I am on a break from school. No, not from teaching, but from learning. I mean, I’m still learning as I teach, but this is a break from my actual, official, assignment ridden ‘school’. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with myself.

I keep going to my computer downstairs and logging on to….? Then I will wander around and end up in my office and log onto my computer there to….?

I was really looking forward to this break. I haven’t had even a day off in over a year. Okay, we had Christmas Day off, but other than that it has been non-stop learning fun. A break just doesn’t fit with my mindset.

I’ve actually been learning a H.O.A.L. of stuff. Some of it I can even remember after my assignment is turned in. I think the real learning has been rooted in the way I see the world. I’ve become much more open-minded and accepting of people and their uniqueness and a lot less tolerant of people with biases. A dear friend (relative) used some rather negative word choices when talking about African Americans the other day. I was very disappointed in them (her) and had to bite my tongue to avoid saying something about it. Instead of reacting to her very rude terminology, I saw her as another, older relative. I realized, once again, that the people we become are very much influenced by the people in our families and they way they act. I looked at my own children and tried to see what they would become due to my actions and word choices.

As it stands now, I think I’m doing okay. My kids have no problem with inviting all sorts of interesting people over to my house. I’ve had homeless, hairy, short, black, Asian, Gay, Straight, Muslim, Wicken, Convict, Druggie,…..the list could go on and on. I don’t make this list to call names or to brag. I make this list because before I made it, I didn’t really think about the rainbow of diversity that has come through my front door.

I talked to my bishop a few weeks ago about basic life stuff and I mentioned how very different my life had turned out compared to what I had envisioned twenty years ago. He laughed and said that no one had that perfect life. There isn’t a perfect path we can just jump on and skip down to our destination. It just isn’t how life works. When I think about it, I’m glad it isn’t that way. How boring would it be to not have anything out of the ordinary happen?

I’m not asking for trouble…I have my fair share. I’m not asking for any drama or weirdness to come knocking at my door. But it if does, I happen to have some canned peaches I need to eat….I could use some guinea pigs.

Cause I said so.