Monday night, turning in early

Well, I don't know what you have left for the day, but I'm about done. I've given the kids 10 minutes more to color, etc. and 10 minutes for me to "scribble" as Jo March might say, and catch up on the internet (as Jo never did), and then we're hitting the hay.

Reading L'Engle's musings on "fundamental" Christianity and "literalism" has been encouraging. She always points back to the importance of Love. I wish I could keep it in mind more often, myself.

I was approached by a past school board member on Saturday with a question about whether I would consider "having a conversation" about me being on the Board. Clearly, she doesn't realize that while I seem responsible and discerning and involved, in fact, I dread responsibility and I am trying very hard to set boundaries in my life and keep it simple. Maybe it's time to practice the mantra that goes:

No. No. No.

Except that's not a very positive mantra, is it? Maybe it should be a question of saying "no" to them, but of saying "yes" to me, to my family, to space & peace. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Speaking of which, I have done a drastic thing and signed up for a 3-day poets' workshop at a retreat center near Monterey. It takes place next month. It's my way of re-affirming that I'm serious about writing. I've heard the workshop leader give a lecture and I think I can learn a lot from her. This afternoon, I was talking to another writer I know who is familiar with some people who go to that particular conference/retreat facility, and she said, "Yeah. That could be really a great experience."

"Or," she added brightly, "it could turn out to be just a bunch of really damaged people putting it all out there for 3 days."

Great.

I also now notice that swimsuits are entirely optional at the hot springs, and are, in fact, used less often than the alternative. This has left D wondering why, exactly, he agreed to giving me the weekend off (while he single-parents).

But honey, it could be such an...um...educational experience. My goal? To write poetry and more poetry, to pick up some more writing tips, and to do it all without myself somehow becoming a really damaged person. Hey. Goals are important to have.