Beginnings: Slice of Life 31 of 31

This post is part of  

Slice of Life Challenge 

Thanks Stacey and Ruth:  Two Writing Teachers

#slice2013   31 of 31

It is hard to believe that we've been writing for 31 days.  We made it!  Today is the final day for the Slice of Life March Challenge.  I've been amazed that so many people have participated.  I've enjoyed stopping by blog after blog and reading the small stories in people's lives.  I've realized that the small stories are really the big stories.  Life is full of small moments that are quite significant.  The threads of this challenge weave together to form a quilt of story.

Life is full of endings, but it seems endings are quite often new beginnings.  As I sat in church this morning listening to the Easter story I was once again reminded of how endings are often new beginnings.  Jesus died on the cross and most thought that was the end of the story, but then on third day when he rose from the dead there was a new beginning.  When students graduate from high school they move on to new beginnings as they follow the paths that will shape their lives in the future.  Leaving an old house and moving into a new one, the change from winter to spring, leaving one job to move to another are all examples of the way life's endings are really new beginnings.

Last May, my oldest daughter Cortney graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College.  We were quite proud of her.  At the time, the president of the college, Richard Durst, was retiring.  He talked about how much his work at the college had meant to him and then shared his plans for the days that followed - his ending and new beginning.  Cortney also was ending her time at a college that had been a perfect fit for her.  In the weeks that followed she searched for a job.  It wasn't long until one was offered in another state.  She's now teaching 8th graders in North Carolina - an ending and then a new beginning.

Today as I end this challenge, I'm relieved to have been able to post each of the 31 days.  There are posts I'm satisfied with at the end of the challenge, and some I wish I wouldn't have had to push the publish button after writing.  What matters is that I - along with at least 150 other bloggers - managed to write every day.  As we end the Slice of Life March Challenge, we begin the weekly Slice of Life writing hosted at Two Writing Teachers.  My goal is to keep up with the weekly challenge this year (and I'm counting on friends like Michelle [Literacy Learning Zone], who maintain the weekly goal, to keep me going).

For the month of April I plan to join Mary Lee, A Year of Reading, in posting a poem each day during National Poetry Month.  Yes, today's the end of Slice of Life, but it is full of new beginnings.