Weathering the Storm

I skated home from Houston between storms. Yeah!  No travel problems.  I was all high from the weekend.  I walked in the door and it smelled like kitties and bunny. There is laundry stacked up.  Nothing for dinner. All done being the guest clinician and back to being the household servant.

The workshop was wonderful. I'll never stop being amazed, uplifted and inspired by the Suzuki community. Teachers, master teachers, parents and kids all working together to learn and grow.

Thank you, Yelena for the hospitality Friday night. You are a gem!
I walked into Yelena's lovely home which now is also the home of Jack and Toby, the two tabby cats she got for her birthday last year, suspiciously close to my departure and recommendation that she could use a pet. . . I won't disclose her age but her quote to me was, in her Russian accent, "X years wasted without cats." Smile. I saw that she was reading Tolstoy. In Russian. Which made me want to go get it and read it in English. But, alas, I know the time is not right for that.

What is the time right for?  Doris is asking me again, when will I work on getting my teacher trainer certificate? I said, I'm too busy. What did she say?  "You seem to find time to do a lot of things."  Rather sternly. For Doris.

The weekend world world of making plans with Vickie to do our teaching practicum class together and dreaming of compiling applications for teacher trainer stuff, it's all so wonderful.

Then there is that odor of cat litter upon arrival at home.  There is Bill leaving the house at 7:00 and getting home at 8:00.  It's easy to feel a little bit sorry for myself. When do I get to do what will further my career and personal growth?  But getting out into the world is always helpful. Cheryl's husband has been starting his own business and working round the clock for months. Casey's husband got a swat team call just as we were sitting down to a lovely dinner and glass of wine.  No body has it easy or perfect all the time.  Sometimes the timing is just not right for getting everything we think we need.  Most of the time there is something looming out there that we just can't have.  It very well could be that any kind of true balance in our lives is unattainable right now.  Not forever.

So we weather the storm.

Today, the kids are home from school.  Biggest storm of the year. Mary is still sleeping at 8:30 a.m. as I write this.  She doesn't even know that school is cancelled, a VERY rare thing in Minnesota.  Bill made a fire in the fireplace before he took my jeep across town to work.  (Even with the bumpers smashed in, it still drives through twelve inches of snow.) You can see from my pictures, the storm outside is looking pretty beautiful at the moment.  Everything comes to a halt and I think we will play some piano and make cookies.

There is a time for everything.  I can't do the teacher trainer application right now, but I can start taking video and doing the legwork. Maybe I can do the practicum this summer? Casey, you can't move right now but you can make a cool office in your house and make the back yard a retreat.  Grow where we are planted.  Pay attention to what we have right now.

Life is good. Storms are good. Sometimes they force us to sit and think and be together.
Happy snow day. . .