Skip to main content

Back to Me

It's been a long road: first they were babies, then preschoolers, now full-fledged elementary and middle school students.  (Hopefully, I'm on the middle of the road somewhere).  Years went by and I'm not sure what happened.  During those years when my children were tiny, I hardly noticed the time, the day, the month, even the year.

There wasn't a moment that I wasn't doing something for someone else.  My entire existence became intertwined with that of my family's.  The lines were blurring, the experiences were another's, not mine.  It was getting more and more difficult to determine where the kids ended and I began.

Maybe that's good, in a sense, to be so utterly connected with your children that you feel as one.  There's a special bond.  One that will last a lifetime.  So, yes, it is good.  But there's has to be a separation.

Over the past five years I have volunteered to serve my local public library as a Trustee.  It's been an honor and a pleasure.  Because of this continuing, enriching experience, I've decided to do something completely for me: I am going back to school.

Beginning today, I will officially be a graduate student at C.W. Post, working toward a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science.

Not only am I doing something remarkably special for myself, but I believe I am also teaching my children some important lessons: they are not the center of the universe, they can continue to fulfill their dreams throughout their lives and no one should ever underestimate the significance of libraries.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Go go go
Anonymous said…
Have a good first day of school!

David O.
Lisa D'Urso said…
Good for you Julie! It is so important to have something 'just for you'. I will never forget, several years back, Joe's aunt telling me how lost she was with all of her children finally out of the house. She had devoted her life to her family, as many of us do, and now that they were grown and building their own lives she had to rediscover who she was. She described it as a desperately scary situation. I have always felt blessed to have my horses. It is my thing alone. There are so many other things I hope to do, once Nicholas goes to college. Although, I must admit, I am not rushing that. Enjoy your "me" time.
Unknown said…
"You go girl"! You definitely have what it takes to be a great librarian? Thanks for letting me follow you.
Anonymous said…
i learned what "blackboard" is tonight! and i don't mean the kind you write on with chalk.

julie
Unknown said…
enjoy every moment - you deserve it.

Popular posts from this blog

Lost and Found

On vacation last week, my daughter was fully engrossed in her paperback.  She would take breaks from the dog-eared pages to cool off in the pool or swim in the waves, only to return to her lounge chair (and her book) with soggy, sandy fingers.  The book looked like it was on vacation too, with its crinkled pages sprinkled with sand. One night she brought the book with us to dinner, eager to finish the last 10 or so pages.  You see, there was a sequel waiting in the wings and she needed to get to ending.  After dinner and meandering through the hotel gift shop, my daughter realized she lost the book!  We retraced our steps but to no avail.  Finally, that evening, we stopped by the "lost and found" desk and reported her missing paperback (title and all) as well as my light cotton sweater she also left behind somewhere.  The kind lady said she would contact us if the items were found. My daughter asked if I would buy the book on my Kindle so that she ...

The Honeysuckle

One of my sisters said I should “blog” more often.  I take that as a compliment, even if she is related to me.  So I decided to write about the Honeysuckle. Yes.  The Honeysuckle.  They are in bloom right now and if you pay close enough attention, soon enough, your nose will lead you to one.  When I was a kid, the summers were full of quiet time.  We didn’t go away to camp and barely went to day camp.   We played outside with whoever was home too.  We visited the town pool, with its icy, unheated water and biked home afterward. Right around this time, when the line between spring and summer starts to blur, I remember feeling like such a lucky girl.  My best friend, and across-the-street neighbor, had tons of Honeysuckle bushes lined up along her tall, wooden fence.  We spent hours picking the flowers and tasting the nectar found within the yellow and white stems.  It was dreamy. Just the other day I was playing golf with my mo...

Author Access

For almost three years, I've been conducting an ONLINE book discussion for the organization, Gotham City Networking, Inc.  (www.gothamnetworking.com).  It all started with the book "Water For Elephants" and author Sara Gruen.  We didn't start out thinking that the author would be involved.  It was your basic book club meeting with a twist: our group would read the book and meet online to discuss the novel virtually .  It was all set. I decided to try to contact Sara Gruen's publicist or agent (by email), to see if Ms. Gruen would care to provide a comment or quote for my summary of the book, the few paragraphs I had planned to use to kick off the discussion.  Within 30 minutes, Sara Gruen herself emailed me back indicating that instead of providing merely a quote, she would happily participate in our online book discussion.  Wow!  Really?!  And she did. I was pleasantly surprised.  More than that, I was in awe.  Having Sara G...