LOL #22

My middle-one-of-three, my son, is a thinker.  He contemplates ideas, statements and situations.  I can't count the number of times I've heard him say, "Hey Mommy, the other day, I was thinking..." or "I had this thought last night..." He has no idea, but it's a gift - his reflective nature.  I know many adults with absolutely no capacity to do what he has mastered in his 12 short years.  Make connections; compare and contrast; just to think deeply.

Today, one of his "thinking deeply" situations made me laugh, chuckle really.  And at the same time, it complemented me and made my heart all warm inside.

He walks up to me today as I'm working in the kitchen, hands me a piece of paper and says, "I made of picture of me on the front and I made something for you and Daddy on the back" and walks away. On the front, was a drawing of himself looking very much like Percy Jackson, his favorite book character.  For those that don't know, Percy is the main character in the Rick Riordan series which begins with the book The Lightning Thief.  Several years ago, it was this book that prompted his fascination with the Greeks and their gods.  He knows them like the back of his hand.  Honestly, when I looked at this drawing, in my head I'm thinking, "Oh, another drawing of Percy."  His picture of himself is below.

When I flipped the paper over though, I was really surprised.  I could instantly imagine the wheels spinning and turning like clockwork in his mind as he labored on this scrap paper piece of art.  It was this drawing that made me laugh. There I was, portrayed as the Greek goddess, Athena, goddess of wisdom!  I'm looking at myself standing on a cloud of facts and figures with a book in hand and my smart librarian glasses on my head!  And even better, a glowing light bulb over my brain!!!

The hubster, standing beside me on the page, is compared to Hephaestus, the "Mr. Fix It" god as my son explained it in layman terms for me.  He pegged him!  The hubster stands resplendently upon his cloud of tool terminology with a sturdy wrench in hand gazing over toward the cloud upon which his wife of wisdom stands!  

The absolute best part - the heart floating between us!  

My middle-one-of-three - the thinker.  Oh how I love that boy!

Dare to Imagine

Imagination: noun - the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present

Going through life without imagination is an unfortunate reality for many adults. That confuses me though.  Children have incredible imaginations so when does the disconnect occur?  In some, I think it occurs all too early.  Some are told, not really in words but in actions, at a very young age that their imaginations aren't possible - their dreams not able to become realities, their aspirations too grand. I, too, sometimes catch myself in their camp - telling myself, "It's not possible, not imaginable."

I have had the incredible opportunity throughout much of my adult life to work with people in various locations of the globe who dare to tell and show children the exact opposite.  They foster an environment of acceptance and celebration of ideas and successes, no matter how small - how seemingly insignificant. They dare to imagine what many think impossible - that they can make difference.

Who are these incredible souls?  Are they writers? philosophers? politicians? doctors? lawyers? celebrities? professional athletes?  No.

They are teachers; they are office staff; they are administrators; they are teacher assistants; they are social workers and counselors.  They are those who dare to imagine.  They are a school staff.

So I ask myself.  What separates them from the masses?  What keeps their imaginations thriving?  My answer, hope.  They continue to imagine that what they do makes a difference because of hope.

Today, I received an incredible reminder that I must continue to imagine that I can make a difference.  That reminder is pictured above.  The contents of the book have nothing to do with teaching.  But it's the incredible gesture of kindness behind the book, a gift from someone who continues to imagine that she can make a difference. Imagination makes all the difference.  "It is possible, it is imaginable!"

Camera Geek Weirdo

Camera Geek and Weirdo - These words were loving used to describe me the other day and what's even more "geekish" and "weird" is that I loved that these words were loving used to describe me!

A little after lunch on Friday, a low dense fog began to settle upon our town.  I have large windows along an entire side and the front of my new library land so I watched as this low fog thickened like a rue that I might be stirring on the stove.

By the time I left work, the fog was more like clouds that had decided to descend rather than the typical fog.  I made my usual trek down a main street in our town, pulled into my little nutter butter's school parking lot, and stepped out into the mist.  Honestly, it was a little eerie.  A little like the scene from an Alfred Hitchcock film or the perfect setting of an Edgar Allan Poe short story or poem.  The House of Usher would have fit perfectly into the scene.  

With my youngest one-of-three now in the car, we headed home back down the same street I had just driven with one exception - the opposite vantage point.  My nutter butter and I were discussing the fog when I looked to the left.  I looked because my eyes were drawn to age old giant trees that stood in all their detailed glory with an almost perfect backdrop of white!  

Now normally, to me anyway, nature in winter looks a little bleak and uninteresting unless we are graced with one of those wet snows that turns all things dead into magical white silhouettes. But on this day, I was absolutely stunned by these naked, dormant trees.

I went straight home, grabbed my camera, and headed straight back to the scene pictured above.  Looking at the mysterious yet tranquil scene, one would never guess that traffic whizzed by as my camera clicked away.  

Returning home, I shared my new shots with my oldest one-of-three.  Her reply, "You went into the field and took pictures?  You're one of those weirdos!"  

That's ok with me - I got the shot that I wanted!