Day 81 -- annual celebration

Today began with laundry and moved into lecture preparation. The high point occurred over dinner, when the department faculty and students attended the annual Year-End Banquet. The menu was wonderful -- items made from local products as much as possible. The meal began with a hearty, wonderfully seasoned mushroom and barley soup. This was followed by chicken breast or a quinoa mixture each napped with a lovely curry-like sauce and accompanied by mashed potatoes and heirloom carrots. For dessert we were served an apple-cheesecake pie with caramel sauce. Overall -- a wonderful meal.

Our guest speaker talked of her unconventional career path giving students an idea of what can happen when open to the unexpected. Faculty brought best wishes and motivational thoughts. The evening ended with 'most likely to' awards to students and faculty, always a few good laughs there. The student tribute to the faculty took the form of a song, to the tune of 'don't stop believing' -- needless to say there were many tears from laughing so hard. What a wonderfully creative group of people they are <smile>. 

When I had my turn to say a few words, I spoke around the theme of growth. The traditional Chinese symbol for 'overcoming obstacles' resembles a small evergreen tree inside a box -- trying to grow. Everyone encounters obstacles and overcomes these, learning that adversity may look like the opposite of success, but if we choose to learn from the barrier in our way, we can grow. It is all a matter of our outlook when we encounter adversity. I challenged everyone in the room to take the opportunities that present themselves -- and whether failure or success, choose to grow from the experience. I then paraphrased my message by quoting a line from today's selection. 

Brave -- Sara Bareilles