they're cuttin' down trees, puttin' up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace...
ahh, Joni Mitchell, it's already 45 degrees outside right now. The first freeze is eminent. Summer is officially over and I am incredibly melancholy. Yesterday I sluffed church. It wasn't premeditated or anything like that, I was already late and I started to pick up the kids' junk that was snaking down the hall and the next thing I knew I was knee-deep in a 4-garbage-bag de-junking. It was so serious an affair that I actually got rid of the toy box. Suz and Miner came and hauled it off to their place tonight, in fact. Good luck with the largest hider of garbage ever created.
The kids think that we've purchased all new toys for them. Not true, we just haven't used these particular items in over a year, which was the last time I ever let them open up the toy box.
I also cleaned out the kids drawers. All summer they have been wearing clothes that no longer fit, but I justify their continual usage because they are currently clean. I filled an entire 15- gallon Rubbermaid tub. It wasn't until I pushed it into the catacombs of the basement that I paused to wipe back a tear through a ragged sigh.
Time marches on.
Oh, I wish I had a river that I could sail away on....
There are certain clothing items that invoke a visceral attachment. Something you ache to hold on to for an indeterminate length of time. Not just the clothing, of course, but also the small child within them. The end of summer means that those clothes have been outgrown, finished their purpose, and now a new phase begins--one where they are older, more independent, less childlike.
It's a double-edged sword.
Lachlan is working through the difficult time of getting rid of her blankets. It's not really the blankets that we object to, but rather that she sucks on the edge of them. It's become a pacifier and it's time for her to break the habit. To say that last night was rough, is an understatement. She told Jeff tonight, "Dad, it's hard to go without my blankets. I get scared of the dark in here and I don't like all the monsters." We gave her a teddy bear to snuggle, but it is going to take some time.
So much of parenting is just a complete guessing game. You don't have a clue what you are doing. I've found that about 3/4 of the time I'm spewing off rules and regulations and I don't even know if we really need them. And the remainder of the time we probably ought to have some frame of function, but I am so mentally, emotionally and physically spent that I couldn't care less if they are robbing the 7-Eleven!
Do you ever wonder how different things will be when the spring comes?
Am I ready to just get rid of the baby clothes? And what the hell am I saving them for anyway?
I don't want to go back, but I'm not really sure if I want everyone to move forward.
Oh, summer, just a few more days. Make it last a little longer.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Norman Borlaug
Ever heard of him? I'd dare say that most have not. He didn't exactly relish the limelight, although he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Norman Borlaug was the "Father of the Green Revolution". There are some who now say that the green revolution was the impetus for the agricultural disasters that we face today...hum, I'd hate to say that there was one cause for such a complex situation. What I know for sure is that Norman was a man who believed that everyone had a right to eat. To be fed. To raise their children and have a chance at life.
During his lifetime, there were people who didn't feel the same way.
Ever read Malthus? The Malthusian theory stated that population growth would spiral out of control and that eventually there wouldn't be enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That's the part that most people know, the other part is that if you happen to be in an country that has fallen on famish times, then it would be better for the rest of us if you just passed on to the next life. Ultimately, leaving enough food for the rest of us who just happen to have a currently better circumstance.
The theory was heavily on the minds of people in the 1960s. People were waking up to the state of the environment in the United States and really looking at how food was going to be grown on a global scale. There were massive famines in South America, Southeast Asia and throughout Russia. Norman went to work to hybridize plants that grew in critical environments. He was a brilliant plant geneticist. He worked in the fields with the day laborers. He loved the people. He paid for some of those day laborers to go to college, and eventually they became incredible plant scientists and agronomists. By some accounts, he saved nearly 1 billion people from starvation.
I've heard him speak about his experiences. I believe that he did what needed to be done. For better or for worse, he made a difference to people in countries with a very small voice. As a mother, there isn't anything that you won't do for your child--and I am grateful that other mothers were spared the anguish of watching their children starve because of his lifelong dedication to making it so.
He died on Sunday.
May he rest in peace....or at least in a giant field of corn.
More of his story can be read here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090913/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_borlaug
Norman Borlaug was the "Father of the Green Revolution". There are some who now say that the green revolution was the impetus for the agricultural disasters that we face today...hum, I'd hate to say that there was one cause for such a complex situation. What I know for sure is that Norman was a man who believed that everyone had a right to eat. To be fed. To raise their children and have a chance at life.
During his lifetime, there were people who didn't feel the same way.
Ever read Malthus? The Malthusian theory stated that population growth would spiral out of control and that eventually there wouldn't be enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That's the part that most people know, the other part is that if you happen to be in an country that has fallen on famish times, then it would be better for the rest of us if you just passed on to the next life. Ultimately, leaving enough food for the rest of us who just happen to have a currently better circumstance.
The theory was heavily on the minds of people in the 1960s. People were waking up to the state of the environment in the United States and really looking at how food was going to be grown on a global scale. There were massive famines in South America, Southeast Asia and throughout Russia. Norman went to work to hybridize plants that grew in critical environments. He was a brilliant plant geneticist. He worked in the fields with the day laborers. He loved the people. He paid for some of those day laborers to go to college, and eventually they became incredible plant scientists and agronomists. By some accounts, he saved nearly 1 billion people from starvation.
I've heard him speak about his experiences. I believe that he did what needed to be done. For better or for worse, he made a difference to people in countries with a very small voice. As a mother, there isn't anything that you won't do for your child--and I am grateful that other mothers were spared the anguish of watching their children starve because of his lifelong dedication to making it so.
He died on Sunday.
May he rest in peace....or at least in a giant field of corn.
More of his story can be read here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090913/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_borlaug
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