Unit 6 Blog Response

Holes in Buckets: Personal Issues In The Past Six Weeks.

Share what you have personally been dealing with in the past six weeks:

In spite of the fact that I maintain a variety of different online web-logs, engage with Facebook and other social networking sites, and have been a college student for a long while, I am essentially a very, very private person. One who, as with many other people, is dealing with a raft of personal issues on a daily basis. Therefore, there are some personal issues that I am just not prepared to write of in this public space. My innermost thoughts, feelings and actions have a safer place in my heart and imagination, and not beyond these parts of my self and identity.

However, on the periphery, I continue to deal with numerous, personal health issues, to a greater or lesser extent. Some days are better than others, and each day's/night's symptoms and side effects are showing up in different (and sometimes confusing) ways. So, on that basis, it can be difficult to keep to a timetable. I remain somewhat reliant upon my husband as my main confidant and caregiver. Since he works as a self-employed contractor, there is sometimes a tension between him being here for me, and working enough for us to have sufficient income to continue to pay our bills. I've also been working on getting myself back to full health and fitness, again.

My daughter's education has now come into much sharper focus and a different sort of consideration, as she will start kindergarten at the end of this month. My sense is that she is more than ready to go into first grade now, and not a year on from here. She can count, do some basic subtraction and addition, write her full name, read and write basic vocabulary, and knows some Spanish and some Te Reo Maori (native New Zealand language). That being said, I don't want to be seen as being a pushy parent. She should have the freedom to express and be very much her own person, and do what she most enjoys and naturally gravitates towards. Not what we think or dream of for her. Nurturing her sense of relaxation and fun also means a lot of one-on-one time with her, during these precious moments when she remains mostly still in our midst. Time is so fleeting with our little girl.

Immediate and extended family (whanau) back in New Zealand have also been having their own issues and life events during these past six weeks, and while I'm on the other side of the globe, dealing with such life challenges from such a distance, does not seem to be getting any sweeter with the passage of time. Such distance merely magnifies and perhaps even distorts emotions, feelings and sentiments.

Unlike in past years, we have decided to forgo our annual, Mid-West road-trip plans. Rather, we have chosen to re-direct our energies and resources into preparing for this coming Winter, which we are suspecting will be a difficult one. So, without our usual break, we are likely feeling a little more tired, stretched, and as if we've pretty much missed out on our Summer, this year.

That's where I'm at, personally. In some ways, six weeks behind myself. In still others, six weeks ahead. It's all relative, I guess. I have buckets. They have holes. But, I figure if I keep fixing buckets, there will be fewer leaks. Fewer leaks, less stress. Hope. That myself and my questionable buckets can be whole again, Dear Liza.