 posts for this blog during this month of March,
will this blog become more real, defined, purposeful?

This is my hope, and
this is the blessing of SOLSC!

TWO:

I wonder,
if I throw myself into writing for SOLSC once again,
will I jumpstart myself out of the writing desert that I have been in?

You see, I haven't written a blogpost on either of my blogs since October 2018. 

I don't know why and I do know why. 

I feel as if I am bursting with words
and yet
stopped up,
with a writer's version of one of those giant rubber bathtub plugs jammed into my very being.

I don't know why and I do know why.

You see, my mother died in October.
In simple facts, this news is not surprising -
she was 89 years old and had suffered dementia for many years.
Yet, I continue to feel
off-kilter.

My lack of blog writing is definitely tied up in this.

I don't know why and I do know why.

Enter - SOLSC 2019!

Here goes - I'm writing!!
I'm speaking up!
I'm going to stick my neck out,
share a little of my soul,
take a risk,
dare to write.

This is my hope, and

this is the blessing of SOLSC!

Thanks, Two Writing Teachers for helping me with this new adventure.