Academic and Personal Excellence.....On the brink of my own discovery!

Lets start this blog with the fact that up until very recently, I was not the best student.  I have never been formally tested for a learning disability.  I do however believe that I am one of those students that does not excel, in the normal, status quo learning environment.  I am a tactile learner, I like to touch things and feel the process of learning....I think this is one of the reasons I have excelled at cooking.  Why I am a passionate gardener, love to draw and being a farmer and working with animals is such a comfort to my psyche.  I really enjoy doing things with my hands.  The reasoning behind this blog is mostly because in the past few years I have been nothing but successful.  In all forms of my educational adventure.  Meaning that not only have I gotten exceptional grades, but I have learned life lessons in the process of getting those grades. Teaching is a very honorable profession.  I honestly believe that one day this will be my very own destiny and I hope to make an impact on my students in the way that the teachers that I can look back upon have impacted my life and education.  My former educational years were very much a struggle for me. Looking back at it now, I don't honestly have much memory of anything good....Its very sad.  I had very low self esteem, I was bullied and teased.  I didn't get the best grades and I passed most of my classes by the skin of my teeth.  So looking back, I have to wonder if I would have been better off, being home schooled or put into a different type of learning environment?  Then the next question might be,  where I might be today instead of where I am.  At this point I wouldn't want to be anywhere else honestly.  I know one thing for sure, I want to continue on with educating myself on lots of different subject, in the hopes that I can share with others who are interested in those same subjects.  See it seems to me that you must have a passion for anything that you do in life.  Your passions must motivate you to excel.  I believe that certain people will come into your life to show you the way to achieve your goals, and honestly it hasn't been till the very recent part of my life that those people have come forward.  This again brings me to the thought of "What if"....What if those people had been present in my very young life?  Yet the past is the past and we are living for this moment and the moments that come after it, learning from the past yet not dwelling on it.  I have learned great lessons from my past. One of the lessons I have learned it to ALWAYS believe in yourself.  No matter how many people tell you, that you CAN'T.  That you are not college material ( actually said to me by my high school guidance counselor ), that you can't play college level basketball, ( by my high school basketball coach ) that you can't do this or that....that you don't have the intelligence for one career path or another.....I may not have gotten to the first string of the team, but I would have given my very best effort to support my team...and just so you know I am college material, my success have shown that.  Not everyone is cut out for college right out of high school, the drop out rate and amount of alcohol poisoning shows us that.... Some people like myself who are told that they CAN'T do things take that notion very seriously and believe it for many years....Until the most amazing supportive people come into your lives and change your belief systems a bit.  The people that show you, and tell you that you can and will succeed and becoming the someone you always dreamed you could be.  5 or 6 years ago I would have never thought I would be in this place....Sitting in an apartment in Ireland, a George Mitchell Peace Scholar, having graduated with Honors from college.  I have successes beyond my wildest dreams, because I had people who loved and supported me and actually believed that I could do it.  Who didn't say I couldn't...but said I could if I simply believed in myself.  Those people will always be in my memory cheering me on, no matter where I am in my life.  I chose now to forget the people who said that I couldn't.  Because I have been touched so intensely by teachers and educators lately, I just want them to know how appreciative that I am.  The role has been taken up by not only your typical educator, but by friends, family and loved ones.  So very simply I say thank you.  For seeing in me, what it took me a bit longer to see....I love you all and appreciate every last bit of effort!  I will not forget and intend to pay it forward.  

the friendly female farmer. 

Live without regrets...and always say I LOVE YOU!

So I have started this blog a few times now looking for just the right way to express my emotions.  This is a truly heartfelt bit of words and I want them to have the proper affect.  

Considering my work load is not over extensive here in Ireland, I have had an incredible amount of time to think.  To look back at my life, access it..take from it what I will and move on to the next thing.  Yet I always seem to come back to the same notion.  The love and appreciation for the people that mean the most in our lives.  Missed opportunities and regrets.  As for the love and apprecition part.  I honestly can't say enough, how very important it is for you to say I love you, to your spouce, your children, your parents and grandparents....or your bff for that matter.  Some people have a hard time saying it, other have a hard time accepting the words, but the gesture and the meaning can be really profound.  Consider this.....It may be the very last time you say them.  Think about that for just a moment.  You will NEVER again be able to tell that person...whom you in fact love very much, that you do...NEVER in this physical world will you say it.  I am not sure about you, but I just got very emotinal.  So that means everybody, take the time to get in contact with your loved ones and say it.  Make an effort to make things better if they are not the best.  Those three little words can make someone the happiest they have ever been...and you have given very minimal effort...

Missed opportunities and regrets cloud my emotions, especially in regards to loved ones.  Yet after this cathartic blog, I intend to move forward with no regrets and never to miss another opportunity offered to me.  One of my biggest regrets is not getting to know my Pepere St. Pierre.  Granted, its a shame, I couldn't have been older and wiser while he was in the prime of his life.  To sit and talk to him about what it was like to have a very large family and what it took to feed and cloth that family.  The work ethic that man had, has runneth over into his children and I see it in my father every time he comes to help us do something at our farm. The blood is strong, and I am thankful that it has passed down into my body as well.  My pepere saw and experienced hardships that I can only begin to imagine, but persevered, and became a well established man in his community.  I just remember being scared to death of him.  He was a big man, and kind of gruff...at least that was my  perception.  I do believe he was a teddy bear on the inside, who very dearly loved his wife and children and the brood of grandchildren...The thing I regret about our lack of relationship is that I could have learned so much from him.  Especially when it came to farming.  I am the only one in a very large group of grandchildren who has chosen farming as a career path, so his knowledge would have lived on through me, and passed on to hopefully my children someday.  Yet I missed the opportunity because other things at the time seemed more important to me.  Selfish child like behavior and thoughs have denied me the moments it would have taken to talk to this wonderful man and hear his stories.  So for the rest of mylife I will have to take his guidance as its given, in my head and in my dreams.  

So I guess what I am saying is, in this month with all the thankfulness going on, take a moment and actually honestly think of what you are truly thankful for.  For the people, your family who have molded your life, given you goals to strive to.  This blog is a definite

reminder that I still have one grandparent who is living,  My pepere's wife Jane, and I must take every opportunity to get to know her better and spend time with her before she decides its time to go be with her husband.  So don't live with regrets, take a hold of your life and all that its given you and say Thank You.  Make the most of every relationship you are given the opportunity to experience.  I will from this very moment, live without regrets and take my opportunities where they are given.  

Thank you!  I love you all for taking the time to read this.  I hope you go out today and make someones day by saying those three little words.  

the friendly female farmer..........