New Starts

The "Intro to Quilting" class I've been looking forward to started this week, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm glad the first few hours are over. Not that the ladies taking the class aren't amazing, but there's always something a little nerve wracking about the first day of class.

No matter how well I know the material, how passionate I am about the subject, or how many students there are, I get tense and start talking way too fast. I think back to the very first class I can remember teaching: I was in my 5th year of Air Cadets and had to teach a class on (ironically enough) Instructional Techniques. I think I scripted every sentence down to when I should breathe, in fact there were side notes on the lesson plan that read "breathe" and "smile." I remember holding the page with both hands shaking so much I couldn't even read what I had written. Somehow we got through the 20-minutes, and I swore off teaching as a profession.

Somewhere over the next four years my mind was changed and I moved to Edmonton to complete my Bacc. en Education at Campus Saint-Jean (the Francophone campus of the University of Alberta).  With lofty ideas of changing the world one class at a time.  Statistically speaking, I shouldn't really be surprised that after a year of teaching High School I was looking for something else, but it was a bit dissapointing. 

I've been teaching at a private business college for the last three years, and have really enjoyed it.  But it's time to move on again to a career that better suits my family's changing needs.  I'll have more details to share next week about that--what I can say is that it will allow me the flexibility to be the kind of mom I want to be, and to take my role in Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting to the next level while still offering challenging work with a lot of reward.

My Other Passions

During the spring and fall I've been known to refer to myself as a "weekend widow." You see, my husband, Russ, is the Commanding Officer of North Battleford Gliding Centre. This takes him away on Saturday before the sun comes up, and while he usually comes home to sleep I don't really see him until after supper Sunday evening. His involvement in the Royal Canadian Air Cadet program is nothing new, in fact we met through cadets 14 years ago (wow, time flies when you're having fun). What I forget to be thankful for sometimes is the joy that being involved in the Cadt program brings to him. Russ, and his staff, have had the opportunity to share a love of flying with many youth from accross this great province of ours. 

We made a family trip out of going to the Gliding Centre this Thanksgiving weekend.  Ian was all bundled up in his fall gear, and did his best to toddle around on the uneven ground.  Russ and I enjoyed a flight together while some of the staff occupied him, and when we landed he got to sit on my knee in the glider for a moment.  I fear the aviation bug bit him early, as the first thing he wanted to do was pull the "red knob" (the release for the tow rope).  But what else can you expect when both parents got their wings as teenagers?  Not to mention the fact that he took his first flight in a 182 when he was 14 days old.  The Rick Mercer Report even made a trip out to the Gliding Centre in Netook, AB this past spring.  You can watch the video here:  http://youtu.be/ZrctbfusPWs

I just remind myself every now and then that while Russ is more passionate about flying than I am, he is also very supportive of my fabric addictions too.  Both are expensive, but also very relaxing.


Ian and Auntie Teaghan at NBGC.