On the Porch with Pat

Stay Tuned... Episode 2

Well, Jace, I couldn't resist that challenge to draw you more into my porch pondering. By the way, I do remember those Batman episodes. Bam! Whop! Zing! What? We couldn't hear the sounds? This is TV, guys, not the funny papers. Oh well, my tastes were much different back then.

Back to learning, I always loved school. I loved learning so much that I gladly volunteered to help my classmates learn, too. It was no surprise that I went on to earn a Masters Degree in Elementary Education. I taught for sixteen years. I learned a lot from little children. There is nothing like them in the world. They just blurt out what they think without malice aforethought, so you can't hold it against them. "Ms. Pat, did you have a rough night? Your hair looks funny."
"Thanks, Jeb, I'm so glad you noticed."

I can't bring Jeb up without telling one of my all-time favorite teacher stories. One afternoon, I sat at my desk and stared at a huge stack of papers to grade. I was tired and it was Friday. I grabbed up a stack and started grading them. About halfway through, I found a note from Jeb, written on First Grade lined paper, that simply read, "I hope you have a good weekend, Ms. Pat."

Needless to say, I smiled through the rest of the stack.

That was when I lived in a suburb of Atlanta. I moved from my tiny little town in Alabama to discover what life was like outside the confines of our little hamlet. Living in Atlanta was a huge learning experience. I found that I could drive in a big city and live really on my own, as opposed to living in a trailer three miles from my parents. I grew up in Atlanta—well sorta. There was still much more learning to come.

My dad passed away in February of 1988. I didn't make it home from Atlanta to see him before he slipped into a comma. His death left a gaping hole that I didn't know what to do with. It was my first experience with losing someone so important to me. I learned how to grieve and how to move on. I moved back to Alabama to be near my mother. I taught a few more years, then my life took a different turn. I got a job with Child Support Enforcement for the State of Alabama. (Oh, yeah, I already mentioned that. Remember the new computer in the last entry?)

I enjoyed learning all about Child Support. My supervisors soon realized they needed to keep me occupied with learning new things. I have now been with the Child Support Unit eighteen years, and I am still looking for new things to learn. It's the thing that makes life work for me.

In April of 2008, I discovered the best thing since chocolate—Writing.com. Now, this is a place for people who love learning. After almost four years, I still discover new things all the time. Right now, I'm learning how to be a teacher of an online class. I'm teaching my first class of Punctuation Station. What a blast! I have a terrific class; we have fun together and we learn from each other. Like I said, this is the place to be if you enjoy learning new things. There's something new around every corner.

When I say that Writing.com has helped me keep my sanity, take my word for it. I'll have to say, "Stay tuned" for that episode.   By the way, I started this post because my darn reminder thing kept telling me it had been so many days since I wrote in my journal. Are you satisfied now, computer thingy?  I promise to write more often. I have a million stories to tell, so stay tuned for more  episodes in the many faceted life of Pat—Warrior Mom. (Oh, that's a completely different story for another day.)


"ONE SIZE FITS ALL RAFFLE iS OPeN" 
"Invalid Item" 

Pat

"Invalid Item" 

** Image ID #1829986 Unavailable **
Click below.

** Image ID #1820635 Unavailable **

"Newbie Help & Support Writer's Hideaway" 
"Invalid Item" 

** Image ID #1807915 Unavailable **