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| Read more Slice of Life stories at Two Writing Teachers |
My oldest daughter asked me yesterday, "When is the last time you blogged?"
"August something," I replied.
"August 13th," she stated. "Better get writing!"
Hmmpf.
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School started on August 19th after my extended summer vacation (I left school in May to care for my hubby after surgery). The school year has started out smoothly, but of course it's had its share of bumps. Each event - from school and from home - screamed to be a slice:
- Book Talk Tuesday Rocks!
- Screening Assessments Completed in Record Time!
- Football Season Starts: Poms! Band! Fun in the Stands!
- Are Co-Taught Classes Right for You?
- Can We Live Through the College Application Process?!?!?!
- Is That an Ambulance in Our Driveway?!
(P.S. The ambulance was in our driveway, and all turned out fine!)
Whew. Life sure does have some pretty big ups and downs. It also have some little problems that feel like big deals. This brings me to the title of my slice: Pretend You're an Armadillo
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| Photo from Texas Parks & Wildlife |
Today I told my youngest daughter that she needs to pretend she's an armadillo. We ALL need to feel more like the armadillo. I have never met one personally, but I can see from the picture that armadillos have a shell that looks like armor. Armadillos avoid being eaten by predators because their shell protects them (but not from cars, according to my research).
My younger daughter (and myself, at times) has a pretty soft outer shell. She easily lets teasing, bad feelings and the crummy moods of people around her permeate her attitude.
My goal for her is to be more like an armadillo and let her outer shell deflect the negativity. Of course, she has to learn how to do this in a positive way (especially when her friends pull a prank on her and she's unhappy). I know this is a life lesson that many adults still need to work on, but I think we'll have some success soon.
Next time you feel negative feelings creeping towards your positive attitude... be an armadillo.
I loved you list of possible slices and then "be an armadillo." I think that could be such a great lesson for school children.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have really struggled to slice since school started. I loved your list of potential slices. Got me thinking about keeping a list I could update every day or two, ok, realistically maybe a couple of times a week. Glad the ambulance thing turned out ok, yikes! Try to really savor this senior year-- I'm missing football season horribly in my first year as an empty nester.
ReplyDeleteThis is great advice! Although I'm going to focus on armadillos literally in my response if that's ok :) What wonderful creatures! And such a great sounding name, don't you think? I'm writing a middle grade fantasy series, and one of our ideas is to fill our magical world w/ fun and fascinating things from our world (see my blog on this here: http://janemartynauthor.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/how-a-childrens-book-and-two-boys-with-special-needs-inspired-a-magical-world/) I think you just inspired me to include an armadillo character in my book! And perhaps he'll give our kids a lecture about the importance of being thick-skinned as well ;) Thanks for the great blog!
ReplyDeleteLove this advice. I think we all need to think like an armadillo every once in awhile! Life has it's little ups and downs, and now you can roll with it like an armadillo! (Do they roll? Or just roll up? Hmm...you got me wondering about these crazy little critters.)
ReplyDeleteBTW, pretty cool that you may have just created a character for a book! Won't that be awesome to read?!?