"Life is a series of pulls back and forth."

"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted." -- Tuesdays with Morrie.

I started reading a book my roomate gave to me considering I now have so much spare time because of the resignation of my position from my school.

She gave me a book titled Tuesday's with Morrie and I came across the above quote on page 40 of the book. After reading the above quote on the Brooklyn Promenade, I stopped for about five minutes to think about my life.

Coming in August I will have been working in New York City for about a year. What a year it has been! There have been up times (like getting the job on my birthday in 2003) and down times (having to resign my position from the school because of school politics) and everything in between. I have felt both joy and depression, sometimes even in the same week. In other words my life is just like a rubber band being pulled back and forth.

At the beginning of the school year in September, I thought the school I was working at was going to be great place to spend most of my teaching career. Then by mid-April I realized that the school had some issues that were festering and were going to explode. Just like a rubber band, eventually the problems I was having at the school snapped and I had to split.

I will never take life for granted anymore. I am going to enjoy every day as much as possible. That was one reason I decided to become a teacher I guess. To show the world of literature can be interesting to students, to see students grab a book or newly learned concept and then stand back as their faces light up. Sharing passions with others is perhaps the best thing we can do with each other. These passions can range from gardening to reading to baseball to simply enjoying a nice subway ride to who knows where because you have never been there before. Why enjoy these things? Because, just like Morrie, who knows when you may not be able to do these things anymore.

These are the things I hope to bring to my students at Sheepshead Bay High School in the fall of 2005. The joy of adventure through reading and writing. To share in my passions. As I always tell my students, "all I am asking for you to do is to try." Try things out for the first time, see if you like it, learn from an expert if you can.

I am by no means an excellent photographer. But I want to share my adventures with people who are interested in what I am doing. Thus, I am finding that I am taking my camera with me on my adventures throughout New York City. Why do I take my camera? Because I don't want to take this city for granted. New York City is a magical place year round with lots of things to see and do. Many of these things are posted on my blog as well as on my website. I don't want to take New York City for granted just because I live here. Why? Who knows what will happen in the future and where the rubber band of life might take me.