What letter story will I tell today? A, P & V are done, so that leaves another 23 letters to choose from!
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Queen's Guide presentation. How about the glasses!
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Let's look at Q today. What Q words can you think of? Questions, quotes, qualifications, Queen, the Queen, Queen's Guide, qualities, quality time, Quality Street, quarantine, queue, quilt, quinquennial.
Isn't quinquennial a beautiful word? I found it in the dictionary. I didn't know there was such a word. Apparently it means recurring every five years. The only example I can find is from the Fixed Term Parliamentary Act in the UK that says that there should be a general election every 5 years. Unless of course they call another one in between. Sorry! Off down a rabbit hole. That's what comes of reading the dictionary!
Let's go back to my list and find some relevant stories.
I have lots of qualifications. A teaching certificate, a B.A.(Hons) and a Masters degree (M.Ed). Sad to say that the degrees were about proving that I was capabale of getting them. My grammar school teachers had said I wasn't good enough to go to University. They also said that I shouldn't apply to a London Teacher Training College. However I did ignore the last piece of advice and went to Southlands College in Wimbledon, London. But after leaving college I got it into my head that I needed to prove myself. This was before people talked about being 'enough' but I expect it is the same thing. I did my first degree part time with the Open University and my masters part-time at Warwick University. However I never told the school what I had done so I'm not sure what it proved and to whom.
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Standing on a manhole cover to stop my heels sinking into the grass!
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I also got photography qualifications and creative embroidery qualifications. And at one point took the Mensa exam. And got in!
The day I received the letter telling me I had completed my masters degree my dad asked me when I was going to start my Ph.D. And I took up the challenge and looked into doing a Ph.D in children's literature at Worcester University. And then I came to my senses!
I didn't need to prove myself. I didn't need more qualifications. What I needed was just to be me.
But it's hard when you've always been performance driven. I try now to be a 'being' not a 'doing'!
I expect there are other Q stories but I'll leave you with a quote from Charles Schultz:
'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia.'
Thanks for joining me today
Bernice
