In addition to the uber important lesson already addressed - ignore the nutballs, focus on the flowers - the outdoors at Grandmom's house continues to be a great place for learning. This can explain my (& my family & friends) obsession with keeping this property for our family. I'll try to just focus on the photo so we all have a visual of what life is like & perhaps quite different from those without a Grandmom's house.
That flower stalk was standing in the middle of acres of sunflowers. Most of the stalks around it had fallen. The morning glories choked a lot of them this year & once one goes down - it's a domino effect. Well, I wasn't going for the Physics example, but there's another learning lesson. Newton's Laws & sunflowers. So....what I was trying to get at was that I started to climb through debris to cut this bad boy. Of course, as I climbed (yes in that dress...there's another lesson for ya!), I got distracted (shocker!) and cut a handful of other blooms. I'd hoped to get it later. Dad went in after it minutes later. And boy was it worth it. This picture just doesn't do it justice. It was impressive.
Lessons - The coolest things are worth the work it takes to get to them. If you come up short, there's always someone there to pick up the slack. And my favorite one - Appreciate the beauty of what you find & share it. We took some pictures of this & then put it out by the road with some FREE blooms. John later saw (ever have a family member live up on a hill next door? don't kid yourself, they see EVERYTHING! love you guys!) a woman manueuver that huge stalk into her compact car. Not sure what she had in store for it, but I can only imagine that it brought her some joy. Just as it may have brought you joy in picturing her shoving it into her car.
Someone once explained to me that Calvin will have a different experience growing up with grieving parents. I think that this is very true. Note - not WORSE, but different. It's possible that my experiences as a kid were also shaped by grief. Through stories shared by family, I know that the loss of my grandfather (Pop) changed day-to-day life here on Gravel Pike. Priorities are different around here.
Climbing into the sunflowers in a dress - I don't think twice about that. If you're here, you're going to get dirty. If you're not getting dirty, you're missing out on something fun. Period. And one of Grandmom's best lessons...If I happen to stumble or get my dress caught while climbing. "Who cares. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all".
Yes. I do find this picture hilarious. I realized later that this is really how Cal learned to cut with scissors the other day. Here I thought I had finally got him to listen to me about thumb & digit placement. I know that there will be gasps from the mommies in denial club who will chastise me for allowing such danger in Cal's hands. Pbth!
We are demonstrating that we just learned all about admiring the beauty of nature, working together, supporting each other, having fun and sharing...without even realizing it. This is truly a magical place to be & to live. I get a rush of comfort & belonging every time I pull into the driveway.
Today's bad mommy exposure learning lesson will involve saws, hammers, nails, screw guns & paint. The kid already recharged his power wheels by himself yesterday. He can build bunny boxes, right? (Don't worry - G-Pop will help him a little bit).
No comments:
Post a Comment