Yello!

Yesterday I went to a Tech Prep Coordinator’s meeting at the community college in Grand Island. Although it takes a lot of time to get plans ready for a substitute, it’s always fun to get away from school for a day and do something different. The meeting was interesting and I saw some teacher friends that I hadn’t seen for several years. While there I found a little book in the campus bookstore called A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen who also writes a column in Newsweek. It’s a great little book that does give you some things to ponder concerning what we do with the time we are given on this earth. To paraphrase from the book… “Every person has only one thing that no one else has. When you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you have; when you get a job, there are thousands of people doing what you do for a living. But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul. It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. Learn to love the journey, not the destination. Get a life, a real life. Get a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over a pond and a stand of pines. Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby as she scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and forefinger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. This life is not a dress rehersal; today is the only guarantee you get. Remember to look at the view.” Think about it … and check out the view of a sunset I saw near O’Neill nearly a year ago as I was driving up to South Dakota. I’m glad I stopped the car to capture that view in a photograph so I could share it with you!