Open eyes.... New outlook!

When I signed up for this literature class, I really thought I would hate it. I don't like to read, especially when it is required! After looking at the syllabus, I still wasn't too thrilled about taking this class. I had never heard of "pods" and I really didn't understand how they would work. I really thought this class would give me my first "B" or send me into an anxiety attack. BUT... I actually enjoyed it. The reading wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I thought there would be a bunch of things to read that I didn't understand or care about but I was wrong. The first few weeks were a little tough because it wasn't exciting and I was still feeling a little discouraged. Once I got through the first pod, it got a WHOLE lot better. I found myself getting excited about finishing the readings. The assignments weren't as hard as I thought they were going to be and being able to choose which assignments I wanted to do was awesome. I really think that all classes should be set up in pods.

If I had to pick a favorite author, it would be Hawthorne. I abosolutely LOVED "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Scarlet Letter". Both of these stories held my interest and kept me wanting more. I never thought I would like to read, let alone like to read something that I was going to be graded on.

I liked the class so much, I'm taking the next literature class in the spring semester. Whoever would have thought that I would volunteer to take a literature class? Certainly not me! What a difference the layout of a class and an awesome instructor can make!

The Legend of a little village called New Waverly

As a child I spent a lot of time at my grandparents. They lived in a little town called New Waverly. It was actually smaller than a town at the time. It was labeled a village. My grandma would go down to the general store every morning and drink coffee with all the other older retired folk. They would sit around and gossip about those who weren't there or brag about family members who had made it big. There was a little old woman who very rarely came into the store but when she did, the atmosphere changed a little. Everyone stopped their chatter and the whole place became quiet. She was a very frail and weathered looking woman. If there was a person who could describe how death looked it was her. She had short, thin, copper colored hair. Her eyes were small and dark. Her cheekbones were very prominent and made her face look like a skeleton with a thin layer of skin covering it. I never saw her smile. It was as though the entire village was afraid of her.

She had been a teacher at one time and I'm positive she was the reason they came up with the term "school marm". I heard stories of how she would smack kids hands with a ruler and how she would paddle kids if they looked at her wrong. It was almost as if she was a witch that would cast an evil spell on someone if they made her mad.... and that was the reason no one spoke whenever she came into the store.

She died several years ago. Some distant relatives moved into the house where she lived. When they moved in, her old "recess bell" was still sitting on the piano in the dining room, exactly where she had always kept it. The couple got rid of the piano because they didn't have enough room to store it but they kept the bell. They say that occasionally they hear the bell ring but when they go look, it is still sitting on the shelf where they put it.

The story of old Mrs. Black isn't like "The legend of Sleepy Hollow" but if you return to that town today, you could ask any youngster, who never met Mrs. Black, and they will know about her and be able to tell you something about her. She is a legend in the little town of New Waverly. 

Let it snow!

As a child, I loved the snow. If just 2 snowflakes fell out of the sky, I would be overcome with joy thinking about all the wonderful fun I would have if it would just keep snowing. So, last night, as it began to snow, I remembered being a child and wanting several feet of snow. I remembered all the times we did get snow and how many days of school I missed because of all the snow. It reminded me of the poem I read by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled "The Snow-Storm". Reading that poem took me back. I remembered looking out across the fields and it seemed like the white went on forever. I remembered seeing the snow piled on the roof of the barn and it looking like a big white fluffy blanket covering the barn and everything in it. I remembered the way that the fence posts went from being 5 foot tall pieces of wood to lumps in the snow. The snow had blown up against the door and leaving the house would have involved some heavy duty snow removal! And I always volunteered to do just that because I couldn't wait to get out into the white powdery blanket of fun!

So then I wondered..... why is it that as an adult, I don't get that excited about the snow?  When I look at my child and see the joy on his face brought on by a mere dusting of snow, it makes me wonder why I no longer feel that same way? Why can't I just sit back and look at the beauty of nature and enjoy it? You would think snow would excite me because I work at a school and any accumulation of snow usually leads to a cancellation or at the very least, a delay. And that part of the snow does excite me, but I really think that as I get older, the thought of freezing my fingers off just to be outside playing in it is ridiculous. I absolutely HATE driving in the snow and especially now that I have a child. I really just wish that I would take time, more often, to just sit back and enjoy the beauty that nature provides for us.

With all that being said, I AM going to make it a goal of mine to sit back and enjoy life from now on. I am going to try to stop grumbling and the thought of snow and start remembering that I used to love this stuff. And since it is almost Christmas, I say LET IT SNOW!