Moving on!

Life has changed drastically!  And with that change comes a new blog!  I know I seem to change blogs every time life changes, but this too, shall pass.  :-)  Head on over to:

http://www.thepianistshands.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting shortly with updates on myself, my life, and my life in Christ!

Hugs to all,
Sheila Christine

A Short Summary of my Life at the Moment

So here I am again. I know I'm a lazy blogger these days, but it's just life and it's craziness. I tried to keep going all summer, but there's something about everyone else doing nothing that makes that hard. So I'm continuing with the stuff I continued with, but I'm 'back at it' in a way, working harder, and feeling like I'm into it now. So, now it's the great race to my Grade 10 RCM piano exam in January. I'll be ready, but there's lots to do! And music history... eek! Not sure if that's actually going to be ready for December, but we're trying!!! Choir started last night, and, as always, it is absolutely amazing and fabulous. I do seriously belong to the best choir ever. And we all know it. :-)

Back to work as well, starting this afternoon, and it looks as though I have a lesson set, which means I get to teach kids to swim every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the next 4 weeks. Yay! and Eek! at the same time! I just hope I get good classes, then I'll be happy. Oh! And I started voice lessons back up yesterday as well. :-) And, sadly, I'm down to one piano student from 5 flute and piano kids! But it's alright. All is well.

On Saturday a bunch of us from work went to a fabulous giant obstacle course way up high through the trees, which was lots of fun, though I was a bit lonely. It was my 3rd time going, so I had fun challenging myself. We had an inservice at work on Sunday, and they actually brought someone in from the Lifesaving Society (Canada!) to work with us. So lots of fitness swimming, learning about guarding with an aid, (The LS BC/Yukon branch is the only one that doesn't do that. I think guarding with and without an aid are important, depending on the situation), and did a lot of emergency simulations. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected, so that was good. :-)

And there's my short summary of life at the moment.

Hugs,

Sheila

Spinning Faster

The world is spinning faster, out of control, and I don't care. I am me, right now, in this moment, observing the bauty of the yllow-speckled trees, drenched in the recent rain and glistening in the fresh sunlight. I will listen to the voices in my heade. I will listen to the spirit of God. I will watch for the perfection of nature. Right now all I know is that I am alive. Life can continue, and as the water cleanses the earth, I am being continually washed in joy, renewed. It's not always easy, but it's worth it. Worth it to live, and to love, to give without expecting anything in return. It's worth it to laugh and experience joy and pain too.

I am only one half. And I am glad. Sitting by the ocean during a sunny summer wind storm, I wondered if I was being wise, if I should be my own self, only me without a second half somewhere waiting for me. I lay on that log and let the breeze and the secent of the saltwater wash over me, anbd I know that in spririt, I would know. If I would only listen to that spirit, I would find my truest answers. I am finding them. I am listening. I am willing to wait or wade through hard times. It's worth it. It's so worth it.

Pretty ribbons and lace continue to delight me, and sometimes I still pull out my favourite doll and hold her gently, remembering all the joy we shared together many years ago. I look in the mirror, slowly realizing I'm caught in a strange place. I appear a woman. And oinside I will always be a child. For when I watch the elderly creep down the street, awkwardly attempting to walk the way I do, I know what is inside: A child. I will always be me. That will never c hange. Lifetimes from now, I will still be this same little girl, enticed by beauty and mesmerized by damp forests and faeries. I will still wish to dance under the moonline and climb maple trees. That will never change.

For right now, I may be a woman, but as of yet I haven't been given the responsibility for my entire life. That will come soon enough. I don't always like it, but life passes too quickly anyway, why rush it? As I slept last night, I dreamed a dream. A perfect dream, that so accurately represents life, and makes me cry when I tell it. I was standing in front of the hufe maple tree I grew up climbing. It looked the way it does today, neatly pruned, all the best climbing branches gone. Within that dream, I had the most perfect daydream, imagination, dream within a dream. The tree once again looked as it had when I was growing up. I slowly pulled myself up into the branches. I knew every curve. it felt so smooth, so perfect, so gentle. It knew me. Each branch knew me, and all I had to do was slide myself in the perfect pattern I had mastered as a very little girl. All the way up to the top,. I went, the great trunks swaying under my weight, now much greater than my 12-year-old slef. At my highest lookout, I noticed that the branches had grown so much, just like me, growing from an inch in diamter to two. I looked out over that neighbourhood, so very familiar to my eyes, and I felt a beautiful pain within my heart. Suddenly my dream-within-a-dream was over, and I was standing there again, before my tree, teatly pruned, those perfect branches gone. But that experience was such an amazing living out of who I am, and I am so thankful for it.

Life is spinning so fast. The world is spinning out of control. I don't care, for today, I am alive. I am full of joy. And I will continue to grow.

Hugs,
Sheila Christine

New Life

Hello friends! So it's been an eternity since I posted. My sincere apologies, once again. My computer died, and I was living on my Mum's which is super super slow. So here I am on my new laptop, and hopefully I can get back to blogging fairly frequently. I have not been doing a lot of vlogs, but ah well. Life goes on. :-)

So I feel like I have new life! Today I feel fresh, like the rain has washed over me and spilled into my spirit. There is a new wave of beauty around the corner. Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that Michael is coming home in just 12 days! (!!!) It's just that... well, my emotions are slightly up and down right now. Since I wrote the last sentence, I now feel a bit scared of the future. That's pretty much a reflection of me right now.

So no, I have no great wisdom. Which is probably another reason why I haven't posted lately. Nothing spectacular has happened.

I shall post soon, I promise. :-)
~Sheila

Meow!

So, there's this word. Goes kinda like this: M-O-... no wait. M-E-... scrap that. I can do this: M-E-O-W! It's a sound cats make. It's also a very, very cute sound. I make it occasionally. It's a greeting, a friendly hello, especially on this, our beloved interwebs.

It confused me at first, this simple greeting, but now, it reminds me of a very special person. It's been used before many a lovely thought. I continue to use it, albeit occasionally, and love to hear it. And now... I cannot think of another thing to say about the word Meow.

Happy confuzzling!
Sheila

Isms

Hey! Nope, no great post about stereotypes here, just a few amusing anecdotes from life. :-)

So I've been teaching a lot of swimming classes, and the kids are great. It's a lot of fun, if challenging, and I really enjoy it. Teaching is so worth it in so many ways! With that said, sometimes they amuse me, so here are some tiny-swimmer-isms for you!

Age 5: (as he gets in the water) *big eyes* "My ears are on fire!!!"

Age 5: (I had just told them they couldn't go over the black line [so they would stay put!] because it was made of lava and would burn them... boys. :-P ) "I can touch the lava because I'm in a BUBBLE!"

Age 4: (I had just asked them to float like their favourite animal) "I'm a chipmunk!!!" *beady eyes and bulging cheeks)

Age 8: (As I randomly hum "You Belong With Me") "Hey! I know that song!" "Taylor Swift." "I know!!!" (Seriously, how do these kids notice this stuff, I only hummed a few notes?!)

Age 4: (After just doing a lot of hard swimming and diving and such [Note: Fun day is our last day where we just play games, go on the rope swing and jump off the diving board.]) "Hey Mom! Today was like fun day!!"

Age 4: "Why do you have so many holes in your ears?" (haha!)

Age 5: "Let go, let go, I can do it!" *proceeds to begin to drown* "Noo! Don't let go! Why did you let go? Don't ever let go! Nooo!!"

Age 10: (When doing simulations for how to call 911) "I need the ambulance, I'm in the Himalayas and someone just fell down and hit their head."

Age 9: (Same 911 simulation) "I'm at the pool and I need the ambulance, someone just ate pickle juice!" *prompting from me that it needs to be an injury* "... and then they fell down backwards and hit their head!"

Age 5: "Mummy..." *big eyes* "I mean Sheila!" (and she did it twice, on two different days. Aww!)

And then of course there are the kids that are just generally adorable, or the ones that hold onto me like I'm the centre of the universe. Or the place where you get to play counselor for a second while a 10-year-old girl comes up to you looking really sad and concerned and says "Do you like this swimsuit? It makes my hips look big." And of course where has she heard that? So sad. No honey, your swimsuit, and your whole body, are just lovely, don't you ever worry about that! There are the girls who have long hair that always gets in their eyes and I take out my own pony and pull their hair back and they look at me like such darlings, and the little ones who always ask me to fix their goggles as they are too big or too small or have gone askew.

It's like any teaching, really. I had one little 7-year-old piano student crawl into my lap, crying about something that had happened at home, and I just held her for a minute and wiped the tears away from her sweet, little eyes. Or just the joy in making some seemingly unimportant little flute piece feel important and grand by giving it a story and emotion and seeing the kids smile and bring it back the next week with all the grandeur of a Mozart concerto.

Sometimes I don't feel like teaching. Sometimes I slog through it, or nip unkindly at the kids. But they are so forgiving, and at the end of the day, they bring me such joy, not only in what they accomplish, but in the little 'isms' that I see that seem so trivial to some, but in the moment, make my world go 'round.

Hugs and bubbles,
Sheila

A few pics!

Hey! Sorry I've been so bad with posting. Don't worry, my diary isn't seeing my pen as much as it should either.

I'm crazy busy with work and just living my life, studying, practicing, visiting friends, learning new things.

Point is, I want to write lots, but I don't have a lot of mental space for it. If I'm not around, don't worry, life is fine, I am well! Enjoy a few pics!

Hugs,
Sheila