Shannon Yee

In the last year or so, I’ve adopted some new activities and some old ones too that I think have been very good.

I love to read, and I’ve always tried to take a few minutes before I go to bed, usually, to read. I’ve read several good books and here are a few that I thought were well worth the read.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Half the Sky by Sheryl WuDunn
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
All of these books are a little depressing. They are hard to read, not because of the vocabulary or grammar, but because they deal with difficult topics and issues. They are not a happy, life is good, sort of read. They are each the kind of book that will make you think and hopefully motivate some change, to reach out to others, to be stronger in the face of real life, which is not always pretty.

Volunteering regularly at the school has become part of my life, and it has been great to get to know the kids and adults that my kids spend so much of their time with. Driving to and from the different schools is a good time for me to listen to the news and other interesting stories, like Invisibilia.

One of the best things, we’ve done is: Babysitting Co-op. Some friends of ours, who also have three kids, take turns watching all the kids. Every three months, we take a turn to babysit nine kids for 3-1/2 hours one Saturday. The kids get along really well and have so much fun together. We feed them dinner and oversee their fun. For the other two months, Brian and I get to go out for a lovely evening, without the extra cost of a babysitter. It is wonderful!

Cooking club has been one of my new highlights each month. A group of 6 women, who are gourmandes and also happen to enjoy the cooking that goes with the eating of delicious food, gather once a month to dine and discuss. We alternate cooking and take turns hosting in our homes. It is a great time of talking and eating with friends. I didn’t know all of the women when we started, but I have gained several new and wonderful friends through this great club. I think it is probably not a coincidence that several of the women are French.

I am still running and enjoying my Friday cross-training class at the gym. Since it has been almost five years that I’ve been going each week, I’ve become pretty good friends with the teacher and some of the other regulars. We decided it was time to have some fun together outside of our class, so now we are going out monthly as well to chat and relax together.

With a church building, there has been lots of work to do there. So, I have been spending a fair amount of time helping with various odds and ends. Now, I’m going to help with cleaning each week as well. This is a good time for me to think and also be helpful to others. I only wish I found cleaning my home to be as therapeutic as cleaning the new church.