Let’s Celebrate!

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day” my husband said as he handed me a snifter of whiskey as an after dinner treat. We sat, sipped and watched some NCAA basketball together before heading to bed.

Before that, I enjoyed a plate of homemade corned beef and goulushka, which is wide egg noodles mixed with finely chopped fried cabbage that my mother-in-law taught me how to make.

Before that, I boiled the egg noodles for 7 minutes and drained them in the colinder.

Before that, I fried the finely chopped cabbage in crisco in my frying pan for about 20 minutes, stirring it constantly.

Before that, I used my mini-chopper to finely cut up pieces cut from a whole head of cabbage and I made a mental note that I should really purchase a bigger chopper as this is taking longer than it needs to.

Before that, I enjoyed co-hosting a zoom call with Slicers – Fran from DC spearheaded this effort and had the zoom link. Megan from VA, Fran from Iowa, Alice from Texas, and Denise from CA joined us. From coast to coast, we shared what brought us to this slicing challenge, where we get our ideas, and structures we like to use (I shared this Before that… structure!). Sharing writing is one thing but having the opportunity to hear the voice of the writer and see them and realize that as I slice in my home in VA, others are slicing across the nation and globe just feels powerful.

Before that, I left school as soon as the dismissal bell rang at 2:35pm and drove home. I first placed the corned beef on the stove to boil and set the timer for 3 hours. Then I added a load of laundry in the washer and spied the additional four loads of laundry to follow due to just returning from my trip to meet Aden.

Before that, my phone vibrated and I saw my daughter had added new photos of Aden to our private Family Album app. She is doning the St. Patrick’s Day outfit my mom bought for her that I delivered to her last week on my trip.

Before that, I sent an email to all in my ELA department to let them know that our colleague, Beth Sanderson, was the SPOTLIGHT today on TwoWritingTeachers and I used her poem as a warmup during my CLT meeting.

Before that, Ed, walked into McDonald’s and welcomed me back and asked to see my photos from my trip.

Before that, I ordered my Friday regular breakfast from the McDonald’s cashier, “an oatmeal and unsweetened ice tea, please” and I sat in the booth by the window, typed my slice on my laptop, posted it, made 3 comments and enjoyed my breakfast, while donning my shamrock socks and green shirt.

So much to celebrate on a Friday!

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