Where I'm From

I am from scrabble and kings on the corners, from euchre until the wee hours of the morning and I am from wanting to be the winner, extreme competition, but enjoying the time it meant with our family even more.

I am from casseroles and barbeques, from beans on toast, spaghetti on toast and from vegemite and toast, especially when my dad was cooking. I am from fresh baked bread and cherry pie at one grandparents’ house and welsh cakes, Sunday dinners and milk delivered to the door in glass bottles at my other grandparents’ house.

I am from long car rides, games to pass the time, camping in tents, campfires and hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. I am from splashing in puddles, rain falling on an umbrella. throwing snowballs and rolling down hills. I am from riding bikes and kicking soccer balls. I am from walks in the woods and swinging on old rusty swings.

I am from mad minute math and speech competitions, the health hustle and writing with a pencil until you earned a pen for being so neat. I am from passing notes and giggling at the back of the class. I am from musicals and plays and school trips that I remember and math lessons and geography lessons that I don’t.

I am from Sweet Valley High, Flowers in the Attic and Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. I am from listening to my mom read me Tom Sawyer and Anne of Green Gables. I am from Flintstones, Three’s Company and Beverly Hills 90210 on television and Tetris and SuperMario Brothers on the computer.

I am from swimming lessons and piano lessons, gymnastics and synchro and soccer. I am from band practice, basketball and volleyball teams, from singing groups and youth groups. I am from complaining about practicing piano while my dad sat in the rocking chair and my mom watched the timer on the stove. I am from The Entertainer and Good King Wenceslas, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. I am from and playing duets with my brother and performances on demand. I am from my mom spending half of her life driving my brothers and me to our activities and spending the other half of her life in the coffee shop.

I am from lilies in the garden, digging up mounds of potatoes with my dad and eating cherry tomatoes off of the vine. I am from lettuce dip-in on a hot summer day. I am from playing hide and seek in the cornfields and chickens in the barn. I am from swept floors in the kitchen and clothes on the floor in the bedroom. I am from “your face will freeze like that” and “stop fighting with your brothers” and I am from “You are in everything but a jam sandwich” and “I love you”.

I am from ponytails and pigtails, braids and ribbons. I am from homemade pretty dresses, frilly socks and shiny shoes but I am also from grubby shorts and t-shirts with dirty bare feet. I am from being able to be whatever and whoever I wanted to be. I am from rough and tumble play, running and jumping and I am from sewing and cross-stitch, arts and crafts and baking. I am from teasing and tickling, hugs and kisses. I am from all kinds of places that I am so glad to be from…and more.

I read about "Where I'm From" in blogs by Loukia and ModernMom.

Such a lovely trip down memory lane! Thanks for the inspiration.

...about not having guests for your party

so, one of the reasons I like to read blogs is because I feel like there are people out there who are going through some of the same things that I am. you know, the ups and downs of raising children, trying out recipes, struggling with exercise or work or weight loss or whatever.

inspired by the oscars last weekend, I decided to invite a few women over this saturday night for a movie night. nothing fancy. just a few appetizers, some wine and casual conversation. a friend said that she had black swan, so we were set.

one by one, i have had every person that i invited say that they are busy or they won't be coming. i am down to me, the person bringing the movie and her sister. i'm feeling pretty pathetic. i'm feeling like my social calendar is pretty sad in comparison to all of those around me considering i am free on a saturday night and nobody else is.

not really feeling like others are going through the same thing!

please tell me there is a person out there who has planned a party or get together at some point in their lives and had very few guests show up. there must be.

i hope someone blogs about it soon.

...about taking risks

it turns out that i have muscles that i didn't know existed. they all hurt. i went to a boxing class on wednesday evening and then played basketball for two days in a row. even though i desperately need a massage therapist, it's all good. you have to love that muscles burning feeling, knowing that you have done something your body needs.

the basketball thing is pretty new. twenty years ago (ouch, that hurt, how old do i feel!) i played basketball on my grade 9 girls team. i'm thinking the team wasn't too hard to make because i am certainly no star. i could hold my own on the court, mostly getting rebounds and then passing the ball to the girls who could consistently get the "swish".

today i played on the staff team against the championship winning boys team. i'm all for teachers going out and making fools of themselves, showing kids that taking risks is something we all do. i ask them to take risks all the time in english class. i make them share their opinions, write poetry even if they think it isn't a strength, i challenge them to try new things. it is harder as we get older to take those risks.

it's a good thing that i don't mind making a fool of myself because the skills i may have had when i was 14 seem to have vanished. i dribbled a few times, made a few passes, missed a few passes and accidentally took the ball from one of my own players. still, my students cheered and chanted for me. our team lost by a few points, but i think there was far more gained in the game than what showed on the scoreboard. i'm hoping the students noticed that i was a good sport. i'm hoping the girls noticed that there is a place for them on the court if they choose. i'm hoping that this spurs me on to take risks in other areas of my life. i'm hoping there is a beginners basketball league on this little island because i had so much fun over the last couple of days.

...about baking

i have bread rising on the counter and applesauce cake in the oven. i make a mean rum cake, pretty good multigrain bread and mouthwatering cinnamon buns.

baking is my form of therapy.

marking and report cards are hanging over my head, i am tired of trying to figure out the people that i work with and even more tired of trying to juggle my role at school as teacher/principal's wife/parent.

so, i bake.

if you follow the directions and do what you are supposed to do, you have delicious success. why can't life be like that.

must go out for a run now so that i can feel a little less guilt at consuming all of the treats later today (witness my two other forms of therapy).

...about being a klutz

i fall. i bruise. it's what i do.

this weekend i went for a run along south shore road. (here in bermuda we have north shore road, middle road and south shore road. creative names, don't you think?)

i was absorbed with the music playing on my ipod, belting out the wicked soundtrack (i know, cool, right!) when all of a sudden i was lying on my back on the road. i tripped over something about as big as a pebble and ended up with a scrape on my hand and a very red face. as we klutzy people do, I took a breath, stood up, dusted myself off and continued on my run just glad that nobody i knew was around to witness my little tumble. in my peripheral vision i could see a car had slowed down to make sure i was alright. i waved them on and tried to avoid eye contact, only to have a face appear out the window saying, "rheanne... are you okay, can we drive you somewhere?"

as luck would have it, two of my colleagues and their children were driving by at the very moment that i was lying on the road. nice. so much for nobody i knew being around.

i assured them that i was fine but they only drove as far as the gas station and proceeded to wait until they saw me run by. they asked me again if i really was okay so i showed them my little battle wound and sent them on their way.

although the first feeling i had was total embarrassment, i must admit it felt nice to have people looking out for me. i've been missing toronto quite a lot lately. it may have something to do with some current colleagues that i could do without and a longing for the friends and colleagues from past schools. it may also have something to do with canada being in the news and on television so much because of vancouver hosting the olympics. my feelings of homesick are at an all-time high. after my experience this weekend, my second feeling was that some people around here do care about my well-being. i am thinking there are a few benefits to living in the small-town life. anonymity is a thing of the past, but it is nice to know that i will be looked after when it comes down to it no matter where i tumble.

for me, it's the little gestures that make the biggest impact.