Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, our primary class participated in an experiment last week. We segregated the class so that brown eyed children could only stay on one side of the classroom, while the blue eyed children were on the other. We drew an imaginary line across the classroom. For about 10 minutes, we worked in separate groups. Luckily my assistant has brown eyes, while mine are green. (Green, hazel, and gray went with the blue-eyed group.)

After the timer went off, the children met back at our group rug and we asked them what it was like to be separated from their friends and not be able to use the whole class. The majority of the students said they missed their friends on the other side of the room. The brown-eyed children missed the snack area on the other side! We had read a story about MLK so we compared this to his story. The whole class was so glad to be back to normal!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

Becoming

Awww... I'm reposting this message here since it is so inspiring. Thank you so much, Erin!
---------------------

The task of becoming is one in which no one ever develops expertise. As a result it sometimes seems insane that we are allowed to bear and raise subsequent generations. Yet, somehow the complexity and enormity of the love we feel for our children makes knowing everything less important than learning what's important and letting go of everything else.
This morning with my knew arsenal of knowledge, three hours of sleep and the courage of my convictions my usually uncooperative three year old dressed, ate, cleaned up and with a little coaxing and a game of tickle monster put on her coat and went to school. Just before she left I said "Laney, thank you for helping out this morning. You are an important part of our family and in a family everyone make a contribution" to which she promptly replied "a contribution to your PBS station" and walked out the door. There was a time when my ego would have prevented me from admitting that I no longer had the skill set to deal with certain situations. I would have plugged along, on my own, in the futile search for answers. But an amazing thing happens when you become a parent your ego is suddenly smaller than your love for your child. In this end you go out admit defeat and do everything you can to obtain the skills necessary to ensure your part in helping your child to become the remarkable person they are meant to be. No matter what, there is no substitute for the sharing of experiences between people who embrace the same goal.
Everyone will ultimately find the path that works for them, and there are so many, but knowing that we are not alone in our journey is monumentally comforting. Thank you to Sarah, Tina and all of the MCC parents for providing a judgment free zone where we may all work toward mastering the task of becoming better parents and stronger people.

Happy Holidays best to you all in the coming year.
Erin Mahone (and Laney too)

My Week.../ or Can you overdose on Vitamin C?

At the moment, I am taking a break to drink my Super Vitamin C booster and Airborne tablets while children are peacefully resting. I have had a very interesting roller-coaster kind of week. The ups have been way high up, and the downs have never felt lower. I can tell the manic energy of the holiday season is here. Everywhere I go, lights, decorations, the jangling bells in front of stores, and the constant holiday music make the background set. Going out in public feels like being cocooned in holiday scented bubble wrap.

Don't misunderstand me and think I am a scrooge-- I love this season. I love gift giving and caroling, and I tend to have 3 weeks of a spruce in my home. And I always, always go overboard.

But for some reason, this year the background hum of Christmas is jarring me, pressing in on me-- only 1 more week of school! Only 18 days til Christmas! Only 100 hours before the holiday party so I need to get my presents made and wrapped! These deadlines and the oncoming dates have become mounting pressures. Each mark on the calendar is another flag waving at me.

Can you imagine what it's like to be a child at this time? It must be exciting-- even though you might not even know why-- but it's bound to be stressful on them too.

I pay lip-service to the notion that we shouldn't overschedule our lives, filling our lives with the clutter of way too much activity... when I honestly look at my schedule and my children's schedule, it's simply way too much. Is it any wonder that the holiday season would be stressful? If our day to day lives are filled to maximum capacity, then shopping, decorating, holiday making, traveling, and feasting put us on overdrive.

So here is my promise to myself-- that I'll have to do since I declared it to the world via this blog-- I am going to take the time to BREATHE.

For everything that this time of year adds to our lives, there are opportunities to enjoy the season. I will stop and look at the holiday lights with my children. I will take my time in each task and notice what I am doing. I will take a moment to look out at the trees, the river, the winter sky, the full moon-- knowing that this time is special, and that it passes all too quickly.

And I will fight off this cold! :)

Taking a moment...

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the passing of my mother's best friend, Sandy Swift. She was a great friend of my family and she recently passed away. Tomorrow I will leave a little early to attend her memorial service. She was a really unique person who dedicated her life teaching literature to college students. She left such a mark on my imagination as a child, from her handmade puppets to her house full of cats. I loved her incredible library of books and her brick Riverview home. I will truly miss her.

Here is her obituary:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/obits/details.cfm?obitID=43046

My mom chose this for Sandy's eulogy:
(From After Apple Picking by Robert Frost)
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

==Sandy, your spirit lives on in all the lives you have touched==
With a sad heart today,
Sarah