"Mom, there is hair in my vagina"...as she reveals to me the corn hair she just husked
8.30.2011
8.29.2011
BABE PHRASE OF THE MOMENT
"Dada, my milk is spicy"
(CONTEXT: Drinking a rotten milk from a champagne glass in Quebec City - poor little had no idea and that was the only descriptor she could think of)
8.18.2011
8.16.2011
PERSONAL INSPIRATION: JUST JAMAAL - FOUR KIDS
Not often do you come across exceptionally multi-talented people. I am blessed to have known Jamaal for about 14 years now. In highschool, it was so evident that he was made for big things. He smashed records in athletics but sat quietly in English class penning the most beautiful poems and essays. He break danced in the halls, spinning wildly yet controlled all at the same time, but performed, eloquently, the most complicated of Shakespeare. He sat on a bus with me after a long night of basketball to make sure I got home safe. He was the first person that ever told me my eyes, my favorite personal feature, were "beautiful".
Jamaal, likewise, is beautiful. He is a preacher, educator, athlete, human, poet, husband to beautiful wife and father to four children. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Jamaal's Urban Legends poet slam "Four Kids" - a commentary on raising his babes in a consumer culture.
MAMA LESSONS: FRIENDSHIP PART 2: NURTURING
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My love,
I have fond memories of friends: laughing, sharing, trusting, creating, loving. I remember the sweet times well and will hopefully carry those memories forever. For me, sweet Babe, establishing friends has been a bit difficult. My shy demeanour, although not a fault, has presented challenges when meeting new people. It wasn't until university that I overcame that shyness to turn around and smile at a girl picking up a first-year introduction package and said "hi". She became my best friend in university...pretty much from that moment on. Allowing myself to let others in has been another hurdle. Sometimes I trust and love and like so hard, that I lead myself into disappointment. Sadly the most precious gift that I have been given by others, the gift of letting me into their trusted area to become "friend", has sometimes slipped through my fingers. Not necessarily by intention or neglect, just inexperience and passing time.
But my Babe, when you open your heart and mind to the opportunity to great friendships, the fundamental element of our beings, you open your life to great possibilities, experience, and love. So this lesson is about nurturing that gift "one of the most enduring and wonderful gifts of being alive" (Dr. Binder-Byrnes).
As noted by a psychologist and contributor to GOOP.com, in a newsletter regarding friendship:
Friendship is universal in humanity. As we grow, some friendship develop with us for a lifetime providing companionship, support and love for each other's beings. [...] Friendship, throughout our lives, serves as a mirror of our very essence. The love, laughter, and concern we share with friends gives us a sense of self. [...]Our friends become our historians, secret keepers and comrades on life's journey.
Life continuously changes as do we as people. Acknowledging this can be the first step in nurturing a friendship. For, although we share common experiences, we will ultimately begin to move along. Changes sometimes occur slowly and organically but those that don't cause tension. Embrace and support the positive changes in each other's lives and your friendship becomes stronger.
Long lasting friendships are a constant balancing act of give and take. Listen often. Share the same. Voice your opinions. Brace for others.
Utter acceptance.
Be honest and genuine.
"In essence, our friends are the life-affirming fountain from which we drink. Good friends fill us up with warmth, honesty and a sense of well-being. [They don't diminish your life experience rather enhance it]"
Dr. Karen Binder-Byrnes
8.08.2011
MAMA LESSONS: FRIENDSHIPS PART 1 - MEANING
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"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity."
Kahil Gibran
Our lives bring us many relationships. Some stem out of love. Some stem out of location. Some stem out of loins. The relationship that aids in all other relationships enduring is a true friendship. But what is one and how does one nurture? Let us begin with the former. Discovering the meaning of a true friendship my Babe, is difficult. For like love in a lot of ways, only you can define it. Only you can take what has been given by another and interpret it. Hopefully I can impart some wisdom.
1. A friendship is a healthy agreement between two parties. It involves supporting others in positive ways to benefit their well-being. Friendships begin to go awry when there is a break in the agreement.
2. A friendship may be specific to a certain phase in our life, but doesn't mean it is any less significant. Our lives are on a journey, a journey of constant change. This means that our ideas about life change.
3. Trust is the most valuable thing you can offer someone. For with that they can experience the world and others without fear. A true friend nurtures that trust. Yes, we are all human and make mistakes which leads me to...
4. Friends make mistakes, but acknowledge, apologize and usually make them without intention.
5. Laughter without judgment.
6. The most blissful thing you can do with a friend is simply EXPERIENCE.
7. Rarely speaking ill of others is a good indication that they are not speaking ill about you.
8. SHARE love. MAKE memories. EMBRACE without judging. INSPIRE joy.
As Cynthia Bourgeault notes on GOOP.COM:
Friends forever (...) seem to share three characteristics:
1. They have a capacity to grow with you (and you with them) through life's changing circumstances
2. They are low-maintenance, rarely-to-never imposing themselves or laying expectations on you
3. contact with them, when it comes, is never a duty but always a gift 'heart to heart'
Such friends- always a rare and special breed have an uncanny knack for being able to stay in tune with you emotionally over huge gaps of time and space.
HOMESCHOOLING: THE bEarth Institute CURRICULUM
I must admit as of recent I have been a bit overwhelmed, but in a great way. I have been busy immersing myself in environmental and nutritional reads, dreaming about a much needed vacation (that we finally get to take - YEAH!), cleaning the endless MESS, and designing a curriculum for my biggest Babe. That being said, I have also been more confident in my choice to keep the Babes at home with me and work with them on creating days and memories filled with an abundance of love for them, the earth, and our spirits. Although I am very much still in the curriculum collecting phase of this project (mainly with regards to finding books to help the Mama figure out how to be less of a Mess), I did stumble upon an online learning institute that I am now part of. They provide curriculums and online learning for both children and their nurturers set in Waldorf methods. The 423 page guide is a blessing as it provides a list of materials, projects, stories, and activities each month. It also is not structured and its flexibility allows me to choose which stories I feel are appropriate and which projects as well. It basically lends itself to the flow of our day, I think the main reason why our biggest Babe is so amazing! I will continue to blog about our days but now I feel such a relief knowing that I won't have to spend my time designing a lengthy curriculum and missing out on precious time with my Babes.
xoxoxo
The Mama
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