Reflections, Progress + Dreams

Reflection. It's time to take a deep breath and reflect. Literally. Today, in-real-time, is a driving day. A day of transition. A day of reflection. A day of consideration. We are heading south to Florida for the season ahead. We are heading to Florida for NAEYC and my contribution to presentations there and introducing my work to tons of new friends. I have my very own booth, #719, in the amazing exhibit hall in Orlando. A first. I'm excited!!

NAEYC is always the watershed event of the year for me. It's the milestone that marks the new year, much more so than Dec.31st. In my quest to get my blog and work to a wider audience I am now a contributor to the collective blog, Classroom Freebies, which has dozens of teaching bloggers sharing FREE materials 24/7/365!!! In thinking through what I can contribute there, I remembered a collection of quotations on the subject of 'dreams' that I had assembled years ago. I have saved that list into a pdf  format and have added it to my freebie tab at the top of the blog, just up above.

 

Once I'd reworked the quotations into pdf format, it was then a question of creating a visual to entice the Classroom Freebies folks to follow over here. That mulling reminded me that I had never posted my first pictures of this previous season..... of our arrival to Door County up in Wisconsin. In searching through my Picassa files I see that I took these pictures at the end of May. I know I was driving south on Highway 42, following Sunday morning services up in Ellison Bay. Coming down the hill into Sister Bay the fog was finally lifting. It was all I could do to get the car parked safely as I saw this beauty emerge. 

Combining the image of the little dinghy following the lead sails is the perfect visual for the quote, "Follow your dreams.... they know the way." from a book I have by Kobi Yamada. 

 

This year I can return to NAEYC and bring my newest picture book, "Red, White and Blue" adorned with the national INDIE Award of Excellence gold seal!!! Having dreams requires huge amounts of patience. It's about believing in the future, about taking baby steps. It's about perseverance and trust. It's about imagination and creativity and guts and fortitude. It's about overcoming inertia and procrastination. It's about battling perfectionism in favor of progress.

This is my eighth NAEYC to get to present my ideas, approach & materials to an eager audience. At this point I've published three of my original children's songs into picture book format. That's what I call progress!! This is the first NAEYC to celebrate my collaborative project created with national dance authority, Connie Dow for Redleaf Press, "One Two, What Can I Do?" will be amidst their stacks -- with an official author signing on Friday of next week. That's what I call progress!! This is the annual event where I met Arlana Young who created my tour to Europe this past spring. YES!! I'm living the life I've imagined. That's what dreams do for you!

How about you? What's your dream? Leave me a comment and share your hopes. I've learned that putting dreams into writing is the very first step toward bringing them to fruition.

****My next goal? As of this morning I have 846 official blog followers. There's a highly esteemed group that I can join when I have 1000 followers. If this is your first visit here, you can help me forward toward this goal by officially following this blog. There's a grid near the top of the blog, in the left column. Just click 'follow this blog.' (It's an ap thru Facebook.) Every new follower is one more baby step forward. THANKS!!