Treasures

Our little town is full of working professionals and has a ton of summer camp options, but there's nothing quite like the camp at the Friends School. The kids spend a significant time every day in a forest "village" of their own making, and each group's space becomes a testimony to their imagination. On the last day of camp, I followed D and his cousin C (imported from Maryland for the week) into the woods for a tour.

My memory of childhood trips is full of my sister's discoveries of "treasures." These were usually items that someone else had discarded, or never even noticed in the first place, but which took on the luster of spun gold when looked at in just the right way. C takes after her mother in her ability to find magic where others see dirt and rocks; the next two pictures are hers:

C's homemade firepit

C's special rock

C herself, demonstrating the specialness of her rock

Here's to time in the woods and treasures everywhere.

Stewarts

Some of the fun of this week has been introducing C to the outstanding attractions of Mercer County. On Thursday, we told the kids that we'd be going to Stewarts for dinner. "Wahooo! Yesssssss!" yelled D as he jumped and danced around. "What's Stewarts? A restaurant?" asked C. She was clearly having trouble imagining how a restaurant could be fabulous enough to elicit such a response.

"Yes!" exclaimed the dancing D. "It's this restaurant, but you get to stay in your car, and they bring you the food and hang it on your car window, and then you get to just do whatever you want in the car!"

We opened the sunroof:

"Hey, look! We're sitting on the TOP of the car!!!!"

We cleaned out the trunk and let the kids experiment with moving their car seats around (!), pulling the seat-release buttons, and just generally wreaking havoc:


And we stayed until we were the very last car:

C will definitely be doing a little dance of joy the next time we mention the possibility of a run to Stewarts. As we were leaving, a newly-converted and blissed-out C said, "And this wasn't even my special day!"

Mission accomplished. :-)

Decisions, Decisions

In my working life, I am a matchmaker. Of sorts. I mean, I'm not a yente. I deal not with young adults in search of marriage, but with college-bound students who are caught between the stories they've been raised on – "you can do anything you want" – and the reality of their cumulative gpa's.

I am just now starting to get back in touch with some of "my" rising seniors, and the two emotions that color our conversations are excitement and fear.

The excitement is all about finally getting to test their wings a bit... new town, new space, new friends, new challenges. And the fear? The fear is about being unwanted.

Some of my students are keeping it all in perspective. But the ones who are anxious are turning their anxiety like a laser beam on the decisions that await them.

Not their decisions. But those of the colleges to which they'll be applying.

And what I'll be saying to them, over and over again in the coming months, is that it is THEIR decisions that count. Where to visit. What questions to ask. Whose advice to accept. Whose to ignore. How far is too far? How close is too close? How many application essays is too many to do a great job on?

You need to decide, I'll say to them, how comfortable you are with risk. How ready you are for change. How willing you are to let go. How prepared you are to stand up for what you want. How able you are to turn criticism into fuel.

Sure, the colleges will be making decisions. But that's months away yet. Right now, my seventeen year-olds are in the driver's seat. If I can just get them to grab that wheel.

(Thanks to the women of Sunday Scribblings
for their continuing inspiration.)

Contrast Haiku

Good luck, bad luck:
seals bobbing offshore –
the fisherman shrugs.

(Thanks to the women of One Deep Breath
for their continuing inspiration.
And to gulliver of Clip2Go
for this great photo of bobbing seals.)

The Definition of Fun

Here are D and his cousin C,
so excited for their week of camp together
that they can hardly STAND it!

After camp, there's more fun at the pool...
here's C asking, "Which jump should I do?"

Ooooh, fancy!

"We're not cold, we're not hungry, and we're never leaving."

(Note to self: Buy milk in gallons and bread in two-packs.)

Tote Bag Haiku

satisfaction –
at the bottom of my bag
a sharpened pencil

Momentous Haiku

dizzy with future
he stands looking at his palm –
first lost tooth gleaming

(I lost my first tooth while swinging on a swing,
I think, and we couldn't find it.
(Mom, is that right?)
I was so happy for D that he lost his first one
while on vacation, and in the presence
of lots of excited loved ones.
Time to go to the library and borrow
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof!)

Phenomena

Annoying American Phenomena
of the Early Twenty-First Century

(vote for your "favorite" in the comments!)


"Like" is the new "um."

American sports and news announcers persist in their belief that only men play sports, and that only men care about sports. They say, "In the NCAA tournament today," or "In golf today," when they mean, "In the NCAA Men's tournament today," or "In men's golf today," and it drives me crazy. It's ONE SYLLABLE of clarification, fer cryin' out loud.

Amongst a certain group of young men, jeans are only cool if they are barely hanging on. Accordingly, clothing manufacturers are now making jeans that look like they're falling down even when they're not.

People who walked down the street talking to themselves used to be mentally ill. Now they're just on their cellphones.

Children's parties are now relentlessly "themed." Bleah.

Parents talking about their student's college search begin their sentences with "we." E.g. "We would like to apply to at least ten schools." I haven't said, "We who?" Yet.

We start talking about national elections well over a year before they take place, but can't figure out how to have a process that engages more than 50% of the people eligible to vote.

It's gotten harder to move through the world as just yourself... instead, as we move, the demands of our environment seem to require that we leave little pieces of ourselves. (Think pre-registration, keychain swipe cards while grocery shopping, EZ Pass, undsoweiter.)

Sightlines while driving are a thing of the past. Remember when you used to be able to scope out the road ahead of you a bit? Now you can scope out the giant butt of the SUV in front of you.

Undivided attention is becoming increasingly rare. Do I have yours?

(Thanks to the women of Sunday Scribblings,
who unwittingly provided me
with this lovely opportunity to vent,
and to my friend Scot, who helped me out
when I got stuck at eight.)

Comfort Haiku

Calling back and forth
until the sun comforts them –
mourning doves.

(Thanks to the women of One Deep Breath
for their continuing inspiration.
Gentle thoughts for ODB host Jennifer.
The "comfort" prompt this week made me think
about the way in which sharing grief
can sometimes dull its edge.
And about how I have nevertheless
shied away from such sharings.
I wrote a bunch of haiku while on vacation;
please stop back soon for more!)