What was the question?

Today I am grateful for the energy of students as a new school year gets underway, for people who listen, and for questions. 

Questions. Life is full of them. More questions than answers. Tough, easy, rhetorical, unanswerable; questions come in all shapes and sizes. 

I remember the moment my husband popped the question as he proposed to me 23 years ago. I remember the many questions I got answered by What To Expect When You’re Expecting when I was pregnant with our son. I smile at the sometimes unending questions from our grandsons. 

In my education career, questions are part of the gig. As a classroom teacher, it was questions posed to students for discussion or on a test, or the lighter fare of the current events game we played on many Fridays. As a counselor, it is more about open-ended questions and listening to others as they answer some of their own questions. 

Then there are the questions we ask ourselves. Many of mine have been repetitive and seemingly difficult. The kind that tend to start with "Why?" As it turns out, many things I framed as questions were more reminders and guides than some elusive right answer. 

I am learning to ask "How do I move through this?  How do I find peace?  How do I let go?" And I am reminded of a recovery acronym based on H.O.W.  Honesty. Open-mindedness. Willingness. That's how Lisa. That's H.O.W.