Sandcastle Dreams - Slice of Life Challenge

As you're reading this, I'm probably somewhere between Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Dublin, Ohio.  Much like a week ago, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go (home this time).

But, as I'm heading back home refreshed, rejuvenated, and relaxed, I want to leave one last post about this amazing week at the beach.

As I was walking on the beach Wednesday and Friday, I was struck by how many sandcastles were being constructed.

When I saw the sandcastle in this first picture, my initial thought was the girl building the sandcastle was trying to trap some of the hundreds of jellyfish that came to the beach during high tide this week and then stayed.  But, when I stopped to ask if I could take a picture of her castle, I found out she was trying to save the jellyfish.  As her mom told me, she is always trying to save the world, one creature at a time.  I loved her outlook on life - I thought that jellyfish were a nuisance and a pain to have on the beach; she saw them as creatures of the earth who needed protection.  I hope she has that passion for living things her entire life.  She has sandcastle dreams.

The other thing that I loved about her sandcastle was that it was a "drip" castle.  Wow, did that bring back some great memories.  My husband would build drip castles with our daughters for hours when they were young, just sitting in his beach chair by the ocean, getting a pile of really wet sand, and dripping it into a castle shape.  Drip castles will always have a special place in my heart; they are part of my sandcastle dreams.

The second sandcastle I saw was my kind of castle -- the kind that doesn't require an architecture degree.  It was dug out, built up and then had the sand mold shapes on top of it.  I watched two families with their young children build this one.  Their children were so happy and busy as they built, after the adults had dug the original holes for them.  I'm betting they will have happy dreams about the sandcastle they constructed that day.

So, now I have to say goodbye to the beach for a while, but my mind will be full of sandcastle dreams for quite some time to come.


 As always, thanks to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge!

Daufuskie Island Adventure - Slice of Life Challenge

I had an amazing experience today - I went to visit Daufuskie Island, an island right next to Hilton Head, only accessible by boat.  The fun part about this - it would never have happened if Katherine hadn't commented on one of my posts that I really should try a unique restaurant on Daufuskie Island, Marshside Mama's.  I value Katherine's opinion, so I started investigating how to get there, and from that, a plan emerged.

From the moment I stepped onto the dock at Daufuskie Island, I knew it was going to be a special experience.  It was in no way a hustle-bustle kind of dock; rather, the only boat unloading was my water taxi, and the occupants were a husband and wife coming to plan the building of their house on the island, a man from Atlanta coming to spend a long weekend at his house, and me.  At the end of the dock, our transportation awaited.  We would all be leaving in golf carts.

My boat captain, Captain Jim, handed me a map of the island and off I went.  It's hard to describe how absolutely "away from it all" one is while on Daufuskie.  From the time I left the dock until I saw the first golf cart that someone else was driving took almost five minutes.  And when people did pass me, they waved and said hi.  When your vehicle can't go faster than 30 mph, that's relatively easy to do.  I have no idea whether I was passing other visitors to the island or islanders themselves, but that feeling of a small community was ever present.

Using my map as a guide, I puttered around all the different parts of the island, stopping from time to time to either take a picture or to check out a historic site.  I've decided to do a partial picture travelogue to help the reader experience some of the special sights I saw today.

This is Haig Point, the first part of Daufuskie Island

 - this is my view from water taxi

Marshside Mama's restaurant

My view while driving my golf cart

The beach!!

An eagle's nest on the road to the beach

Mary Fields School where the author, Pat Conroy, taught the Gullah children of the island for 1 year. His room was on the right side.  To read more about this experience, read his book The Water is Wide.

I started this journey when I wanted to try to figure out how my husband and I could have dinner at Marshside Mama's based on Katherine's suggestion, but it morphed into so much more than that.  It became that one of a kind day that I will hold dear to my heart for a long time to come.  I'm so grateful to Katherine for putting an inkling of an idea in my head, and then answering follow up questions as I got more and more intrigued.  The power of our slice community is pretty amazing, and extends past the boundaries of just who we are as writers.

As always, thanks to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge!

Passing the Baton for Slice of Life Challenge

I headed to our blogger dashboard to get my slice of life post ready for Thursday, and I saw that my blog partner, Bill, had posted a slice of life about his son, Steven.  Being such a thoughtful blog partner, he had it posted for April 1 so I could continue with my slices the entire month of March without any distractions.

But I read his post, tears welling up in my eyes, and I knew I had to let Bill have a bigger audience.  So today, I'm passing the baton to Bill and this incredible piece about his son.  He's a very proud papa, and after you read his slice, hopefully you'll understand why.

And as far as meeting the requirements of a daily slice, I'm counting this introduction to Bill's slice of life as my writing for today... :)

For all of you who were left hanging with my writing from yesterday, I promise I will come back and tell the abbreviated version of how I went from knowing I shouldn't be a teacher and moving to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to celebrating almost 30 years of teaching at the end of this year.  Life is funny sometimes.

As always, thanks to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge!

From Ohio to Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Slice of Life Challenge

I was particularly moved by Julie's haiku about paths untaken.  It made me think of paths I have taken, which is what this post reflects.  For those of you who have heard my story before, thanks for understanding that Julie's post made me need to tell it one more time.  And I really enjoyed trying poetry yesterday, so I might switch to that format partway through this slice.

I graduated from Miami University in 1977 with two degrees in education; one was for teaching elementary grades 1 - 8 and the other was for teaching LD/BD (the acronyms back then stood for learning disabilities/behavior disorders).

My graduation coincided with the passing of the national PL 94-142, otherwise known as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).  School districts were scrambling to comply with this new federal law, so a person with my degrees was in high demand.  I actually got my first job in the same district where I student taught.  I was put into a closet of a room where the only identifying qualifications to get there was a student must not be learning or behaving in their current environment.  No documentation necessary (wow, have have times changed!).

I'm sure you can imagine which students teachers in my new middle school wanted to "unload" into my oh-so-tiny broom closet classroom.  We had no space to separate behaviors or learning issues, and there were plenty of both.  It was a very tough situation and I didn't have the tools or the maturity to handle the situation I was given.  After many difficult issues throughout my first year of teaching, I realized that teaching was not the life path I was meant to take. 

So, based on very little information gathering, I decided to resign from teaching, take my paltry retirement fund (where was my financial advisor with that decision?!!), and move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I packed my bright yellow Buick Skylark with all my worldly possessions (there weren't many) and headed out west.

Jackson Hole Bound

Was going to live in Steamboat Springs

with a friend

but she decided her life challenge

would be to work on her relationship with

boyfriend in dental school

Might have hindered a typical person

but not me

still packed my car and headed out on I-80

to Jackson Hole instead

much to my parents' chagrin

They had just paid for 

four and a half years of college

what was i thinking??

nothing more certain in life than

a 20-something who is sure 

she knows best

Interesting choice

Lots of "didn'ts":

didn't have a job

didn't have a place to live

didn't know anyone there

didn't know how to ski

but I was sure this

was perfect decision for me

Even got sidetracked on first attempt westward

ran a red light outside of Chicago

totaled the other car

major damage to my own

luckily all individuals weren't hurt

Some people might have seen this incident

as a sign to change minds

but did that stop me

oh no!

Just a bump in the road

had to come back and live with my parents

until the car could be fixed

more opportunities to hear 

why this was the wrong choice for me

still left two weeks later.

Finally arrived in Jackson Hole

two days later

one of my first memories

the antler arches in the middle of town

Several "dids" happened that first day:

did find a job

did find a place to live

did find a roommate to share expenses 

(knew at least one person now)

Still didn't know how to ski

I may come back and revisit this piece later.  But sometimes the "getting there" is the hardest part.  Thanks for sharing my story with me.

As always, thanks to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge!

My To-Do List Today - Slice of Life Challenge

I'll be quite honest, I was totally stuck about what I wanted to write today, and I found my mind wandering, thinking about what was in store for me today.  That's when I realized a to-do list poem might serve my purposes for today.  Bear with me -- I haven't written a poem, facetious or otherwise, in a long, long time.

My To Do List Today

look out the window 

while connecting with my slice community

at the same time

watching the sun rise

and people starting to migrate

to the beach

notice that someone built a huge sand castle

that I missed seeing yesterday

because I was playing golf 

seeing the waves roll in,

starting to attack the castle

time for a nourishing breakfast

still at my window

a book in my hand instead of my computer

eating, reading, 

watching the waves roll in

time for physical activity

first take my daily 

hour-long bike ride

so pleased with the strength my knee has

after last year's replacement

time does heal...

wonder if I'll see another

baby alligator today

back to the condo for a quick drink of water

then time to get closer to the waves

it's walking on the beach time

walking until I'm ready to turn around

this beach goes on forever

favorite music on my iPod

lyrical sound of

the waves rolling in beside me

food time again

lots of liquids

and a great sandwich

why does a typical lunch meal from back home

taste so amazing at the beach?

eating on our balcony

book with me; at a very exciting part

but still those waves catch my attention

I know they will be reversing their direction

it's low tide now

well fed

liquids restored in my body

time to lather up

SPF 30 all over

with my book, towel, and beach chair

it will be time to head out

to the beach

time for more reading, relaxing,

and watching the waves roll in and out

As always, thanks to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting the Slice of Life Challenge!