Day 9

Tags

art, beauty, children, Fibonacci sequence, ideas, learning, math, nature, patterns, substitute teaching, sunflowers, teaching, the mind

I want to qualify: I was hesitant about doing a 365 Grateful theme (which, funny enough, there are actually 366 days this year – it just dawned on me that this is a Leap Year). I loved the idea of intentionally looking for things to be grateful for, yet really didn’t want to have a year’s worth of sappiness and personal feelings. But really, if you know me at all, you know that I’m nothing if not sappy. So. . . reader beware: I will be personal, which means I might be sappy.

I don’t have a picture for today. Honestly, I was too busy to even remember to take a picture. But there’s an image that stands out in my mind from, one that is as vivid as any photograph.

I have been subbing at one of the poorer school districts in town, and the experience has become something that I’m fascinated and touched by. I don’t want to be indelicate, but a lot of the kids that I’m working with have bigger concerns than whatever worksheet is in front of them. A lot of them are trying to just make it out the door in one piece, and by the time they get to the school building, they’re a distracted mess. Learning isn’t really a priority.

Today, I caught a 6th grade boy drawing when he was supposed to have been doing math. That class had already been pushing me – all classes do with a sub – but by this point I was tired of it. So I did what any art-lover would do; I told him that his contouring and proportions were very good, and then pointed out that some of the shapes he was drawing were mathematical in their structure. Hence, a quick consultation with the iPhone (yes, I did) and I have the class riveted as I explain the Fibonacci sequence. I explained how the sequence worked, and gave the go-to sunflower seed example. I drew a giant sunflower on the board and let the kids tell me (more or less) where each seed should go based on the number patterns. Everyone was spell bound. No one was talking.

The boy who had been drawing was staring at me with a look on his face that I won’t forget. His eyes were bright, and you could literally see him making connections and forming ideas and possibilities that were new to him. It was a hungry look, and at that point I was just sorry that I wasn’t able to tell him more. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the Fibonacci sequence only goes as far as my brief google searches have taken me, and that’s not really saying much. But the look on that boy’s face was priceless. I can’t imagine why I was able to facilitate that, but I think it might have touched me as much or more than it illuminated him. The understanding and curiosity that took hold of that boy was truly beautiful, more beautiful than anything I’ve seen in a long time.  It’s the kind of beauty that allows you to give more and more, just so long as it doesn’t end.

The boy looked back at his drawings with a whole different expression. I don’t know anything past that, but I can hope. Sometimes, all it takes is something to start the flow.

Day 8

Tags

ability, blessings, computer screens, eyes, glasses, health, pirate patch, thankful, vision

 

When I was in the second grade, I had an accident. I had a dirt bike, and I was riding it one day and went too fast around a corner. I slid on pine straw, and hit a tree. I ended up going to the emergency room because a stick went into my right eye. It barely missed my pupil, and after lots of pain, a month of wearing an eye patch (the jokes were horrible: I was Pegleg Pirate my second grade year) , and lots of visits to the eye doctor, I ended up with scar tissue over my cornea. Nothing, really. I was really, really lucky.

Before that, my vision was perfect. The accident ended up changing my right eye’s RX slightly, but only marginally. Hardly noticeable. So, eye doctors gave me “reading glasses” should I ever feel like my right eye isn’t hauling it’s weight.

I never actually used my glasses until my last semester of college. Too much computer work and too little sleep. But things snapped back after a few weeks of resting up, and the glasses went away again.

Or so I thought. I’ve been doing some editing, and the more time I spend on the computer, the more it becomes clear that my eyes aren’t so “bouncy” anymore. It seems like now I actually need my reading glasses. Weird. I can’t help but feel like it’s the beginning of the end, when everything starts to fall apart. . . I had colored contacts once (in jr. high – it was a phase), and it was an ugly battle to try and squeeze them into my eyes. I shudder at the thought of that ever becoming a necessity. . . I kinda like rolling out of bed and not having to think about seeing. . .

So, here it is: I’m so thankful my eyes are good. Yes, I am wearing “reading” glasses. Maybe doing so when I read will keep me from needing more vision correction.

And I’m thankful that that’s one of my few bodily complaints. . . I’m so healthy. . . the older I get, the more thankful I am that my body is so easy to live in. I can move and run and do almost anything without too much effort, and it’s a privilege to have that. . .

So here’s to my reading glasses. . . May you always stay reading glasses.

Day 7

Tags

couch, emo movie, emo post, hot chocolate, movies, Pan's Labyrinth, Saturday night, Seattle, Starbucks, stories

This is a mug my brother brought back from a trip to Seattle, filled with extra chocolaty hot chocolate, milk, and whipped cream. This was my Saturday night – I’m exciting, I know. I curled up with a cup of this on the couch and watched Pan’s Labyrinth. Which I guess is the real treat.

I remember the first time I saw the movie. It wasn’t what I had expected, for one thing. For another, I was stunned by how beautifully told the story was. It was dark, violent, melancholy, fantastic, whimsical, and wholly perfect.  Because at the end of all the drama and darkness, the story is blessed with a fairy tale ending that satisfies me beyond anything that a normal feel-good movie could do. Many, many people die, everything falls apart, and it seems like hope is gone. You watch as a little girl’s world is ripped apart, and she somehow manages to hold on to her childish ideas. It’s never clear whether those ideas are reality or insanity, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. In the end, even though it’s heartbreaking, everything is somehow ok. In the end, the lost little girl finds her way home. The love of a family surrounds her. She does good for others, and has no reason to be afraid.

It’s a masterful story. I wouldn’t want to watch it too often: it really is too dark and emotionally tiring to see more than once every now and then. But it’s the strangest thing, how lovely the story becomes when it all ends well.

 

Day 6

Tags

driving, full sound, good music, listening, piano, sound

 

That, right there, is track 6, which is a piece of really, really good classical piano. I had actually listened to the CD yesterday while driving, but the sound of the road overpowered a lot of the more subtle sounds. Fortunately, I drove to work this morning and the in-town driving was easy enough that I got the (near) full sound. All of it was phenomenal, but track 6 was something special.

Day 5

Tags

bridges, driving, easy afternoon, North Little Rock, sightseeing, thankful, walking

This photo encapsulates a lot that I found myself grateful for; sunlight, a light breeze, the ability to walk around and smell and taste and see, and an appreciation for sound engineering.  Mostly, though, the sunlight. Oh, but I love me some good sunlight.

Day 4

Tags

365 Grateful, baking, cooking, cookware, day 4, food, lighting, relaxing

Lovely lighting and attractively arranged cookware make the list for today.

Day 3

Tags

365 Grateful, dogs, Little Bit, pets, poodles, thankful

This is my dog, Little Bit. Apparently I’m the only person who loves her, but all the same, I do. I’ve had her since I was 12 years old, and she’s been my friend ever since. She’s getting a little old now, and doesn’t play with me as much as she used to. Now, she’ll spend most of the day on her perch on top of the couch or love seat, her eyes keeping track of me. Whenever I sit down, she crawls into my lap. She used to be able to jump onto my bed, but now that she has cataracts she’s not as sure of herself, so I pick her up and put her on my bed. She’s been a great little companion for 11 years.

Day 2

Tags

a good read, books, fun to read, good things, hobbies, ideas, Keats, poetry, T.S. Eliot, things I love

I grew up reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. Jane Eyre in the 4th grade, Anna Karenina in the 9th, Atlas Shrugged in the 10th… you get the picture. In these books I found ideas and possibilities that didn’t seem available in a typical Texas school building. Rebels, fighters, lovers, misfits were all in the them. Conspiracies, inventions, perseverance. Adventure. So on and so on. Any sort of challenge was at my imaginations’ fingertips, and I could dig into a good book for hours and hours. I was a book-worm, and everyone knew it.

Ironically, over the past few years I’ve lost interest in most fiction. Usually my trips to the book store end up with me wandering around the fiction section for a few minutes only to give up and head over to the magazines. At first, I felt a little guilty.  Like I had done something wrong. But there was nothing interesting there! Everything I found was Target Recommended garbage. Entertaining enough, sure, but kinda lacking on the challenging information to chew over.

One thing that remains a constant favorite of mine is poetry. I love the way writers can bend language to torque itself into the perfect expression. I usually won’t read an epic poem; there are some, like Paradise Lost, that are phenomenal, but part of the reason I like poetry so much is that they’re not novels. They’re relatively brief, and pack a whole lot of punch. They’re powerful. They’re lovely. They’re filled with questions. Sometimes the poem provides an answer, sometimes they don’t. Good poetry make you think, while it makes you feel. It’s a pretty cool. Just make sure it’s the good stuff. There’s some horrible “poetry” out there. You know the kind I mean. The kind that makes you want to slowly back away and never hear the word “poem” again. That kind’s not so great.

So, there you go. I’m glad that Keats, Rilke, and Eliot lived and wrote some fantastic stuff.

Right Under My Nose

Tags

cemetery, driving, exploring, parks, random finds, Saturday afternoon, statues, walking paths, wrong turn

A few days ago I took my dogs for a walk in a park on the other side of town. I used to take them to Bringle Park when I was wanting a change from my neighborhood, but over the summer it’s been bulldozed down to make space for dorms and parking. I’m not complaining. Change happens, and the dorms and parking will be good, I’m sure.

So I loaded up my dogs in the truck and took them to the Arkansas side of town to an older park there, the Ed Worrell park. It’s pretty big, and has biking trails and baseball fields and a lot of pretty trees and a stream that runs almost the whole length of the park. When I was driving back, I stumbled on a cemetery I’d never seen before, so I stopped for a while and took a look around.

How is it that I’ve never seen this before?? And I only found it because I took the wrong turn going home from the park. Maybe I should do that more often, because there were some beautiful statues in the cemetery, and I was able to chat with a lady who knew oodles about the people buried there.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Day 1: Biking

Tags

365 Gratitude, bike, bike riding, deep, January 1, profound, silliness, Sunday afternoon

Yes, of all things today, on January 1, 2012, that I could be thankful for, I chose a bike. Mostly because I went for a long bike ride today, and it felt really good to do it. A bike is not a deep thought, but it is a profound one. Yeah, figure that one out.

: ) Seriously though, I love an easy Sunday afternoon bike ride.