I am preparing for a "vacation" break that is turning not to be one of enjoyment. My Mother is very ill and in the hospital....I am scared and yet at the same time, know that the Lord will prevail no matter the outcome. I don't like that feeling of disconnection,and not knowing, its quite unnerving (3:25pm).

(4:33pm) I just got off the phone with my Mom-mee, as usual, my fears are put to rest, at least for a little while. She is still waiting to hear about test results and the next steps that needs to happen (Big Whew!). My mother is awesome and my hero for many different reasons and on so many different levels. Her humor and wit is a great comfort to me in times of stress and uncertainty. I will be with her on Saturday afternoon and I look forward to her "in my face" reassurances.

On a more "librarian-esque" tip, today was a good class I had this afternoon with ND-Libraries ... "The Autobiographical Incident". We laughed, we shared, we reflected, and of course, we wrote some stuff down. I encouraged the students to take this assignment seriously and as an important process of work in general. There are aspects of work we may not like, and that their motivation should be to know that they completed the assignment. On a sidebar, I suggested that maybe they shouldn't get paid if they don't complete it.

Of course the students were in shock by my response, but I think it begs the question: Is their a penalty of sorts if they don't complete the assignments?

One of the students ask (while in class), "what is my motivation to write my biography? I suggested that self satisfaction knowing that they followed directions. Clearly, our students this summer fit the profile of a "Millennial". Onward and upward...... To my students who represent the Summer of '07:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

Additional Reflective Thoughts for the Day.......

"Family faces are .....mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future". --Gail Lumet Buckley, Writer

A mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking”--Helen Rice

"The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent.”--Erich Fromm

"I blame my mother for nothing, but forgive her for everything"-Mary J. Blige

"Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.”--Pearl S. Buck

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people”--Eleanor Roosevelt

"The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions”--Oilver Wendell Holmes