Four More Letters from The Encyclopedia of Me! by Andrea

T is for Teacher

From one of my fourth grade boys...
beast or best, I'll take it!

Oh noble profession it is!  Typically within five minutes of meeting someone, they will know that I am a teacher.  Because I will tell them, directly or through an anecdote about life with my school kids.  I acknowledge I am one of the lucky few who gets to do challenging work everyday and absolutely love it!  In the early years, I would be at school or at home working up to 16 hours a day most days. I have shortened my hours significantly in the last few years, with long hours reserved for the beginning and end of the term.  Though I enjoy almost every aspect of the work (NO MORE EMAIL!), my joy comes from reaching to kids' hearts as a means of reaching to their minds. This makes the few unpleasantries of the job insignificant in comparison. I do believe a part of my life’s mission on Earth is to teach.  I am grateful to have a vocation in which there is such an enormous return on my investment.

U is for Useful

When I exit this world, I hope one thing others will note about me is that I made use of my time here to do something good. I want people to say I used the unique strengths, talents and my hang-ups, too, to make an eternal mark on as many endeavors I could.  I am not there yet, but maybe writing this long-standing desire will help me to focus and do all the good things I was put here to do.

V is for Vegetables

Next to chicken wings and apples, vegetables are my favorite things to eat.  And I love them raw.  Give me some sweet bell peppers, cucumber spears, big heaping bowls of salad with ingredients in every color of the rainbow and you will have one happy lady.  I would take a bowl of grape tomatoes and carrot sticks over chocolate cake any day.  The only veggie I have found that I do not particularly crave is sweet peas.  Something about that one just isn’t right. Squishy and sweet are not my idea of a tasty combination in a vegetable.  Cake balls maybe, sweet peas.  Don’t get me wrong I will eat them, but I have to gear myself up and prepare my mind...and my mouth.

W is for Writing (to See Me)
Taking time to analyze the small details that make me me in the confines of the alphabet has been an exercise in divergent thinking. I often think of myself as pretty one-dimensional, not very multi-faceted. Though many of these vignettes, anecdotes and quips are not examples of my best writing, they do serve as small reflections of who I am when I am not looking. If I can see myself a little differently here, maybe during my times of doubt and insecurity, I will be able to remember that I am not without depth and edges or nooks and crannies. As small as they may be, they still are making me ME.


Take a moment and think about the small things in your life, mind and heart which make you YOU. Now go write them down, in alphabetical order.

-Andrea