Refer to this post if you need a refresher course on how to create and publish a post.

Before we dig right in, let’s take a look at what I’m expecting you to be completing when it comes to blog posts.

Let’s compare three blog posts from the same prompt:

This was the prompt: What’s one opportunity you have now that you have not taken?  Is it the ability to try something new, take an online or college class, go out for a team/club/activity?  Or is it something less concrete? Tell me all about it.  What’s been holding you back from stepping through the door that opportunity is presenting you?

First post

“i wish i had gone out for foot ball”

Second post

“one oppertunity i had that i didn’t take was National Honors Society.  i shoulda done it my junior year, this year it woulda been pointless tho cuz i wouldn’t have been able to use it on any scholarships.  last year I was 2 lazy to fill out the paperwork is why I din’t do it.  at least I didn’t have to be in the NHS SRB though.”

Third post

“I am incredibly fortunate to have really supportive parents. They have let me do anything and everything that I have wanted to try (with the exception of Girl Scouts) in my entire life. From ballet and gymnastics to FFA and soccer they have always been on the sidelines cheering as loud as they could. The fact that they are always there is amazing considering the fact that they both wish that my main focus would involve the 4 legged creature living in the barn. The opportunities that I have to excel in rodeo and 4-H are endless. My parents would be 100% willing to pay hundreds of dollars for clinics and new equipment. However, I haven’t really taken advantage of the opportunity. I absolutely love riding, and competing but I have always known that I wouldn’t compete in college or anything like that. If there was an way that I could spend as much time with my horse as I do for soccer I would love it, but it’s simply not possible. Nevertheless I hope to be involved in the equine world forever, I couldn’t imagine my life without it.”

In comparing these posts you’ll notice one is too short and didn’t really answer most of the questions. The second is also very brief and has several spelling or grammatical errors.  The other is a bit more thoughtful and explains what the writer is talking about in greater detail.  The second writer also makes fewer grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.

Let this serve as a reminder that I’m not asking you to do brain surgery here, but I am expecting you to put forth some effort!  I realize that on some posts you simply won’t have as much to say as on others.  That’s OK.

Follow the directions on this post for accessing your “Dashboard” and creating and publishing a post.

For today:

We all have chores we just really hate doing.  I’m sure, if your home is anything like mine was growing up, or even with my own kids; nagging takes place before those less than desirable tasks are completed.  Conversely, what is something that you never procrastinate about doing? What job is it for you that you absolutely hate?  For me, it’s mowing the lawn.  It just takes FOREVER!  You have to wait until the grass is dry, which this summer, seemed to take forever as well.  Then you have to mow around all those trees, try not to run over treasures in the yard that will damage the lawnmower. And all the jostling!  UGH!  Our lawn is not smooth by any means so it’s like riding on a bumpy gravel road for 6 hours straight.

OK, I think you get the idea, I’d rather do just about anything but mow the lawn.  Tell me about the chore that you hate as well as the one thing you don’t procrastinate on when it needs doing.  What is it that helps you to not procrastinate?

Your post is due August 24, 2018 by 3:30 p.m.

We all overcome things in our lives.  Emotional, physical, tragic, heartbreaking things happen in our lives.  When we hear the term “survivor” we may think of the hit CBS TV Show, we may also think of someone living through a car accident or health problem.

I’ve been through a lot of things that changed my life in drastic ways.  As a junior in high school, my father underwent open heart surgery.  He was 50 at the time.  Six months prior, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  My entire world was upside down. My parents both survived their health issues.  Mom went on to have her cancer reappear 18 months later in the other breast.  My father survived his surgery and at the age of 60 had another heart surgery.  He passed away two weeks after his 70th birthday.

In the nine months before my father’s death, he stopped speaking to me.  My mother would talk with me when I called, but my dad would either hang up or hand the phone to my mom if he was the one to answer the phone.  My father had been, and really still is, one of my heroes.  He accomplished some pretty incredible things in his life and up until he stopped speaking to me, I rarely doubted that he loved me and was proud of me.  I sat, alone in his hospital room, and held his hand when he died.  He had collapsed on the weekend, visiting family in California.  He never regained consciousness.  I don’t know if he knew I was there beside him or not.

There are many things that were left unsaid.  On his end and mine.  It’s been 19 years, and I’m still working through my grief, disappointment, heartache, and anger.  I’m most angry that another person was able to steal the last 9 months of my Dad’s life from me.  That’s time, opportunity for conversations, laughs, hugs, and affirmations that I will never get back.  It didn’t kill me, but it’s been an emotional struggle that’s remained in the back of my mind for nearly two decades.

I’ve learned many things on my journey to survive this heartbreak.

In what way are you a survivor?  Have you had a harrowing experience or injury that left you wondering if you’d survive?  Has there been emotional upset in your life that you’ve had to learn to work through and work past; or are you still working through it?  What things have you learned?

Your post is due Monday, May 7, 2018 at 8:15 a.m.