You know how you're taught "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?"

I really wish people would learn that.

Scratch that - REMEMBER THAT.

And LIVE THAT.

Good grief.

ANYWAYYYYYYY - onto something new. I had an epiphanic (... is that a word?) moment of sorts last night. I was at the General PTA Board meeting at my daughter's school and we were in the middle of nominations for the new board. A woman there had been nominated as president and she said she had reservations about being the president. She doesn't speak English very well, she's shy, and etc. Those were her words, not mine. And as I had been nominated to serve as vice-president with hints to serve as co-president (for technical reasons, there had to be a VP, not just two co-presidents), I turned to her and said, "I get it. I get what you're saying. I'm a bit shy too - but that's more because I'm partially deaf and I don't get everything that's being said and it makes me feel awkward. But you know what? I'm just going to have to get over it!" And? The room burst into applause. Who'da thunk?

I just have to GET OVER IT! I've been missing out on relationships with others because when I see their reactions to my accent, the confusion on their faces when they don't quite get what I'm saying. I regress to middle-school days where kids weren't exactly empathetic. I feel sad. But! But! But! I need to GET OVER IT and just keep plowing (nicely) through and ignore the reactions and give people the opportunity of getting to know me.

Incidentally, while I was at another school (for Boo's running program), I met another mom. We chatted and exchanged compliments on each other's kids and such. It was nice! We chatted for a good 10 minutes. She asked if my son was going to be attending Kindergarten at that school and I said, "No... we're here for the program my daughter's in. We're actually in *this city*." You know what she did? She said, "Oh." and walked away. Wha-huh? Ok. I wasn't expecting us to be BFF but still! Even a day later, I find myself chuckling and shaking my head. Okayyyy. I suppose I could have run after her but realistically, the running session was over and it was time to gather my chickadees up and go home.

Anyway - back to my epiphany. I know it's not an earth-shattering thing for others. But for me, it was as though my eyes were opened. I'm looking forward to this new adventure.

Adventures this year?
- Husband's job ends at the end of this month. Which means, he's working hard at finding a new one. He's excited about it and so am I. It will be great to see him using different skills and increasing his knowledge in learning new ones too.
- I'm serving on the PTA board for the first time. I'm looking forward to that.
- 5K is coming up. I'll be huffing-puffing across the finish line but I'll be crossing that line with my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful daughter.
- Others that I can't think of at the moment because I'm realizing I need to get going on the housework.

Going to be a great year, folks!