Over the years during pre-blogging days, when I despaired about my work, I kept a journal for a week or so. I would call it "A Week in the Life of Family Literacy." This often helped me overcome my feeling of being overwhelmed. I realize now that this blog does the same thing although now it is easier to share my thoughts with others and I am doing this over a longer period of time.
Sometimes friends would say that I should write a book. There are plenty of stories to tell. But my daughter, the writer, says that you really need to focus on one story and follow it through. There have been some individual students whose stories would be good candidates for that. In fact, one GED graduate from last spring says she is writing her autobiography and wants me to edit it someday. She called me last summer on my cell phone as I was shopping at a strip mall. She said she didn't want me to be shocked when I read her story because it was a story of sexual abuse, early pregnancy, abortion, jail time, and more. I told her that very little shocked me, but I did sit down on that mall bench with tears in my eyes. At this point she has passed the GED, she continues to work a 40 hour week, she has enrolled at IVY Tech, she is the mother of two little girls and has married a man who loves and protects them even though he is not their father. I hope her story can continue to be a positive one.
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