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| 6:15 |
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| 6:25 |
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| The Martin Family And Their Fledlgings |
Back in my routine, up at 6:00 except there's a house full of little girls sleeping upstairs and one grandson. It's a lovely morning, 61º and both Evie and I, who is also up early, caught the sun rising over Long Point, the familiar sound of the purple martins, singing in the morning. Now we know we are back.
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| Hayden And Halle Saying Goodbye To Mom and Dad |
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| Heading To The Lake |
Yesterday's drive from Bristow, VA, was longer than usual, an extra hour, (we stopped five or six times) but uneventful and the girls were great, never a complaint, rarely a 'are we there yet' except ironically. Yes, they all have a sense of humor. So we left Bristow at 7:30 and arrived at the lake at 3:30. The girls jumped out of the car, ran out to look at the lake, then upstairs to pick our which bedroom they wanted. They decided on the blue room with two double beds. Once that was decided, they marched out to the car, and we slowly unpacked everything, giving the girls and Mitch and armful, telling them which room to put it. It went quick and easy when you have eight of us unpacking.
Every one relaxed for an hour, though the girls unpacked and organized their room; it must be the 'granny' in them. About 5:00, they took their first dip in the lake, surprisingly cold compared to the ocean at Topsail Beach, so they did not linger. And we had none of the tubes or floats out yet, so they had nothing to jump on. At 6:00, Evie talked everyone into a boat ride, with pretzels and drinks, so the girls assumed their usual pose, lying down on the seats with towels over them, as the adults talked about the interesting changes around the lake, the houses for sale, the loveliness of an evening on the lake.
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| Marlena's First Jump In Chautauqua Lake 2015 |
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| Hayden |
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| Hayden's New Hair Do |
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| Marisa Grabs Her Nose |
Evie had made sloppy joe's before we left for Topsail, so it was an easy dinner, just heat them up, toast the buns, brown a couple of hot dogs for those who did not want sloppy joes, and make a quesadilla for those who did not like dogs or sloppy joes. What happened to the good old adage: "You are going to eat what I make or go to bed hungry." After dinner, the girls remembered the treasure chest, pulled it out and tore through it, picking out three items each, a Chautauqua tradition for all kids. We all were exhausted from the trip, a couple of the girls had headaches, Marisa a stye, Halle a sore throat, so we worked hard at getting them to bed early, around 9:30. So everyone but Mitch was in bed by 10:00.
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| Treasure Chest |
The past few days I was thinking about how we want praise, admiration, whether an adult or child and how it often gets in the way of experience. It must have been reinforced this past week as the grandchildren often wanted us to watch them do 'cart wheels' or ' ride on their 'skim boards.' And I wondered if we did not have an audience, would we still do these things or not? Teachers certainly are often performers, have the need to be admired or liked, just like actors, or children or grandchildren. I can remember the great Lawrence Oliver's response to why he acts. His answer, 'Look at me. Look at me.' And I assume, it's one of the reasons I keep writing this blog. Anyways, coincidentally the Kripalu blog had an interesting post on this topic this morning, comparing performance to experience. I thought it was interesting enough to quote part of it.
What makes a performance different than an experience? It’s all in your head.
Are you trying to look good? Do you want to impress others or win something? Are you looking for acceptance, approval, accolades, wild thunderous applause? Is it painful when you don’t get those things? You’re probably performing.
If you’re experiencing, on the other hand, you’re exploring what something feels like. You are trying to see what would happen if… When you’re experiencing, you can appreciate negative outcomes as well as positive ones. Sure, acceptance and approval and accolades feel good, but those things don’t determine success. Success is based on whether you fully immerse yourself in the experience, no matter how it turns out, and whether you learn from it. That’s a result you can always achieve regardless of the outcome.
When you’re performing, your success is disturbingly short-lived. As soon as you’ve achieved one milestone or received a particular standing ovation, it’s no longer relevant. Your unending question is: what’s next?
When you’re experiencing though, it’s not about the end result, it’s about the moment. You’re not pursuing a feeling after, you’re having a feeling during. You can’t be manipulated by a fickle, outside measure because you’re motivated by a stable internal one.
I wonder if we are bringing our children up to be 'performers', often getting in the way of experience?
etertnity ebs and reluctancency flows
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