Last night I taught a hand embroidery class at Joann in Denton, Texas.  I had received the email notifications that the section had "made" and had tried to contact the store manager to confirm the class but had received nothing in return.

When I got to the classroom I found out that the store manager had assigned the class to another teacher without telling me.

This other woman, who had been asked to teach the class only a couple of days earlier was. very. upset.  I was annoyed but consciously chose to act like a professional and abide by whatever the store manager, who had already left for the day, decided.

The decision was in my favor, as the class had been assigned to me three months previously.

When the shunned teacher got back to the Joann classroom to pick up her teaching materials, I had already started to prepare for the class.  This woman suddenly began to soundly and loudly criticize my handwork, the samples I brought, my stitches, even the type of thread I use.  I stood shocked and speechless while a woman I had never met verbally condemned my technique, my ability teach....

I was so stunned that this person was being so rude that I was unable to quite comprehend what was happening. Other than the fact that I was so embarrassed  that I wanted to melt into the woodwork, I stood there shocked, thinking that this couldn't possibly be happening.  Thankfully I had enough wits about me to make a conscious choice to continue to act like a professional and not say what I was thinking.

I kept hoping that she would surely end the tirade soon, but when that didn't happen, I quietly thanked her for the observation and turned my back on her.

When I looked up a few moments later, this woman was standing, half-hiding behind a shelf just outside the classroom, complaining to an assistant manager about my handwork, etc.  The scorned teacher kept this up until, a moment later, I realized that the store manager had also left without leaving any of the materials that Joann is supposed to supply for the class, so I walked up to the employee and asked if she could get someone to provide what I needed.

The other woman finally wondered away.

Once I got back to the classroom I was shaking in anger.  However, I took a deep breath and madethe conscious choice that I wasn't going to let the personal attack ruin the class.  I love to teach and I'm good at it.  I do my best to instill a love of handwork and I am very aware that while my embroidery is beautiful, tasteful and my stitches small and consistent, as the other lady so bluntly stated, it isn't perfect.

I'm okay with that. I am who I am. I like it that way.

So.  Today.  Journal about something that you like about yourself that isn't perfect, what choices you made to bring that about, and why you like it that way.