But Did You Live?

Jeanna G2 Comments

I catered an event last night that was out in the middle of Nowhere, NC. When I pulled in, the owner met me on his UTV, and told me to follow him through the hayfield to the backside of the venue, and that’s where I could park. Going in was no problem. After the event and a massive downpour, in the dark with no escort, I started to think twice about driving through a field. And in that moment, I thanked God for being so dumb in high school.

Where I grew up, we got pretty creative with our party spots in order to keep them out of the police spotlight. Woods, cornfields, creeks, sandpits, the quarry, mountain tops, the end of an airstrip… Been there, done that. We also had to be pretty adventurous to be willing to try to get there, mindful of all possible exits in case we had to flee in a pinch, and imaginative with our excuses of how that mud got all over the tires and that dent got in the fender. It actually takes a lot of brain power to be dumb.

Thinking back on all the risks I took, it’s a wonder I’m not dead. I get a kick out of that line from Hangover when Chow asks, “But did you die?” Sitting in that field last night, I was grateful for my near-death experiences. I’m a lot less dumb at my current age, but more importantly, I know I can say “yes” when asked, “But did you live?”

Nature Walks

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We often had nature walks as a part of our learning experience in elementary school. We’d have a list of critters and plants to hunt for on these walks. 6th grade took it to the next level and we were assigned the Leaf Project. We had to find and identify a ton of different leaves, and put them in an album. It was a lot of work, but it nurtured my love for nature. Also in middle school, I helped to create the recycling team. We were responsible for getting recycling bins into every classroom, and then emptying them every week during homeroom. I’m still very conscious about recycling, reducing, and reusing materials, and not just because Earth Day is every day, but because waste not, want not.

I spend a lot of time outdoors for my job, so I’ll admit that, when my shift is over, I prefer to head inside to a cool, dark place. (FYI: North Carolina is hot.) However, I miss my nature walks. In celebration of Earth Day, I’m going to make a goal of going on two nature walks per month. I go on dog walks every day, but I’m actually going to go to a new trail, a new set of trees, and new body of water to admire and enjoy. And I will whisper two things to my surroundings: 1) thank you and 2) I’m sorry on behalf of of the humans who don’t know better or care more. As a student of kinesiology, I work with the understanding that, if we don’t take care of our bodies, we’ll have no place to live. The same goes for our beautiful, fragile planet.

On my nature walks, I vow to leave my phone in the car. I think Earth Day should have a subtitle: Look Around You Not at Your Phone Day. I also vow to leave the trail better than I find it. I hope more people do the same on Earth Day, and every day.

Throwback Thursday

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It’s amazing how what I thought was history, is still a current event. Storytelling is how history is preserved, whether spoken aloud, written, or recorded through visual arts. What surprises me though, is when my daughter does something I used to do as a kid, but it’s not anything I ever shared with her. (This is a good reminder of how much our kids are learning from other sources!)

For example, she came into my room this morning and started singing, “Miss Susie had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell, Miss Susie went to heaven, and the steamboat went to hell-o operator…”

Hello is right! Now I probably should’ve shook my finger at her and told her that rhyme wasn’t polite, but I went right on singing every word as if I’d just sang it yesterday.

Later on, she was making up some silly rhyme and asked what rhymes with twelve. “Elves!” she shouted in response to her own question. Then she knelt down into her Crocs and says, “Look momma! I’m an elf!” We used to do the same thing!

Then that prompted me to think of how we used to lie on our backs and hang our heads off the sides of the bed, cover our faces from nose to hair with a bandana, draw a face on our chins, and then put on a silly skit like that. Maybe I’ll show her that trick next Throwback Thursday.

I guess even those who do know history are destined to repeat it.