Teach

Nature Walks

Jeanna GLeave a comment

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.

Reel Time

Jeanna GLeave a comment

One of my first jobs was working at the Video Galaxy, renting out VHS tapes to my friends and neighbors. I also worked for Mike’s Video in college, and later for Blockbuster. Needless to say, I’ve watched a lot of movies in my time. I’ve been so busy raising my daughter and working multiple jobs over the last decade, that I haven’t seen many new movies or tv series…outside of cartoons, anyway.

I keep seeing things on social media about these Netflix binges, and it seemed like such a nice thought to lie on my couch and not get up for days, that I made a New Year’s Resolution to watch more TV. Honestly! I just want to be home and lie on my couch and enjoy being still. So I forced myself to sit and watch a few different series that had been recommended, but then I hit a speed bump. There are so many options and streaming services, that I just felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to go from there. Plus, I’m never quite sure if it’s a show I can watch while my daughter’s awake, never mind if she’s in the room with me. So, I decided to forget television shows, and take it back to what I know… movies.

My daughter and I have become self-proclaimed movie critics. We’ve been watching all of the best movies from my childhood, the 80s and early 90s, and it has been amazing! I love that we laugh at the same parts and gasp together and cry on cue. We watched the Molly Ringwald/John Hughes’ movies, Dirty Dancing, Jaws, Footloose, Pretty Woman, and The Princess Bride, among many others, with plenty more in queue. The more we watch, the more I feel at home. And not just a location, but a feeling of contentment. A feeling that I am back where I belong. And bonus! I’m with the person I love the most, and she gets to have a glimpse into who I was when I was her age.

Sometimes we have to go back to who we were to remember who and where we want to be now. And we can go back in lots of ways, not just through movies. My daughter and I sing along to music from my childhood that is now, shockingly, qualified as “classic.” I also read her books that I first read thirty-something years ago. And then there are the toys and games and hobbies and so much more. I love rediscovering these old loves, but I love, even more, that she loves them just as much.

Hi Mom!

Jeanna GLeave a comment

Every time an award is received, or a game is won, and the winner yells into the camera, “Hi Mom!,” I smile. How great is it that moms are the first to be considered when a child does something well. How great that moms are loved so much, and credited with so much, that they get the first shout-out.

Mom. The first to take care of me, the first to teach me how to take care of myself, and the first to teach me how to care for others. Also the first to prove how much work it all takes.

Mom was always working. She had a full-time, 9-5 job, and then a part-time job in the evenings or on weekends. And they weren’t careers that she was passionate about, but jobs that benefitted her kids in more ways than just bringing in a paycheck to keep us fed and to put clothes on our backs. She ran a daycare out of our house so she could be home with us, and she worked as a secretary at the Y so we could get free camp enrollment, and she worked at a university to get us discounts on tuition. And despite all the jobs, she was always home in the morning, putting breakfast on the table and getting us on the bus, and then cheering us on from the sidelines, and driving us to and from our extra-curriculars in the afternoons and on weekends. How did she fit everything in? And when did she ever do anything for herself?

Being a mom, myself now, I’ve figured out the answer to those questions. She fit everything in because she was powered by love and sheer will. And what she did for herself was to grow us into capable adults who don’t need her anymore. But that right there is a Catch-22, because, as she told me, “The greatest achievement as a mom is to have kids who grow up and don’t need you anymore, but it’s also the worst thing that can happen to a mom.” So now she has all the time in the world to do what she wants for herself, but I really think she’d rather still be mom-ing us.

But mom, please know, on Mother’s Day and every day, that even though we can figure things out on our own, we still need you. We need to know we can come home, show you all the great things we’ve done, get a hug, and then hear you say “Be careful” as we head back out.

We also need to know we can come home, tell you about all the dumb things we’ve done, still get a hug, and then hear you say “Be careful” as we head back out.

So don’t worry, mom, whether we’re winning or losing, you’ll still get the first shout-out. Thanks for the love.