Introduction, about me

Welcome to my blog 

I chose the name “What I see from here,” because that is what I expect this blog to be about.
I plan to post some of my observations about life.  My place in life and what I think.

A few of my interests that you will soon notice:
I am a parent of adult children and a grandparent,
I am an educator,
I enjoy sewing, right now I’m into quilting,
I’m a Toastmaster.  I will post some of my speeches.
I have MS.  I’m sure some of my posts will relate to that too.
I consider myself a country girl even though I have not lived on a farm since I was 20.

Average Me

April 9, 2018

To make the icebreaker speech easier we are asked to tell about ourselves.  This is hard for me.  I am too average.  There is nothing very interesting about me.

I grew up.  I went to University.  I got married.  I had kids.  I worked.  The kids grew up.  We traveled a bit.  Grandbabies arrived.  Very average life.

Ah oh!  The timer says I am not nearly finished the time for this speech.  So I guess I had better elaborate a bit.

I grew up on a farm near Roland Manitoba.  I have 4 sisters and no brothers.  Ok – that is a bit not average, so maybe average plus.  We were all farm labourers as children and teenagers. We grew up knowing girls could do any job that needed to be done. 

I took a bus from the farm to the local school for Grade 1-6 and then to the neighbouring town for Grades 7-12.  So average it hurts.  I got on the bus at 8:10 and arrived at Carman Collegiate at 9:00.  A 50 min bus ride.  Ok that is maybe more than average too.

I was involved in lots of after school activities, 4-H, church clubs, choir, drama club, band, basketball.  All the good stuff kids did in my community.  See I really am too average.

I met a boy at a school dance when I was 16.  We were high school sweethearts, even though we went to different high schools.  We fell in love; dated for 6 years, got married, have been married for 35 years.  We`ve had ups and downs but it is mostly great. So average it is a cliché. 

I went to university and got a degree in Education so I could be a teacher. I taught 6 years then we had our first baby.  The baby was so amazing.  Still that`s pretty normal.  We had another baby 18 months later.  I went back to teaching part time.

I had an injury; I broke my back at work.  That caused some time off as well as a delay in having more babies – but really who gets to be an adult without injuries now and then, still on the average track.

My back healed.  I had two more babies.  I loved being a mom.  I loved teaching.  Being a mom made me crazy.  Being a teacher is sometimes frustrating.  Ah I thought I was about to say something unusual about me but no I think that is normal too.  Oh oh, having 4 children might be a bit above average – yeah me.

I felt tiered; my arm fell asleep for a year.  I was diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis. Now you might be thinking ``that`s not average.``  But it is fairly normal in Canada.  2.5 people in every thousand people in Canada have MS.  So pretty normal if not totally common. I went on with my life making minor adjustments.

I`ve had and had some struggles with depression and anxiety.  Actually that is more normal and common than most people think.

The kids grew up.  We took them to all kinds of activities.  We went camping and loved it. We traveled all over Manitoba.  If you want me to remember which Manitoba town you are talking about describe the arena and I will know the town.  I believe hockey took us to almost every town in Manitoba. But really that`s not too interesting.

We went on trips to Mexico.  My husband and I have been in every Canadian province.  Still in the very average range.

The kids became teen agers.  They did great things, they did stupid things.  They got some education.  They got jobs. The older two children got married to wonderful people.  I love my son in law and daughter in law so much.  Very nice, very good, very normal, very average.

My MS has been insisting lately that I am too tired to teach full time.  I just started a medical leave to help me figure out how to manage better.  That does not seem normal and average…. but missing work due to fatigue is very normal if you have MS.  So I guess we are in the normal plus range again.

Two grandbabies arrived.  My daughter`s daughter is 10 months old.  My son`s daughter is 9 months old.  The babies are amazing, beautiful, and smart.  But doesn`t every Grandma think that.  Good grief – average again!

I am sorry for having nothing interesting to tell you in my icebreaker speech.  I am just so average, pretty normal.  But I do have one point to make.  Average, Normal is wonderful. 

The message in the media these days is be extraordinary, go over the top, dare to be different.  I have a different message.  Enjoy the normal, celebrate average.  I have a really good life. I`m glad to be average, normal me.