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Traditions Heal {CELEBRATE This Week: 221}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

I was listening to a podcast last week discussing the rub between expectations and reality. For most of us, the holiday season is filled with expectations. When reality doesn't align with expectations then we can feel disappointed.

Once again, I'm reminded how we're all bumping around this world together. My Christmas memories are warm and magical. This isn't true for everyone.

Each December, we pull out the decorations and begin to set in motion a season of traditions. At this point, I have little expectation that anything will be smooth. December is a month of meltdowns, lies and angry fits. 

I still have an expectation that it can be something different. Finally, eleven years into this forever family, things are starting to shift. I'm pretty sure it's all because of traditions. We've set in motion different expectations for the season.

1. Decorating Day. Everyone helps, and even though the oldest kids teased about watching Polar Express in the afternoon, they still piled in the living room and drank hot cocoa out of Christmas mugs. Sometimes they sang along with the songs.
2. They decorate Christmas cookies, without any prompting. They share the sprinkles, do their share of the cookies and talk about memories of overdecorated Christmas cookies when they were little.
3. Cracking the code to Christmas presents. Every few years I don't put names on the Christmas presents and they need to crack the code. This seems to bring both annoyance and delight. This year they are sure it's graduation years.

If this holiday season is a tough one, I invite you to consider a tradition. It doesn't need to be fancy, and don't overcomplicate it. Select something that helps you slow down and be present. Maybe a walk at night with a friend to see the lights in your neighborhood. Or something just for you -- a special brew you drink just on December Saturdays. It's okay if you don't have a tradition, start a new one. Don't wait. You are worth it. 

Traditions are a catalyst to healing. And the truth is, we've all been roughed up by the world and could use a bit of healing. I'd love to hear the traditions that are good for your soul.

hello december {CELEBRATE This Week: 219}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

I'm writing surrounded by little white lights and fresh balsam. The house is merry and bright. It's my way of resisting the hustle and bustle of the spinning world. It's my protest of busy.

I take time to string the lights. We unpack ornaments and hang them one by one on the tree. We giggle and wish and brew tea in the Christmas tea pot. We sit by the light of the Christmas tree and hold hands. 

The longer I'm on this spinning rock called earth, the more compelled I am to be more and do less. This season, I'm choosing to celebrate taking the time to be.

1. Be Present. I'm challenging myself to be wholly present wherever I am.
2. Be of Good Cheer. I want others to feel good about themselves and the world when they are around me. It begins by bringing good cheer.
3. Be Mindful. I am aware of the work before me, as well as the need for fun and rest and relationships. I am being mindful in order to live a more intentional life.
4. Be Playful. I want to be more playful. Play brings peace. I want to be playful in order to make others smile and laugh and feel good.

Hello December, you are going to be a very merry month.

Thanks for taking the time to celebrate with me. Please share your links below.

What a response! {CELEBRATE This Week: 218}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

I have this belief about blogging -- really about life -- that we shouldn't make things more complicated than they need to be. I sit here torn about celebrating #EnticingWriters for another week. It feels a little haughty.

I cycle through the week and make a list of celebrations -- there are many. I sit here torn about celebrating something other than #EnticingWriters because it feels a little inauthentic.

Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers was released last week and the responses from the field have soothed my tattered writer's heart. You are so kind.

This is the hardest thing I've ever written. I wanted to write truth, but not just things that are true for me. I wanted Universal Truth. Until this week, I wondered if I hit the mark. Is it just a book full of stories or is it a book that will be a catalyst for change? 

I've been sending links of the sweet things to my parents. Andy has been following along in social media. I keep coming across these beautiful images of my words or quotes from the book and my usual response is: "I can't believe I wrote that."

Clare and Tammy's book review made me teary.

When you read something written from the heart, it takes your breath away.   The stories the writer shares draw you in and lines from the text replay in your head long after you finished reading.  We often get this feeling when we read a memoir, a story, or a poem, but a professional book?  Yes, when we read Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers it took our breath away. 

Michelle's sweet opening to her interview made pushing through the draft worth it.

There are many professional development books available to learn about mastering our craft of teaching.  However, there are only a few that make a true impact -- and this is one book that weaves raw truth, research, practical ideas, and story all in one {cute} little package. 

I feel so humbled and grateful that my stories are making things different in your corner of the world. I appreciated Leigh Anne opening her corner of the world to us by sharing a story from her classroom.

This I celebrate: the hard of life is turned into something beautiful simply by sharing our stories.

Stenhouse is giving away lots of copies of Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. Just follow along on the blog tour and leave comments on the posts for your chance at a free copy.

Blog Tour Stops from Last Week

• Clare & Tammy http://assessmentinperspective.com/?page_id=45​
• Michelle Nero http://literacyzone.blogspot.com​
• Leigh Anne Eck http://adayinthelifeof19b.blogspot.com​

I'm hoping you'll join in for this FB Live event!

11/18 (Sat) STENHOUSE FB LIVE at 1:30pm (CST) with Shawna Coppola and Stenhouse FB Page​

Upcoming Blog Tour Stops

11/20 (M) Mary Helen Gensch https://booksavors.wordpress.com​

11/22 (W) Jen Vincent http://www.teachmentortexts.com/​

11/27 (M) Julie Johnson http://www.raisingreadersandwriters.com

(November Newsletter -Write About https://www.writeabout.com​)

I hope you'll take time to celebrate this week! Share your links below.

#EnticingWriters BLOG TOUR {CELEBRATE This Week: 217}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers is going on tour! Check out all of the blog stops...not to mention I'm writing a feature for the Write About November newsletter. 

Here are a few of the reasons this blog tour spurred a little family happy dance in our kitchen.

• Stenhouse has generously donated TWO BOOKS to be given away at each stop. Follow along for your chance for a free book!
• Along with the free book comes a free registration to my new course: Enticing Writers Book Club. It starts in January.
• Mid-tour there is a FACEBOOK LIVE event at 1:30 pm (CST) straight from the Stenhouse booth at NCTE. Shawna Coppola will be with me as we talk about Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers.
• Check out a full preview of the book on the Stenhouse website. (If you decide to purchase the book, forward your receipt to enticing writers[at]gmail[dot]com for a free registration to my new course, Enticing Writers Book Club.

Here are the links to each stop.

11/13 (M) Clare & Tammy http://assessmentinperspective.com/?page_id=45​

11/15 (W) Michelle Nero http://literacyzone.blogspot.com​

11/17 (F) Leigh Anne Eck http://adayinthelifeof19b.blogspot.com​

11/18 (Sat) STENHOUSE FB LIVE at 1:30pm (CST) with Shawna Coppola and Stenhouse FB Page​

11/20 (M) Mary Helen Gensch https://booksavors.wordpress.com​

11/22 (W) Jen Vincent http://www.teachmentortexts.com/​

11/27 (M) Julie Johnson http://www.raisingreadersandwriters.com

(November Newsletter -Write About https://www.writeabout.com​)

I'd love if you would help me spread the word! 

Share your celebrations below.

Darkness to Light {CELEBRATE This Week: 216}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

I want to remember this moment. 

They are each holding a copy of my brand new book, Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. It's almost a little too much. 

These guys, the ones I share breathing space with, are the whole reason the book exists.

They didn't make it easy to write.

The kids each flipped through the book looking for the stories with their names.

I wrote a circular ending to Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. I didn't want to write a circular ending, but life has a way of turning things inside out.

I learned through blogging to write endings. I learned through blogging that sometimes, whether we're ready or not, the ending has to come. The same is true when writing books.

It's true for life, too.

Sometimes it's time for an ending and we don't want it. I know about that kind of ending. I've sat at too many funerals when the ending arrived and I didn't want it. 

The same was true for Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. It wasn't the ending I wanted, but it was the ending I had to offer when it was time for it to end.

This moment, the one where my kids from hard places held my book in their hands and read their stories of hope and courage, this moment feels right. 

"I like the way you wrote the acknowledgements," Andy said. "They gave me a little lump in my throat."

"It's not easy turning darkness to light," I said. 

"No," Andy agreed. "Your book, though, I think it has the potential to do just that -- to turn darkness to light."

I hope it does. I hope this book lands in hands across the globe. I hope it helps you turn darkness to light in your corner of the world. This world needs more light. And teachers are just the ones to shine it.

Through November 30, if buy the book and forward your receipt to enticingwriters{at}gmail{dot}com, you will receive a free registration to my new course, Enticing Writers Book Club.

Shattered Composure {CELEBRATE This Week: 214}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

This is the moment when I came completely undone. Stephanie sang a beautiful solo, and then took her place on the top riser. Quiet tears slid down my face because sometimes evidence of healing shatters my composure. The stark difference between now and a year ago was more than I could handle. For all those who are tattered and worn, press on.

Quirky {CELEBRATE This Week: 214}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

Andy and the oldest three kids went to the Friday night high school football game. Sam and I stayed home because he's not feeling well. It might have more to do with his bearded dragon who died last night rather than actually being sick.

Sam said, "I could play video games, but I'd rather sit on the couch together while you write and I read. Do you mind, Mom?"

(I didn't mind.)

I've been reading Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal: not exactly a memoir since June. I haven't finished it. I don't want it to be over. I keep rereading some parts. I jump to new chapters every now and then. I haven't read it all. I didn't realize I was doing this, and now that I do, it seems too sad to finish the book. 

(I think Amy might have understood this better than I do.)

There are some bits called:

defining word.

I think I should write one of my own.

defining word

quirky

1. If you feel something, you feel it in

your heart and in your brain. You feel it

too big. This makes your eyes fill up and

your head hurt when your family goes to 

the football game, but you're still thinking

about your pet lizard who died the night 

before. You miss your lizard even if she

wasn't snuggly.

2. People often save things just for you 

that should be recycled because they know

you will appreciate the unique hinge of the 

box lid or the extra length of bubble wrap or

the odd size of a cardboard tube. You make 

things like giant robots and ATM machines. 

You add motors to ships and conveyor belts 

and airplanes. You create animals and race 

cars; machines and solutions. You might take

 over the dining room and tell everyone who 

comes in the front door, "Welcome to my 

inventor's studio. This is where the magic 

happens." Then you ask them to push a button

 on your Lego creation, which triggers a lever

 to set in motion a pulley that turns on a motor

 and cranks gears to create confetti. 

3. You can never have too much confetti (unless

 you're a dad...sometimes dads get tired of 

picking up little bits of confetti).

4. What if, instead of being enchanted by 

eccentricities and oddities, you conformed to be 

like everyone else. Maybe you would, say, only 

wear clothes that match. I imagine you wouldn't 

ever wear plaid and stripes together again. Your 

gym shoes would be white or grey, rather than fire 

engine red high tops that accentuate your knobby 

knees. Also, you would wear jeans, even if you think 

they are uncomfortable. And you would wear them 

with the button and zipper in front, even though the 

back pockets are more roomy and handy to have 

in front.

5. You sometimes get the sense that the important 

things to you aren't the things other people think are 

important. For example, it might be important to finish 

sorting all of the pieces from the Lego bin so you can 

make a candy machine for smarties instead of setting 

the dinner table. Even when dinner is on the plates and 

the plates on the table and your family is sitting at the 

table waiting for napkins and silverware and prayer, and 

you are looking for the remaining perfect piece to 

complete your candy machine, you still don't understand 

why they think forks are more important than the yellow 

Lego piece with the hole in the side.

6. You might smirk at the sky because a cloud shape 

reminds you of a silly fish you saw at the pet store last 

weekend. You chuckle at things the rest of the world is 

too busy to notice, and you never miss the oppor"pun"ity  

to be punny.

7. Theodor Seuss Geisel was proud of his quirk. Let's not 

forget his words -- "Today you are you, that is truer than 

true.There is no one alive who is you-er than you."

8. I like quirky. 

9. Always.

*****

I hope you have as much fun finding the celebrations as I did writing this "defining word." Share your celebrations below!

We need each other {CELEBRATE This Week: 213}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

*******

My car stopped at the intersection of Highway 30 and State Road 13. I was at the only stoplight in town, less than 2 miles south of my childhood home. One moment my car was running; then it wasn't. Soon the light was going to turn green and the line of cars behind me would want to go. 

I turned the key. My car refused start. I let out a sigh worthy of sitting in a dead car on Friday afternoon. The light turned green. I turned on my hazard blinkers. Cars went around me. The light turned red.

I didn't want to ask for help.

Andy was a half hour away, plus he was running kids. I called the person you call when you don't want to ask for help: Dad.

He was coming home from driving a patient to the Shriners Children's Hospital in Chicago. "I can be there in about 1 hour and 47 minutes," he said. "Do you want to just sit tight until I get there?"

I might have rolled my eyes. 

The light turned green. Cars honked behind me. I didn't move.

It was a Friday of a week where I felt pathetic. I knew I needed the perspective of a friend, but I was tired of feeling needy. I just wanted to believe I was fine. I didn't want to be a burden.

I know the truth is that everyone is fighting a hard battle. Some of us are more transparent about pressing on and fighting the good fight. I was tired of needing support and encouragement; I was tired of resisting isolating myself.

Now I was sitting at a traffic light in a car that wasn't going to move itself. It didn't really matter that I didn't want to ask for help. I called my mom, even though I knew she couldn't help. "You'll be okay," she said.

I got out of my car.

The passenger window of a white jeep in the turn lane rolled down, and a man leaned out. "Do you need help moving your car?"

I walked closer and smiled. Before I could say yes, the driver said, "What are you doing? We don't have time and you definitely don't need to help her." The woman sneered at me and scowled at him.

"Her car is stopped. It will only take a minute to push it out of the way. She can't do it alone."

The woman glared and said, "You're not getting out of this car. We don't have time." 

The light turned green. "Will you be okay?" he asked.

"No worries," I said as they squealed away.

I walked a few steps back to my car. I chuckled to myself. There are bigger problems than not wanting to ask for help.

A black car, reminiscent of Knight Rider, with the wear of 30 years since the show was on TV, pulled to the side of the road behind me. A man got out and asked, "Do you need some help."

I laughed a little and said, "It seems that way."

"What's the problem?" he asked. 

"It just stopped." 

He waited for me to say more, like he actually cared about the problem. I added, "I'm not sure why it stopped. I just got it a few weeks ago. Everything was fine and it just stopped."

"Try to start it," he said. 

I slid in to the driver's seat and tried to start the car. It wouldn't run.

"Okay, let's get it out of the way."

It didn't matter that I didn't want help. He was there. "I have no idea what to do," I said.

He laughed. "No problem..." and he walked me through each step. In a few seconds, my car was out of the way on the edge of the road.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked, "Or do you need more help?"

"I'll be fine," I said.

"You're sure?" My skills for moving the car out of the way must not have given me much credit as a problem solver.

I smiled. "Thank so much, but I'm okay now that it's out of the way."

He returned to his car and waved as he pulled away. 

I slid back into my car. I just wanted the car to start so I could go on my way. I didn't want to ask for help, even though I could think of a dozen people who I knew would be willing to help me. 

"I'm just so tired of feeling needy," I said out loud.  I looked at the three gas stations taunting me on each corner of the intersection. 

"Did I run out of gas?" I continued talking out loud.

There was a good chance that this was the problem. The gas gauge was a little funky in this car and it didn't ding or flash or do anything noticeable when I reached low fuel. 

I have a bad habit of driving until the ding and then getting gas.

Now I was embarrassed on top of being tired of asking for help. I rested my head against the seat and closed my eyes. The absurdity was clear. I needed gas and there were three gas stations within walking distance. I was going to sit there until I mustered enough spunk to walk to a gas station, buy a gas can, purchase case and walk back to my car.

There was a knock on the window. I looked over. 

There stood a friend of my parents. He was a staple from my childhood. He opened the door.

"Mr. Hartman," I said.

"Ruthie, it seems you have a problem. Do you have gas?"

"I was just sitting here thinking that might be the problem," I said.

"Ron called because your daddy is driving the Shriner van. They told me to come to the north side of the intersection of 30 and 13 because there was some help that needed delivered."

"I could use some help," said.

"Come on," he said. "I have a gas can in my garage."

Ol' Jer took me to his house, found a gas can (with gas) and took me back to my car. He poured it in my tank. Then he followed me to the gas pump. 

"You good, now?" he asked.

"I am," I said. "Thanks Mr. Hartman."

"No thanks needed," he said. "Happy to help." He drove away.

As I put gas in my car, I couldn't help but snicker. It was the end of a week when I was tired of fighting the lies of the enemy. I was weary from believing that I'm a burden as a friend. I wanted to hunker down and isolate myself.

I looked up at the crisp Autumn sky and the white jelly fish clouds. I closed my eyes and imagined a kind God just beyond the blue, smiling down from Heaven. I am not a burden.

We are not made to go at life alone. We are made for friendship. Pretending that I don't need help is as absurd as sitting in the middle of three gas stations and wishing my car to start rather than adding gas to the tank.

Too often we get trapped in isolation. Too often we think it is better to go at it alone. Too often we imagine we are more burdensome than we are.

This week I celebrate the truth -- we are all fighting a hard battle...and we need one another.