My small town life...

Here's a little bit about me.  I know the blog is titled "the Copeland Colloquy" but at first it's probably all about me, because sometimes that's just how I roll, that and I can't sleep...

I grew up in a very small town.  Actually I grew up in a neighborhood of fifty or so homes 5 miles from a small town.  I lived on an acre of land that was a corner lot and on 2 sides surrounded by wheat fields.  My best friend Shawna lived 1 house away. My family planted what I thought at the time was a huge garden. My friends & I played outside spring, summer, & fall until it was dark and you could hear the moms yelling out the door for you to come home for dinner.  If we wanted something to do on a summer day, we'd ride our bikes that 5 miles to town and then try to convince my mom (who worked) to drive us home.  Our town did/does have a swimming pool that was the main source of entertainment for us on those summer days.  I remember thinking how big it was - now when I see it, I wonder how it ever held so many people!  We had 1 school.  It takes up like 6 blocks or something for K-12.  It may have Pre-K now.  When I started school Pre-K wasn't an option.  When my family first moved to this area there was a program just starting called Yogi Bear Preschool.  It was more like a mother's day out program as it was only 2 days a week for like 3 hours.  What I think is cool, is that I'm still friends with a few of those people.  In Junior High (OK, so maybe in my sixth grade year they were trying to change it to Middle School, either way we all know it as hell) that was the first time you got to pick "electives".  Our options were music or band (gee, if you didn't play an instrument guess what elective you got to pick?).  There may have been options for another hour, but I'd have to consult my cousin on that, and she'd kill me if I called her right now!  Once in high school your options, weren't so much options.  It was choices based on if you thought you'd be going to college or not.  If going to college your choices might be which Algebra I class would you be taking the one at 1st hour or the one at 4th hour.  Oh you want to take a foreign language, Spanish was your choice.  I graduated with 43 other people. Some of the best people I know. Since I was from a small town I was able to be a cheerleader for 3 years.  I was able to be on the yearbook staff (shocking that I like to scrapbook now!) for 2 years. I was able to have a pretty sheltered existance. There are a lot of really good things about small towns...

I guess this worked as an insomia cure. I'll have to pick up here another time...

Late Night Musings...

As I laid there listening to the 2 year-old struggle with sleep I popped out of bed to see if I can help her in any way...that's what moms do.  Especially at 12:15 in the morning. You do everything in your power to make sure all can sleep.  Now I can't sleep.  Ah, such is life...

Since sleep was avoiding me, I thought I would add to my blog.  Might as well and I shouldn't have any distractions, the worst might be that this makes me sleepy...so into my thoughts...

As I contemplate what I want my blog to be I think I just want it to evolve into whatever.  I'm in no way authorized to be an expert on anything, but I'm happy to share what knowledge I have gained.  I'm older than I think I am and better than I used to be.  I am amazed daily at my children and am so grateful I get to be their mom.  I am blessed with an incredible husband who tries so hard to help me be happy. I hope to entertain, enlighten, maybe even provide an example (probably of what not to do), but I'm in no way trying to offend.  Please keep that in mind when you read...

My first blog...

OK - so here goes...my first blog. In preparing to join the blogosphere I did some research. Apparently I'm supposed to type this like a conversation...let's have a chat shall we? That and I'm supposed to ask readers for input...not sure how many of those I'll have (readers not comments)...if nothing else this should be cathartic.

I've been thinking a lot lately about courage and what I feel is my lack of it. So this is my attempt of stepping out of my comfort zone of obscurity. I have been thinking about the people who make others stop and watch . Those who get things done. Who aren't afraid of other people's judgements.(You may be surprised to know I have A LOT of friends that fall into the category.) Then I think about the differences between that person & me. Obscurity is what comes to mind. Obscurity is my fuzzy pink blanket or "PINK" as my daughter would say. I like working in the background, working in the kitchen during the party. Doing research others don't want to do because the end reward may not pay off with public displays of achievement. I like taking care of all the little details others find monotonous. That's why blogging seems a little out character for me. It means drawing attention to myself, putting my feelings out there in cyberspace for all to view or criticize. Or perhaps even brag on achievements (I do have 2 AMAZING kiddos and an INCREDIBLE husband!). Someone might read this. They might not get my sarcasm or humor. They might judge my parenting skills. They might think I'm dumb; or worse write something unkind below (just remember I can remove those). They might not agree with me (which is really OK because I'm not sure there are that many people who are as conservative as I am). So with that in mind as long as they don't compare me to someone who has been blogging for a while, I'm OK with that...