Author: Pamme Boutselis

Writer. Serial volunteer. Lover of all things TED.

On the Road

photoFour hours into day four of my leg of SNHU’s #SeeYourselfSucceed cross-country journey and I already feel like I have been with this dedicated group of people for much longer than that. Actually, the last couple of months have had a one-long-day feel to it—mostly because it’s been such an intensive dive into this initiative encompassing so many different components. When I say one long day, I mean that entirely in a positive way.

There’s been a consistent flow to almost every bit of work that I’ve done over the past two months that easily transitions into my time away from work, too. Actually, there’s very little time away from work. I find myself drawn to the social media elements 24/7, wanting to follow up with every comment, every ‘like,’ every share and every question regardless of the time of day/night. It’s fascinating stuff and everyone is working extremely hard at this. As much effort as I’m putting in, there’s many others doing double that and more. This isn’t work—it’s passion for everyone.
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Embarking on a Great Adventure

photo-145I am about to embark on a great adventure—a journey, quite frankly, that could be described as life-altering (and I’m sure it will be described in just those words by me before the journey is over). It’s a trip already in progress, and I will enter into the second third of that journey, one which I’ve had the privilege to document in blog form and social media for the nonprofit university for which I am fortunate to work.

Southern New Hampshire University began a six-week, cross-country trip by bus–a branded SNHU.edu bus–eleven days ago, and has traveled down the east coast, meeting students and alumni, connecting them with advisors and faculty who have impacted them in some significant way, and most all, students are sharing their goals, along with their personal stories and how SNHU somehow fit into each. Every story told to date resonates strongly with me. We hear about the sacrifices made to obtain dreams, not just for or by the student, but his or her family as well; and we hear about what’s next. This is an opportunity to cheer on those still making gains in their degree programs and to applaud those who have completed theirs–and celebrate their success.
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Small-Town Spoiled

320px-Berries_(2)I am incredibly spoiled with where I live–a small town in southern N.H., which used to be known primarily as a farming community. It’s long been a place to get gorgeous fresh strawberries, blueberries and corn, along with many other fresh fruits and vegetables and people still continue to come from far and wide to purchase produce. In fact, we still see people coming at the end of the season, stocking up on potatoes, onions and the like for the months ahead, particularly those who believe in buying in bulk and have the means for cold storage over the winter.
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Lifting the Weight

Mary_Magdalene_Crying_StatueI have found myself counting my blessings even more than usual since 2013 began. Even when times are tough, I try to pay particular to all of the good things I do have in my life and be sure that I am expressing gratitude and thankfulness for those things. There’s been a lot of heaviness in the new year – the loss of my brother-in-law, who had been an enormous influence in my life as well as many deaths throughout the small community I live in, serious illnesses and more – and although the majority had very little close connection to me personally, they affected many people I know and care about in significant ways and I have had a hard time shaking the weight of that sorrow. Too many good people were having too much struggle in their lives, too many awful things were happening and it nagged at me as I tried for months to make sense of it all.

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The Beauty of Words

imagesI used to write a lot of poetry, but I really don’t all that often anymore. Occasionally something comes to me and I feel the need to write it down, but more often it remains nothing more than scraps of paper littered with words, some interconnected, some just random thoughts, and that’s okay. While the poetry I wrote was not half-bad at times, I never harbored illusions of where it might go beyond satisfying my own needs in getting the words out and occasionally reaching someone else as well with those words. While I don’t much miss the writing, I do miss the connectedness at times of those days with other writers also exploring the craft.

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Thirteen Years Ago Today

750px-Anaplastic_large_cell_lymphoma_-_cropped_-_very_high_magThirteen years ago today, I found out I had cancer.

Here’s the surprising thing—I had no idea what the exact date was until a little while ago. I knew it sometime in late February, but it is only today when I came across a copy of the email sent to my surgeon and a print-out the doctor gave me to give me some background on this disease I was diagnosed with that I realized the date. And even more surprising, it’s today’s date.

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A Milestone to Celebrate

512px-Balloons-ajI have a good friend who is 30 years sober today. Given that she’s only in her 50s, this means that she recognized at an early age that alcohol was not her friend and made the decision to do something about it. I know it couldn’t have been easy and that life gave her, like all of us, many struggles to overcome. But here she is, 30 years later – celebrating this milestone – and her friends and loved ones are celebrating with her, while few would believe that there is anything she couldn’t tackle.
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Late Fall Ruminations

512px-Fall_leaves_and_acornsWe’re an introspective lot – women my age – and perhaps it’s because we finally have the time to stop and think about a thing or two. While we’ve all had our own experiences, varying as they may be, one commonality seems to be that we were all incredibly busy; some of us raising a family, others running a business, working very hard to move forward in a challenging career or perhaps even all three. In my own group, everyone’s kids are basically out of the house now and we can finally exhale or at least schedule a bit of time to. Life isn’t any less busy, but it’s busier with things that we have in place for ourselves for a change – organizations we wanted to join earlier in our lives, lessons or courses or maybe just longer hours at work. But it feels different somehow because much of it involves just us for a change.

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Pet Shifting

photo-139For quite some time now, it seems like most weekends have demanded an early rise; not quite as early as a normal workday, but early nevertheless. This weekend promised to be the first in a long time that I had no definite morning plans – no reason I had to get up early and I was psyched. Chances were I wouldn’t sleep all that late but it was nice knowing that I had nowhere I had to be.

Last night, however, I was out until fairly late and as a pet owner, that meant my dogs had been kenneled off and on a good chunk of the day and evening. In addition, one of my sons had asked me to watch his dog for the weekend, too. I arrived home and took the first shift of dogs out (mine) and got them settled before visiting briefly with our ever-growing kitten that would not be welcome upstairs once my son’s dog entered the equation. His dog would like nothing more than to ferociously chase the kitten around, barking like crazy, terrifying the kitten to no end. I have a feeling that the dog would simply stand there looking silly if the cat stood its ground, but I’m not going to take that chance. Next up, it was dog #3 out of his kennel and outside for his walk.
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Gratitude for a Magical, Manic Month

 weddingThis has been a memorable, yet exhausting month that began with a landmark family event and ended with a huge event of global proportion that was shared, coincidentally, with the very person involved in the beginning of the month event – and what a month it’s been!

My eldest son married his longtime girlfriend-then-fiancé on September 2nd, and the rehearsal and dinner were the evening before. While for most, Labor Day weekend is often greeted with sadness, signifying the end of beloved summer, for us it was a weekend to look forward and the primary focus of our summer months. In fact, summer fun seemed secondary this year as we busily prepared for this momentous family event. In a flash, that wonderful weekend was over and we plunged into the next things on the docket as the happy honeymooners made their way to Jamaica. Within a day or so, my youngest son left for his second year of college and all of a sudden, I was alone – living alone for the first time in my entire life; well, as alone as one can be with 3 grown cats, one frisky kitten and two insubordinate dachshunds.

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Lakeside Reflection

271209_581666969228_1530764_o-1I am on vacation in an extraordinary place that I have been coming to for nearly 30 years now. There’s been just two summers that I have not been here in that time and there have been other years that I’ve been fortunate to come several times in one year. Throughout my childhood and early adult life, I enjoyed several long stretches visiting various places in New England regularly, from an area close to Cape Cod to the Lakes region of New Hampshire and White Mts., but this place, this wonderful place at Newfound Lake in New Hampshire has provided respite; blessed continuity for many, many years now and I cherish it.

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