Tag: do your best

  • Living Up to a Surprising Family Legacy

    Living Up to a Surprising Family Legacy

    I have an impressive role model. Seven years ago today, I spent the day in New Castle, Indiana, paging through musty books, peering at microfilm newspaper articles, and digging through gigantic, bound court record books. My son Ted Shideler and I were just starting my second Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Award project. For the past…

  • My Go-To Stress-Busting Strategy

    My Go-To Stress-Busting Strategy

    Simple knee pain that resulted in a week’s hospitalization, nights of pseudo-sleep curled into a hard, narrow futon, and protracted, increasingly urgent advocacy. A nagging fatigue that turned into a two-week-plus hospital stay, featuring an invasive test, major surgery, and endless observations. A subsequent heart-wrenching death in the family. And then the endless waiting… No…

  • Stepping Back Into My Superhero Shoes

    Stepping Back Into My Superhero Shoes

    Last week I needed my superhero shoes. What began as knee pain recently resulted in a nine-day hospital stay for my mom. It was a surprise: At 90, she’s still mobile, interested in our activities, and busy with her own. At least, she was. On Monday, after my piano lesson, she told me that she…

  • Will just being just happen?

    “Do your best. Keep trying until you can do no more. Did you do your best? Then that’s all you can do.” ~Sigh~ The words do more than echo. They are the threads that stitch together my daily life. But I’m getting better at asking for help. Covid did that: Made me stress more, doubt…