"People will say it’s sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it’s not sad… It’s triumphant. It’s heroic. Isn’t that the real heroism? The real heroes anyway aren’t the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention. The guy who invented the smallpox vaccine didn’t actually invented anything. He just noticed that people with cowpox didn’t get smallpox."
– The Fault in Our Stars
The temperature has dropped considerably, but we got another cutting of rhubarb in which made me very happy. Hands down our favorite rhubarb crisp recipe is here. Cutting stringy rhubarb with a butter knife is a big treat for the little girls. They were able to do almost the entire recipe with very little help, which is pretty funny because neither of them actually like rhubarb. For them it's truly all about the process, which reminds me to slow down and enjoy all those interim steps instead of racing headlong to the end product.
Metaphor alert. You knew that, right? ; )
There is a definite autumnal feel to our days lately. Summer not only peaked at solstice but pretty much only happened during that small window. It's been cool and breezy and probably just right to nudge us towards the coming school year. We won't be starting for a couple of weeks due to upcoming travel and overseas book shipments. What happens now is likely even more important than the 'start' date though.
It is rather taken for granted that the focus in the weeks and months that lead up to 'back to school' is on adding – books, supplies, uniforms (school or sports or both), programs, activities. If those things are to be peacefully woven into our homes and our days we have to practice the art of subtraction. A familiar design principle, it is just as relevant to crafting focused, peaceful days as to creating art.
So, right now we are making room in our personal spaces. One by one we have been purging bedrooms and closets. Outgrown clothes removed, needed sizes noted. Windows and baseboards had been neglected and there probably won't be time for them once fall schedules begin so those are getting some attention now. The bookshelves are being sorted, last year's books taken down. School supplies purged and restocked. The vehicles have been emptied and vacuumed in anticipation of lots of commuting.
We have been talking about ways to make room inside ourselves too. The learning we have such high hopes for often ends up competing with ipod playlists, instagram images, facebook feeds, and 24hr news. Never before have people lived without pause and we are not thriving with the incessant inflow. At some point you can no longer effectively process new input and that affects both essentials and non-essentials rather indiscriminately.
Not good.
More than that, it has struck me so often as the years go by that there is very little opportunity for boredom and I think that's a shame. Tragic actually. Our older children read or explored simply because there wasn't something else to do. Without constant entertainment you make your own. You doodle, you build things, you take walks, you strike up card games. So we are corraling the screens to a small portion of the days, my own days as well. I spend a fair amount of screen time with my digital darkroom (photoshop etc) Lots of time is needed to turn out produce rich, nutrient dense meals for a houseful. I am trying to speak – with real live audible words – to my adult children and distant friends on a regular basis. Spoken conversation takes time. That time needs to be consciously carved out and necessarily leaves less for other things.
Moms often find themselves, midyear, chasing after solutions to what are actually secondary problems. Kids are naughty, laundry piles, exhaustion hits. Often several different little fires we are trying to put out are sparked by the same flame. So before we start filling up the calendar and the house, we are emptying.
Making room.
Some related thoughts:
The Virtue of Silence for the Teacher
"Closeness counts. There is no substitute for geneuine felt connection. We cannot control the culture outside our homes, but as parents we can create the culture we choose inside our families and communities…Especially in today's tech-oriented environment, it is in the humanizing qualities of family and empathy, of a protected childhood rich in play, with sheltered time for reflection and conversation that closeness grows."
Thinking a great deal about what a protected childhood looks like and about how to shelter time.
“Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
– Mary Oliver
The sun setting in his eyes? Astonishing. Alternate title, "How I Spend My Summer Vacation"
"We should stop considering that changing the world is impossible. It’s harder not to change the world. But while the world offers us “chaos theory,” we need to offer the world 'beauty theory….'” the rest of John Clark's thoughts about changing the world with small beautiful acts came in the mail today. You can read them here.
It is good to be reminded, "our are not the things of chaos." (1 Cor 14:33) Some days we just see all the moving parts and it can be difficult to see how they are working together for good.
"Man has a noble task:
That of prayer and love.
To pray and love, that is the happiness of man on earth."
St Jean Baptiste Vianney
"That time of day when the sun hasn't come up yet but you can already feel it coming. It's an elusive warmth, like a subtle promise whispered in your ear, and you can go on with your day knowing you've been given another chance to get it right."
– Cassia Leo
When I walked over to the pasture fence I thought again about the prayer I read earlier in the day:
"Help me to become wholly forgetful of self, that I may be immovably rooted in Thee, as changeless and calm as though my soul were already in eternity. May nothing disturb my peace…"
Starry Sky Journal 