An Interesting Week

Week 23 (of 38) – February 25 to March 1, 2019

On Thursday, I flew out of Prince George to Vancouver, then to the Sunshine Coast. All I can say is, this has been an interesting week. I know that I am trying to keep this as a professional blog, but sometimes life’s events do influence the work that you do. As much as we want to keep the professional face on, things that are extraordinary within the ordinary do side swipe you from what you want to achieve and be. I have to keep this weekly blog short. What have I learned this week? Sometimes it’s ok to “lay low.” This would be one of those times. My students are out on practicum, I have a tonne of marking, forms to fill, and well… I’ve got work to do. Of course, some things take priority and it’s not in my control. That’s ok. I’ve just got to make it a priority. This week started with me taking the time to get organized. That takes time… and I didn’t have the time to tend to that due to other work that was pressing. I can see this is how life in higher education and teacher education will be. I’m just finding my rhythm. All I can do is one thing at a time. What I know for sure is, I’m not a multitasker. I’m a solid unitasker. I can only do one thing at a time. OWN IT and I’m ok with it. My mind is a bit preoccupied as well. My mom passed one year ago on February 28, 2018. It took me some time to process and grieve. I still intend to write about my mom and her last 20 days. I just acquired the text messages (aka. data) from February 2018 to remember the sequence of events and the conversations we had with one another. Thank goodness for texting at the time to stay connected and thank goodness for texting for data collection. That’s me putting the researcher lens on this situation. I was worried that I left it too late but I found the data on my desktop messages. Finally, the week concludes with my dad’s wedding on Sunday. I have no words except I feel lucky that I was in the Lower Mainland at the time for work. I am slowly but surely getting things done, but also I have to remember to be kind to myself. You can’t give what you don’t have. I need to find ways to fill my cup. I’m so glad to be working with FNESC and the Ministry of Education this coming week. Math and math education has served me well. I will never forget where I came from. I am a math educator… now teacher educator and researcher. Life is good.