About Me:

Aloha! I'm Wendy Kennar. I'm the mother of a seven-year-old son and a wife living in Los Angeles. I was a public school teacher for twelve years until a chronic medical condition made it necessary to leave my teaching career.

I've always been described as "quiet" - really, I'm just biting my tongue. I've got lots to say, and lots of thoughts to share, I just prefer to write them. That's the purpose of this blog. Each Wednesday, I post a personal essay offering my observations and thoughts.

A few fun facts about me: I've wanted to be a writer since second grade, when my teacher, Mrs. Jones, made me a "book" with a yellow construction paper cover. I have never learned to whistle, have always preferred sunflowers to roses, and have spent my life living within the same zip code.

Through the years, my writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, United Teacher, GreenPrints, L.A. Parent, DivineCaroline.com, RoleReboot.org, XOJane, and Brain, Child Magazine. Additionally, my personal essays have been included in several anthologies, including: The Barefoot Review, Beyond the Diaper Bag, Lessons From My Parents, Write for Light, Being a Grown-Up: A User's Manual for the Real World, Ka-Pow!, How Writing Can Get You Through Tough Times, Breath and Shadow, The Grey Wolfe Storybook, and Sisters Born, Sisters Found.
I am a regular contributor at MomsLA.com, and you can also find me at Goodreads.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Feel free to comment and share my blog with others!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Thank You

   “In my day, something just was.  None of this analysis a hundred times over.  None of these college courses with people graduating in Whys and Hows and Becauses.  Sometimes, love, you just need to forget all of those words and enroll in a little lesson called ‘Thank You.’ ”
   Those words were taken from Thanks for the Memories, the novel I’m currently reading written by Cecelia Ahern.  An elderly father is speaking to his daughter.  And yet, I read his words and felt like he was talking to me.  
   I’m a planner, a list-maker, an organizer.  Daily to-do lists, weekly menus, gift lists.  And if there’s anything I’m learning from this year-and-a-half medical ordeal, it’s that I can’t plan everything.  It wasn’t me who planned a hospitalization, a biopsy, or tests checking for cancer.
   So, I surrender.  No more wondering why this is happening.  It just is.  And now we’ve got to diagnose it.  
   There are a lot of things in my life that feel unsettled, ill-at-ease, and I can’t figure out why.  Maybe I won’t know why until some time quite later.  I think of movies that have moved me, stories that resonate, and often the why’s aren’t evident for years after the fact.  I recently re-watched Music of the Heart, starring Meryl Streep.  On the night of her big concert, she acknowledges that if her husband hadn’t left her more than ten years ago, she wouldn’t be preparing to perform at Carnegie Hall with her violin students.  If her marriage hadn’t dissolved, Frances Mayes would not have traveled to Tuscany, bought and renovated a villa, and written a best-selling memoir (Under the Tuscan Sun).
   I don’t know why these things are happening.  Yet.  For now, they’re happening, and I’m trying to deal with them.  Some days, some moments of days, more successfully than others.
   All I know is that there are still plenty of good, plenty of wonderful, plenty of miraculous aspects in my life.  And to those, I do say “thank you.”

3 comments:

  1. Your writing is just so BEAUTIFUL-as you are.I too have always made lists and planned things out,but I have found one never knows what will take place each day even with all the planning.I have never been one to wish harm on others,yet I always wonder why things happen to good people and yet people that don't deserve certain things harm never hits them.I am so sorry you have had to deal with this horrible ordeal you have been going through,but I am hoping and praying you will soon be out of pain and back to yourself. I love you and I am very very proud of you.You are a WONDERFUL person and I Thank God for you everyday.
    love,mommy

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  2. I am moved by your Blog. I wish I could do more to help you. You are a wonderful person. I love you and Ryan very much. Your Mother & I are very proud of you.

    Love, Dad

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  3. Honey,

    I LOVE YOU!

    We are going to make it through this hard time. I am here for you.

    Love,

    Paul

    ReplyDelete