Since last March, we have added two kittens, Sweet Potato and Pomegranate, to our family. When they were just one week old and quite sickly, their feral mama moved them into a shelter in our garage. I love to tell them the story of how I met them before their eyes were even open. Before too long I moved them into my bedroom for safety and extra care (and the first of many expensive vet visits) and trapped their very unhappy mama and brought her inside too. Of course we weren’t intending to keep any of them, but you know how it goes. (And big thanks to my mom, who kindly gave their mama, Blueberry, a home.)
Since last March, I’ve traveled to northern Michigan for a weekend reading retreat with my mom and to New Hampshire, a place I lived for many years and consider a second home, for a summer class at UNH’s Summer Literacy Institute. Covid continues to keep me very close to home, and I miss travel. I am so grateful that I made these two trips, and I think about them often.
Since last March, my writing life has changed. I originally wrote that I’ve written very little, but that’s not really true. I haven’t blogged, and I don’t often write in my notebook these days, but I’ve written hundreds of letters to my pen pals, a dozen or more pages a week most weeks. I’ve renewed friendships with old friends I’d lost touch with, connected on paper with friends I mostly knew online, and made new friends through #Penpalooza. Snail mail is one of the great pleasures of my life.
Since last March, my reading life has revived. Reading was hard through most of 2020 and 2021. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t find books I liked, read comparatively little. Last fall, I rediscovered my love of sci-fi and spent several happy weeks absorbed in space. Now I’m back to reading 8-10 books a month rather than zero or one–just the way I like it.
Since last March, I’ve had yet another first teaching year. In 2020, I left my job as a teacher educator and college professor to return to high school teaching–only to find myself teaching virtually for the year. Being back in the building this year is like having another entirely new first year of teaching. My students are wonderful, but being a teacher has been challenging and exhausting. I celebrate that I am still here and more committed than ever to finding some daily joy in my work.
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My theme for Slice of Life 2022 is finding inspiration in the writing of others. Each day I plan to find my slice in someone else’s words or forms. Thanks to svalter for the inspiration to write this morning!
the dirigible plum 
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