Weekly Lark 1/19/11
The Weekly Lark is a prompt for the imagination: something that’s just for fun. A lark is defined as “a source of or quest for amusement or adventure”. . . so let the adventure begin!To celebrate the official launching of Reading Lark, this week's Weekly Lark is about new beginnings.
What book do you associate with a new beginning of some sort - a new chapter in your life, or a book that changed everything for you?
Paula: My "new beginnings" book was S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but that book helped me decide that I wanted to get to teach literature every day.
Julie: One book I associate with new beginnings is Twilight. Yes, it's a great book but the changes in my life that it became a catalyst for are why I mention it now. Two and a half years ago I picked up Twilight to pre-read it for my daughter, who had been asking to get the book at the library. And my world was changed.
After reading the book, I needed to talk to someone other than my 12 year old about it, so I joined TwilightMOMS. Eventually I found myself wandering into their teacher chat thread way more than was normal for a non-teacher, and with the support and encouragement I received from the teacher-friends I made via the site, I made the decision to finally go back to school and pursue my dream of becoming a high school English teacher. Two years later I'm living the dream - horribly late nights spent grading papers, stressing over students who aren't working to their potential, speed eating my lunch in under 20 minutes in a school cafeteria - and I'm loving every minute of it.
And by way of teaching I also reconnected with my other great passion and became a color guard director by total chance. I needed volunteer experience to put on my resume once I graduated, so I asked if my local high school needed any help collecting paperwork or chaeroning band trips. Little did I know the previous director had resigned weeks before. Because of Twilight I have an artistic outlet now that gives me back ten times what I put into it and I get to share my love and passion with a group of girls I love like my own children.
Not to mention the amazing friends I now have because of the connections I've made via TwilightMOMS. I wouldn't be here, writing on this blog if I'd never read Twilight. (And that would be a travesty, because then you wouldn't be able to read all these long rambling things I have to say.)
Andrea: Twilight - without it I would never have met my BFF and other awesome people! It gave me great connections for reading and writing. It also brought me to Forks and LaPush which I fell in love with immediately. I will always be grateful to the series.
Tevya: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, for sure. Through Twilight, I found TwilightMOMs, where I have met my best friend as well as so many other amazing women who I cannot imagine my life with out. So many opportunities have opened up to me, from traveling to Forks and LaPush with some of these amazing women, to summer vacations with my best friends, to being a moderator on TwilightMOMs, and down to this blog. I have a close group of local and state wide friends, as well as an extended family of "sisters" all over the United States (and even into Europe). I am not just a wife and mother anymore...I am me again. I found that I can do things for me and my family will survive. While my family will always come first, it feels good to be me again. Now my Twilight obsession has fizzled down, the Twilight Saga will always hold a special place in my heart because of the friends I've made and experiences I've enjoyed.
After reading the book, I needed to talk to someone other than my 12 year old about it, so I joined TwilightMOMS. Eventually I found myself wandering into their teacher chat thread way more than was normal for a non-teacher, and with the support and encouragement I received from the teacher-friends I made via the site, I made the decision to finally go back to school and pursue my dream of becoming a high school English teacher. Two years later I'm living the dream - horribly late nights spent grading papers, stressing over students who aren't working to their potential, speed eating my lunch in under 20 minutes in a school cafeteria - and I'm loving every minute of it.
And by way of teaching I also reconnected with my other great passion and became a color guard director by total chance. I needed volunteer experience to put on my resume once I graduated, so I asked if my local high school needed any help collecting paperwork or chaeroning band trips. Little did I know the previous director had resigned weeks before. Because of Twilight I have an artistic outlet now that gives me back ten times what I put into it and I get to share my love and passion with a group of girls I love like my own children.
Not to mention the amazing friends I now have because of the connections I've made via TwilightMOMS. I wouldn't be here, writing on this blog if I'd never read Twilight. (And that would be a travesty, because then you wouldn't be able to read all these long rambling things I have to say.)
Andrea: Twilight - without it I would never have met my BFF and other awesome people! It gave me great connections for reading and writing. It also brought me to Forks and LaPush which I fell in love with immediately. I will always be grateful to the series.
Tevya: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, for sure. Through Twilight, I found TwilightMOMs, where I have met my best friend as well as so many other amazing women who I cannot imagine my life with out. So many opportunities have opened up to me, from traveling to Forks and LaPush with some of these amazing women, to summer vacations with my best friends, to being a moderator on TwilightMOMs, and down to this blog. I have a close group of local and state wide friends, as well as an extended family of "sisters" all over the United States (and even into Europe). I am not just a wife and mother anymore...I am me again. I found that I can do things for me and my family will survive. While my family will always come first, it feels good to be me again. Now my Twilight obsession has fizzled down, the Twilight Saga will always hold a special place in my heart because of the friends I've made and experiences I've enjoyed.
Leave us a comment. Let us know which book changed your life or gave you a new beginning.
Tevya, You said it so well: "I am not just a wife and mother anymore...I am me again. I found that I can do things for me and my family will survive. While my family will always come first, it feels good to be me again. Now my Twilight obsession has fizzled down, the Twilight Saga will always hold a special place in my heart because of the friends I've made and experiences I've enjoyed."
ReplyDeleteAmen sister! :)
I agree with you ladies. Twilight changed my life too. After reading the series for the umpteenth time, my sister was seriously worried about me. She came across Twilightmoms & called me. I signed up that night. Twilightmoms changed my life! I have met the most incredible ladies & lifelong friends because of Twilightmoms.
ReplyDeleteBecause of my Twilightmom connections, a whole new world has opened up to me. I have met authors, discovered new and exciting worlds through books & started blogging myself. Books can DEF change your life! Thank you so much for that!!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Mindy!!
ReplyDeleteOf course, Andrea, Tevya and Julie know that Twilight was a huge New Beginnings book for me, too- for all the same reasons they listed. I just wanted to try to give the post a little variety by including the only other book I could think of that would fit the theme. :)