What's Your Story?

 What's Your Story?

Hi Readers,

As usual I go hell for leather for a few days then go missing for a few more ! I do have a few chores to do today, but I was just looking at some blog stats and saw that there was a spike overnight of readers from the USA that surprised me. This has happened a few times in recent weeks where there has been a sudden increase in just one day from a given area. Last night there was a hit of more than 80 readers from the USA, and if you're one of these readers I'd love to know how you got onto my blog and what you think.

Criticisms are always welcome, but thank you also for taking the time to read!! Just hit the comments tab at the bottom of the post, and it can all be done anonymously, as a number of you have taken the opportunity to do so.

This shows where my readers for the past 24 hours have come from.

And this shows what time the spike in the USA occurred.

As I've said in previous posts, I'm not overly fussed if I have no readers, just one or more than 100. I just hope I leave you with something to think about.

Well, back to the point of this post. In many of the books that have inspired me over the past two years, a common theme has resonated with me and changed my outlook on so many things, and how I choose to live my life now, and how it has influenced my mindset as I have grown up. 

We all have had various things that have occurred in our lives and these are often the things that make us who we are. They could be events that happened when we were very young, or even as recently as yesterday, and in this post I'm going to describe some things that have happened in my life that have contributed to who I am today.

Importantly, I hope this triggers your own thoughts, and that you can reflect on stories in your own lives and then start to realise "Ohhh, so that's why I'm like that".

These are in no chronological order, or order of importance. They are just more of my random waffles and ramblings that regular readers are now so accustomed to!

Probably one of the biggest things happened to me very early in my teaching career when I was making ice cream with my class for a maths lesson. A kid in the class who generally struggled quite a bit with maths was having a ball and really getting involved. During the lesson this child came up to me and said "Mr K, these numbers all make sense now!"

WOW !! That was a slap in the face, and although we often thought that we were hitting the mark with our lessons, this moment really made me realise how important it is to make the learning meaningful, relevant and enjoyable for the kids. This doesn't always happen, but it's a mantra that I always keep coming back to. It influenced how I approach my maths teaching, and all other areas where possible. Maths is my main strength, but there are still days when I stop a lesson and openly tell the kids "Let's pull the pin on this now, I'm not doing it well enough, we'll do something else and I'll be better prepared tomorrow"

In a recent post I described how I'm not the greatest teacher of Literacy, but that doesn't mean that I don't give it my best each day. I just go in with the same attitude of trying to make sure that I hit the mark in the best way possible for each kid in the class, and we all know that each student needs a slightly different approach.

So to that child in the ice cream lesson so many years ago...Thank You !!! You have probably saved hundreds of subsequent students in my classes from being subjected to endless days of boredom and drudgery (although some of you may say that I'm still doing it !!!)

I also spent 4 years at boarding school from the ages 14-18.

I was always pretty good at maths all through primary school and really loved it but this was well and truly knocked out of me at secondary school.

It was such a dull and lifeless experience, and the teachers I had made it a 'sink or swim' experience each lesson, or at least hat's how it felt for me.

At one stage in Year 10 we were given a test, and the purpose of this was to see who should go on and do the more advanced maths in the following years, and who should be placed in the "General Maths" group. 

"Vege Maths" was what it was called, and it was for the maths dunces, and I was in it up to my neck.  We were often looked upon as those who were just dumb at maths, and it was openly joked about, even by ourselves. Even now when I catch up with old schoolmates we still joke about having to do 'vege maths'.

This also affected me when I was at Teacher's College as I continued to struggle with maths and actually failed it in my first year, then again in my 2nd year. It wasn't looking great for me in my 3rd and final year, and there was a very real possibility that I wasn't going to graduate as a teacher. Thankfully, Jen ( who I had been going out with by then for 2 years) made me pull my finger out, and without her support and encouragement I doubt that I would have ever become a teacher in the first place.

That experience from secondary school really made me aware that I had to be a better teacher than I was a student, and that I didn't teach like I was taught. 

Hopefully that has been the case.

For those of you who know my family, you'd know that I grew up in a large family of 8 kids. That seems really strange now, but when we were growing up it just seemed that everyone had a large family, but we didn't really see it as large at all. Looking back now I sure do, as Jen and I had our 3 boys and I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to throw in another 5 kids on top of that!!

Anyway, I've digressed again. 

I'm going to use different dates in this next story just for privacy issues, but you'll get the drift.

I always had my birthday on June 5th, but when I turned 15 I got reported playing football for doing something stupid or rough, I can't even recall what I did.

Overseas readers, this means that I got sanctioned, or sort of being given a red card. You are still permitted to continue the game, but must face a tribunal a few days later where you are either cleared or given a suspension.

Anyway, as I was only 15 I was required to provide proof of age by way of my birth certificate. Imagine my surprise when I see on the certificate that I was born on June 4th, and NOT on June 5th, the day I had been having my birthday for 15 years !!

When I pointed this out to my mum, she was not fussed by any means, and just responded with a laugh and said something like "Well there are quite a few of you ! "

It struck me there and then that Mum was not going to let something like this cause any concern, let's just get on with life. When I asked her what we were going to do about it she said that I could keep having my birthday on the day I had incorrectly been having it on, or swap to the correct date next year.

I chose to go with the correct date, and this took some getting used to as I already had my 'birthday date" locked in my mind, and changing to a new one did take some adjusting.

And what did I learn from this?

Some things just don't really matter !! Move on, suck it up, grow a pair !

When things might appear as elephants, stop and see if they are actually ants (see recent post) And it summed up the attitude that our Mum always had, she didn't let little things worry her, and it made her more capable to handle the bigger things in life, something that she covered so well.

I hope that she has taught us to do the same.

As regular readers would be aware, I do love my sport and throughout my life, or since I was about 15 I have always loved running. Unfortunately, my love of it has contributed to many of the ailments that I'll now carry with me for my remaining years. All my own fault Readers, so I'm not for a moment complaining .

This came about by chance to be honest.

Once again, it was at Boarding school and our athletic sports were approaching. We were in class (probably one of my hated 'vege maths' lessons ) when a call came over for volunteers to trial for the 1500m race to assemble on the main oval. Do you reckon that class emptied in a flash !!

I'd never shown any interest in longer distance running, but always enjoyed the aspect of endurance through football training. So we did the trial, I finished somewhere in the middle, but realised that I enjoyed it.

In the subsequent days I found myself and a few others going for runs after school, and then this progressed into keeping it up during holidays, and the rest is history.

I have completed a number of marathons and what I have learnt in terms of dedication, persistence and perseverance has stayed with me since.

Even now as I struggle to walk properly 12 months after major ankle surgery, the lessons that have stayed with me over these years still give me a positive outlook in terms of being able to complete tasks. Sure, I doubt that I'll ever be able to run again, but at least I can hop on a bike. Swimming is going to be a challenge, but I haven't given up hope on that.

Just by skipping that class to trial for a 1500m race has given me untold joy for more than 40 years, and I hope that it has shown our boys how much I value the impact of sport and exercise on one's wellbeing. And to do so much of it with each of them over the years made it even more special.

Now Readers, I'm sure that you have done loads of ultra dumb stuff throughout your lives that you look back at now and wonder "What were we thinking then?"

As early teens, and growing up in a small country town, we all pretty much had to create our own fun. 

When I tell the kids in my class what it was like when I was their age they just cringe, and say things like "So what things could you do?"

For example, there were shows on the tv in the morning, but only for an hour or two, then the tv test pattern would come on until the late afternoon when programs began again. No tv during the day, so it was usually outside creating your own fun.

I do realise that things gradually changed over the years, but I remember my childhood as predominantly an outside existence, often doing things that would get us in trouble these days.

For example, we'd go out in the block behind our place ( we had the pub in our hometown) with friends, grab a couple of air rifles and shoot tin cans, bottles etc. Imagine driving around town today and seeing a bunch of 10 year olds with guns !

We'd also make shanghais and have 'wars", often getting hit in all sorts of places, but just getting on with it as that was expected. Our place had a few olive trees, and they provided an endless supply of ammo for a good part of the year.

A favourite pastime was to get the olives when they were really ripe, go up to the balcony of the pub and shoot at anyone or anything that passed below us in the street!

There was (and still is) a big irrigation channel running through the town. It's roughly 25 metres wide, 3-4 metres deep and usually had a firm current. We'd spend endless days swimming in this murky water, jumping out of trees and having a great old time, even though the pool was right next to it. These days one would be in shock if they saw young kids jumping off the bridges as we have become so sanitised and more safety conscious.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with it too, but these years were so formative for us, not just for the risky behaviours we engaged in, but also in the way that we learnt to look after each other, build relationships across year levels and learn to create our own fun rather than wait for, or expect someone to do it for us.

So how did these few examples in my own life contribute to making me who I am today?

In some respects it made me more aware that I have to get off my arse and make things happen and not be someone who expects something from others all the time. The stories in our own lives can hopefully help us to be able to contribute to our lives and the lives of others more rather than always looking for something to take.

In this post Readers I have tended to focus on events that generally occurred throughout my early and late teens, which kind of makes sense as those were the years when I was really starting to find out who I was. There have been other periods in my life that were just as significant, such as raising our 3 sons, the most important people in my life now who I am incredibly proud of and love dearly. Now that I am a Grandparent, it is a new era, that will change even as early as this week as Grandson number 2 is expected any day now. We welcomed Grandson Henry 3 years ago as a couple, so this time will be vastly different as I do it without Jen to share the joy with. This will no doubt be another story in my life that will further influence who I am and who I want to be.

Speaking of our Grandson, he said something to me over Christmas that really left me thinking about what things he must be thinking about me.

His other Grandmother is also called Jenny, and he calls her Granny Jen. In the car one night he just looked at me calmly and said "Where's your Gran?" He was obviously wondering where his other Grandmother was and saw that while his mum had her parents there, his dad didn't have his 'Gran' with him'. Over time he will come to understand what has happened in recent years, but this has taught me the importance of keeping Jen's memory alive for him. His parents are already doing an amazing job with this.

If anything, losing her has been, and will be the biggest thing that will confront me in my life, and how I navigate what lies ahead of me is still a huge question mark. It's one of the stories of my life that I wish never happened, but it did and I must now continue to face it and learn from it. If anything, it has been the biggest perspective pill and every day I get up and know that whatever presents to me today will be minor to what has happened recently.

So Readers, the stories in our lives help to make us who we are. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I hope that by reading this that you can reflect, have a laugh, cringe, shed a tear, whatever! It's amazing how when one thinks of a particular event in time it can also trigger so many similar memories from that time also.

I hope it makes you smile.

A big week coming with a new Grandson any day, our Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday and another trip to Qld. 

Life is good.

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁