A History of Mary’s Minute
I want to take a minute to give a history of Mary’s Minute. It is crazy how quickly we can speak of our lives using the word “history” because 20 years doesn’t seem that long ago!
When I was assistant principal at Perry Central Elementary, our team decided to borrow an idea from Todd Whitaker, and we began our weekly staff newsletter, Friday Focus. I don’t know exactly when that was, but I know it was before 1998 because I remember that I was finishing an addition on the Thursday night before giving birth to Zoe the next day.
When I became superintendent, of course, we knew Friday Focus would continue, but I added a weekly column called Mary’s Minute. It was meant as a way for me to communicate directly with staff, sharing positivity. A few years later, I started publishing MM as a blog and shared it on social media.
Fast forward 17.5 years to when I accepted a new role as superintendent at Sheridan Schools. I started a staff newsletter there called Blackhawk Beat, and you guessed it, it contained a column called Mary’s Minute. That meant I wrote MM every Friday that school was in session for 20 years.
I haven’t written a MM column since I retired from Sheridan back in the summer. I don’t think I was quite ready. I think I was lost for an audience. It isn’t as if I had a wide-readership, but in mind for my years at Perry Central, I was primarily writing for the PC staff, and then at Sheridan for the staff there.
As I enter this next phase of my life where my time is more my own, for whom and why should I write? It is true that I have a consulting business, and I can publish my blog on the Bower Consulting website (shameless plug – www.bowerconsult.com) to help people get to know me better, but being a private consultant is not the same as leading a school.
It has taken me a few months, but I think I finally have it figured out. I am ready to write for myself, not worrying about the audience. It is a strange place to be in life, but a very good one. As an educator and mother, it was important for me to give of myself. In fact, for me the purpose of life it to leave the world better than we found it. At this point in my life, it feels a bit selfish that my time is more my own, and being selfish has always seemed like a very bad thing to me. I think I am coming to terms with balancing taking time for me, while at the same time doing my best to always serve.
My goal is to do life – and Mary’s Minute – for me, but not in a selfish way. I want to live and write to be more complete, reflective, giving, and kind -- for the world and for me. The next few issues may be about my month in Italy. I had hoped to publish while I was there, but technology got the better of me. I still will say, “Chin chin” to the next 20 years of Mary’s Minute! Thanks for reading!