January 6, 2020, I posted my goal list for the year. Then, 2020 happened. Let’s see… Personal Goals The Artist’s Way Goal I started working through The Artist’s Way in November. A friend and I decided to work through it together at the same time so that we not only had someone to whom we would be accountable but also someone with whom we could talk through thoughts and ideas. A goal for this year is to finish working through the book. (This one also counts as a professional goal for me.) Update 12/31/2020: I finished Chapter 12 and completed the tasks on 12/30. I…
Year: 2020
Day Trip #1 – Exploring Arkansas
My husband and I decided to take a day trip on Labor Day. The three day weekend afforded the opportunity to take the day and start our goal of exploring Arkansas. There is so much in our state, such beautiful and interesting places, so we decided it would be a good idea to just explore our own state for the next few months. A Trip Down the Pig Trail Scenic Byway One of the prettiest drives in Arkansas is Highway 23, also known as the Pig Trail Scenic Byway. It is a popular route in the state. Since we live in Fayetteville, we joined the…
Have You Had to Have a Day?
So what about having a day? The last month or so I began to question what I am doing (as far as the blog is concerned) and whether it is something I should keep going. I haven’t written anything to post since June when writing about PTSD. I felt those two posts had purpose – to share about PTSD. By sharing my memories, my intent was to share hope about overcoming. But now what? That was a tough month because of the subject matter as well as another writing task concerning my Dad. So June and July were tough emotionally for those reasons as well…
PTSD Awareness – Continued
This is a continuation from and conclusion to my last post PTSD Awareness Month. As I mentioned there, I wrote the reflection in 1993 and this is the rest of that writing. I repeat the last paragraph from the previous post to connect the two: As I grew up, the mystery of Vietnam continued to grow in my mind as explanations for Dad’s changed behavior never surfaced. Dad drank heavily during the rest of my childhood. I instinctively never approached him about anything, let alone ask him why he was so different from the man I had known before he left for Vietnam. So I…
PTSD Awareness Month
June is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Awareness Month. A recent Facebook post on June 1 by a former student/now English teacher, Veronica Echols Garcia shows a picture of her late brother. Roni (as I called her when she was my student) shared that she will post a picture of him every day during the month of June. She wrote, “I am going to call out a military member I know and ask you to check on one of your battle buddies who has been on your mind.” Her first call out was to her husband asking him to reach out to someone he deployed with…