Month: May 2020

Reading Into Things

Jeanna GLeave a comment

Growing up, I was not much of a bookworm. I spent my time outside running wild. Books and reading were of little interest to me. I enjoyed school and I did what I needed to do to get good grades, but as soon as I was done, Poof! I was outta there.

Once I hit college I had to read endless amounts of textbooks for my degree. I was interested in what I was learning, but once I was done with my studies, the last thing I wanted to do was curl up with a good book.

It wasn’t until I was a new mom that I really got into reading for pleasure. One of my favorite, most recent memories is of the summer my daughter and I moved into our own place. She was a year and a half and still took naps. We’d start our day with a wagon ride to the pool. A few splashes there and then we’d wheel back home for lunch. A stroller ride to lull her to sleep, and then after artfully transitioning her to bed, I would make my way to the balcony where I would enjoy a cocktail while reading my summer novels for a couple of hours. I was still teaching, so I had summers off. This was our daily routine, and I loved it.

I would be transported to another time, another place, another life. It was so easy to get lost in those books. I enjoyed those days, but that was just the beginning of a very physically and emotionally exhausting period of my life: single-motherhood.

I remember when I was a child and I’d be running through the house until I saw my mom lying on the couch, with one arm resting across her forehead, and a romance novel in her other hand. I would quickly slow down to quietly pass her by, hopefully undisturbed. I had enough intuition to know that was her time, her escape, her need in that moment. I knew then, but now I get it. I often wonder if she was actually reading, or if the book was more of a warning sign for us to leave her alone.

This past weekend was the unofficial start to summer, and although I don’t have summers off anymore, I don’t want to stop diving into beach reads. I prefer to borrow books than buy them, but with the libraries being closed because of Covid-19, I caved and bought both a paperback and an online copy of new summer must-reads.

That first summer of reading and this one are very similar in that I needed an escape. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the need to be transported to another place and time, somewhere far removed from the current state of affairs. Finding the right book can be such a cure. To passersby, I’m just lazing in my hammock in my backyard, but I’m really in some imaginary beach house on Nantucket observing the heroine figure out her love life amidst all of her naive mistakes.

My daughter came to me yesterday to tell me her favorite things about living in our new home. One is our nighttime routine of cuddling while I read to her. Although we’ve done that everywhere we’ve lived, it is heartwarming to know she values those moments. I hope that I’ve instilled the desire to read, not just to develop the skill, but as a way of opening her mind to the possibilities that reading can provide. When we read we are not just peeking in on the lives of the characters, but we’re getting insight into the author’s experiences, opinions, thoughts, and ideas, which we can then draw upon to create our own real experiences. But I suppose I’m preaching to the choir with that gem!

I think our imaginations are naturally stronger as children. So if reading helps us to grow our imagination, it is also serves as a juvenescent elixir! How about that connection! Or am I just reading into things?

What books helped you to grow your imagination and feel youthful?

Setting Up Camp

Jeanna G2 Comments

Ahhh, Summer Camp. Growing up with two full-time working parents made summer camp a necessity. Yes, I was a latchkey kid, but that was just a couple hours after school, not an entire summer. As a full-time working, single-parent, summer camp is also a necessity for my daughter. But the good news is, we both love camp. The bad news is, her summer camp was cancelled because of Covid-19. She is devastated. We knew cancellation was a possibility, but we clung to the hope of camp happening like nothing else.

So, when handed lemons, make lemonade, right? I’m going to bring camp to her. Obviously it won’t be the same, but I think she’ll appreciate the effort, and we’ll both get a kick out of it. I can provide crafts, camp songs and prayers, swimming in a lake, a ropes course, skits, and maybe even a horseback ride. I’ll take a stab at their camp menu. Heck, I’ll even play reveille and taps (on my phone). Sadly, what I can’t provide is her ten other bunk mates or the space away from me to grow her independence.

I’ve been Pinterest surfing to find ideas and stir up memories of my own camp experiences, but there are some things that I need no help remembering. At Camp Jewel there is a giant climbing tower named Mt. Wood, and on the other side of the lake was a ropes course with a zip line. I conquered both. I was the only camper (that poor counselor drew the short stick) that went down to the lake for the Polar Bear swim before breakfast. My favorite stations were leatherworking and photography. They even had a dark room! We woke up in the middle of the night to go out looking for meteor showers. The battles between the cabins and the evenings at the Council Ring were always entertaining. It was my admiration of and the desire to emulate my counselors that led me to accepting a role at camps when I was in college, which then rerouted my career path towards teaching. I bet my parents didn’t know when they dropped me off that summer camp would be the catalyst that would eventually transform my life goals.

I’ve often thought about creating a summer camp for adults. I wonder… if I build it, will they come? In the meantime, let’s see what my daughter thinks of how I set up camp.

Expanding Time

Jeanna GLeave a comment

My daughter’s elementary school hosts an art program every year, and this year’s theme was “Tiny Things Matter.” Despite the cancellation of school, I’m happy to report that the show did go on, albeit virtually. Her entry depicted the importance of the honey bee. I noticed as the other entries were presented that about 90% of them were also connected to nature. Among them were ants on a tree, dandelion seed puffs waiting to be blown, clovers nudging their way up between the rocks, and rain droplets on leaves. In my mind’s eye, I could see the children taking pause to observe these wonders while adults breezed on by.

I remember being outside all the time as a child. I climbed trees, tramped around in the ravine, and played hide and seek in fields of tall grass. I’d burn wood with a magnifying glass, build forts in the woods, and throw sticks in the quicksand down behind the neighbor’s house just to watch them disappear. I’d let daddy long-legs, fuzzy caterpillars, and inch worms climb up my arms during the day, and light up mason jars with fireflies on summer evenings. I don’t like admitting that most of these pastimes faded out as adolescence took hold.

During the stay-at-home order, my daughter and I have been capitalizing on the opportunity to be outside and observe the changes that spring ushers in, when we would otherwise be sitting at a desk in an office or classroom. Our lunchtime walks have become part of our new daily routine, and I will miss them dearly when schools reopen. Despite the phenomenally thick layer of pollen, springtime is quite beautiful here in North Carolina. My mom threw her back out and has not been able to go on walks, so I send her pictures of what we see on ours.

Sights on our Springtime Strolls

Other than the sights, sounds, and scents of spring, the best part of these walks is that we can take our time. Before the world closed, I was always in such a rush. There was no time to smell the flowers and make wishes on dandelions.

But time is tricky. Time flies when you’re having fun. We grow up and wonder where all the time went. When we’re bored or unhappy we plead for time to hurry up. We don’t have time, so we try to make time, so that we can take our time. And time is relative, right Einstein? Apparently the experience of time is also subjective.

I did a little digging around and came across a study that shows when people experience the feeling of awe, an effect is the subjective expansion of time. In other words, when we give more attention to something, and are more emotionally engaged in that moment, we actually feel as though time is slowing down, and we are thereby gifted with more time. To children, everything is new and awesome. So by taking the time to focus on all that is new, they are slowing time. They might even have the power to reverse time; they are juvenescent! To adults, everything is old news, so we speed past everything. Been there, done that. Seen it. And then BAM!, we’re old and wondering how time passed us by.

Slow down. Be mindful. Go for a walk and stop to look into the intricate face of an iris. Search for the perfect skipping stones. Grab a pair of binoculars and look for birds camping out in trees. Carry along a magnifying glass and spy on the busy bugs. Reopen your eyes to the awesomeness of nature, and maybe you can harness the power to expand time.

What do you find awe-inspiring? When is the last time you were able to give your undivided attention to something? What engages your emotions to the point that you feel completely in the moment?