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Beth Berry's avatar

Toni Morrison wasn't famous the minute she published her first book. But she kept writing. I'm so glad you do too!

Rachel BS she/hers's avatar

Thanks Beth! I feel like I can find something to write about in the most random of memories. And while I know these things might not be interesting to a lot of people, the gift of remembering is something I don't take for granted. With dementia and alzheimers in my family, I know how these experiences can be lost forever if I don't take a beat to write them down. 🫶🏼

Terry Lowman's avatar

Pesky kids make energetic and creative adults. I was a newspaper circulation manager (of newspaper carriers which by the 1970's included girls, too). One of my favorits, because he was so ambitious and hard working wasn't a very good student. In fact, the school had decided he should quit the newspaper and focus on his school work--they actually suggested quiting what he did very well to work full time at something he hated. Poor kid had an alcoholic father--nice man, but a drunk.

I don't think librarians mind that much--now they babysit the homeless instead.

Rachel BS she/hers's avatar

I think the takeaway here is that we aren't all good at everything and that's ok. I was a pesky kid for sure, Terry, and I'm thankful for the adults in my life who had the guardrails in place for me to make my own way as safely as possible.

Terry Lowman's avatar

It only takes one or two loving adults to see the worth of a challenging kid, Today, many of those challenging kids are merely thrown away. My oldest son had a hearing perception problem and teachers worked with him (he's a doctor now). Erik ran into one of his teachers several years later. The teacher said that these problems should be called teaching challenges or failures, not that the student is disabled.

I was sharing a variation of this with nurses (about hyper active). Turns out, that's a perfect fit for emergency room work--you need to rush to help patients and then merely move on to the next patient and not get bogged down. I'm sure in indigenous settings, the fit might have been a lot better than a classroom where you had to sit still and pay attention. We really weren't bulit for classrooms.

Rachel BS she/hers's avatar

That's true for sure. Classrooms are hard to adapt to.

Joyce Fidler's avatar

What a delightful journey from the corner of the second floor to the bookshelf. ❤️

Rachel BS she/hers's avatar

It's hard to believe that Rachel became this Rachel, Joyce. As Mat and I ask eachother, "would your 19 year old self imagine this future life?" NOPE. But here we are <3