I

When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher gave us the assignment of writing and I poem. An I poem is simply a serious of statements about yourself each of which begin with the word "I" or some variation of it. I found the poem today as I was rummaging through some old files. I smiled as I read and remembered. I realized how I'd grown and changed, how I'd stayed the same, and was reminded of all the things that make me who I am. So in case I forget again, here "I" am.

I'm probably too optimistic for my own good.
I am so incredibly proud of my big brother. I wish I was more like him.
I love my mom, even in all her cooky overprotectiveness.
My dad is my role model.
I love the ocean; The sand, the salt water, and the sounds are so therapeutic.
I'm a sucker for gorgeous eyes, good smells, and cute accents.
I like my hair most of the time, but that's about it.
I love movies with happy endings.
I love music and its ability to transcend language, culture, and experience.
I sing when I think no one's listening or when I don't realize I'm doing it. It usually means I'm happy.
I'm happier when I'm around people.
I try to make everyone happy, but I don't think it works most of the time.
I'm a completely hopeless romantic.
I love flowers; planting, growing, picking, giving, and receiving.
I'm way too addicted to my computer.
I have the most amazing friends.
I hate being bored; it makes me feel like I'm wasting my time.
I'm a terrible dancer...but I love to dance anyway.
I'm amused by the littlest things... and I like it that way.
Sometimes I just want to cuddle.
I believe in God; His love and grace get me through each day.
I believe that true love never goes away, even if a relationship seems to.
I worry that people are upset with me, too much.
I like good surprises as long as I know they're good ahead of time.
I love to laugh and smile.
I love life.

Lessons I have learnt from kids.

I have always loved being around children. Given that I've wanted to be a teacher since I can remember, this comes as no surprise. I've been babysitting since I was 12 years old and have always found a way to be around kids wherever I am. Especially lately, kids have given me an avenue for getting away with acting like a kid again myself: being silly, running around in my sock-feet and sliding on the hardwood floors, talking in silly voices, watching "PG" rated movies, and reading books that have pictures on every page.

It wasn't until just a few days ago that I realized how much I learn from being around kids. Maybe "learn" isn't the right word here. Maybe I mean "remember." I'm sure I once saw the world the way they do, but years of experiences later, it's sometimes hard to remember some of the simplest yet most profound things about life that kids seem to have such a sound grasp on. And even though, I may have forgotten, seeing the world through their little eyes is such a refreshing reminder of some universal truths.

1. Say "Please" and "Thank you" as much as possible.
2. When you're tired, rest. If you need to sleep but don't want to, you'll most likely just end up getting yourself in trouble or making a mess... or both.
3. Apologizing is never easy. Especially when you mean it.
4. It's always better to just walk away. Giving mean looks as you do so can be very satisfying, though.
5. Being honest is hard, but earning back someone's trust after you've lied is harder.
6. If you want it bad enough, you will FIND a way to reach it.
7. Take care of your second chance. There won't be a third.
8. If someone is mean to you, don't play with them. They're not your friend. Nor do you want them to be.
9. It's not okay to laugh at someone's misfortune. Quite frankly, it hurts their feelings and you wouldn't like it if you knew they were laughing at you.
10. Hugs fix everything. 
11. You never know when there's a monster under your bed. Better be careful... just in case.
12. Dessert always makes a bad day better.
13. There are just some things that only a Mom can do. 
14. Crying is not a sign that you are not brave.
15. 30 minutes can be the longest period of time in the world or the quickest. It all depends on how you look at it. 30 minutes at the park is way different than 30 minutes in time-out.
16. Take your time and do it right the first time. It will still take less time than if you have to do it over.
17. Eat your vegetables or you'll end up a cranky, old villain in a Disney movie.
18. Most things aren't that complicated until grown ups make them that way.

Stolen from Lauren

Don't aim for success if you want it; 

just do what you love and believe in, 

and it will come naturally. 

~David Frost

For the times we need them, now or next.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” --Harriet Beecher Stowe

"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back." --Maya Angelou

“We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.” --Anne Sophie Swetchine

"...we grow old because we stop playing."

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about the good ol' days: Summers spent in the mountains of Virginia playing games with my cousins, Sunday afternoons when everyone took naps and we had to find ways entertain ourselves, those days on the playground when Jeremy and Marcus were hogging the monkey bars and we had to resort to other means of excitement. I started thinking about all the games we used to play and started to wonder, "Why we don't still play them?"

Okay so maybe we're busier, have other responsibilities and priorities. We're older now and have to behave as such so that means no games, right?

A few years ago someone sent me one of those Snowball fight-email-forward things. (I mean really, how lame are we that we can't even have a REAL snowball fight but have to have one via email instead?) At the very bottom of the email, which by the way was complete with an animated snowball splattering its cutsey little face onto the inside of the computer screen, was a quote from George Bernard Shaw.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." 

I have no real idea who this George Bernard Shaw guy is, BUT he makes a good point. As we get older we start taking on life: we get jobs, we work toward degrees, we start families, we take on leadership positions throwing every bit of ourselves into trying to succeed in those things. We take on so much and forget to enjoy whatever it is we're doing (yes, believe it or not, once upon a time, we chose to do those things because we actually liked them). We get so wrapped up in all the things we once loved and they begin to act as anti-younging agents... leaving no time for FUN! Oh sure, there's the occasional drink with a friend or movie night with the girls. But what about real, live, let loose, ask-no-questions, grass stained, music blasting, wind in your hair, spin until you're dizzy, laugh until it hurts fun?

No wonder we're getting old! In fact, it's a miracle we aren't eating at the K&W Cafeteria and buying Poligrip!We're not making any time for ourselves to have fun. And we've spent so much time thinking that we're "too old for that" we're probably also a little afraid of that much fun. We might look silly and we just can't have that... can we?

So, I have compiled a list with as many games as I could think of. Play them in your class. Play them at your chapter meetings. Play them with your coworkers. Play them with your family. Play them for yourself. Play them to stay young.

If you have some to add, feel free to share!

The Games We Play(ed)

• Bloody Murder: It's a combination of hide and seek and Tag. The person who's "IT" counts while everyone goes and hides. When IT finds the first hider, the hider yells "BLOODY MURDER" at the top of his lungs and everyone comes out of hiding and tries to run to base without being tagged by IT. 
• Red Rover: Oh come on, this one's a classic. Need I even explain?
• Dodge ball (in the circle): You know, not the kind they made that ridiculous movie about but the kind we played in elementary school. Half of the group makes a circle and throws balls (hopefully very soft, squishy, painless balls) at the other half of the group who are in the middle of the circle.
• Duck Duck Goose: Once again, need I explain?
• Chinese Freeze Tag: A funny twist on traditional freeze tag, to get "un-frozen" someone has to crawl between the legs of the frozen players without getting tagged themselves. Oh just the thought makes me giggle.
• Capture the Flag: Divided into two teams, each group has a set of flags (though because we were poor flags were often substituted by cones, rocks, shoes, hats, or whatever else we could find.) Members of the opposite teams try to cross over into "enemy territory" to steal their flags without being tagged. The first team with all the flags wins.
• Red light, Green light: The caller yells "Green Light" and you dance, move, walk, run, jump, climb. Just be ready to freeze in whatever awkward position you've got yourself into as soon as the caller yells RED LIGHT!
• Arm Wrestling: When's the last time you arm wrestled? Can't remember either, can you?
• Thumb Wrestling: One, Two, Three, Four, I declare a thumb war!
• Mother May I?: Yes, you may.
• Simon Says!
• Dance!: The Hustle, Thriller, The Macarena, The Electric Slide, The Chicken Dance. Heck, if you can remember the steps just do-si-do with someone until you're dizzy.

Now, who's up for a game of Red Rover? :-D

Writing about Fear seemed appropriate so close to Halloween...

As I once said, this blog used to be just a random collection of my ramblings about daily life, the things that bugged me, the things that made me laugh. Okay, well, now that I think of it, it hasn't really changed much. But when I switched over from random ramblings to random ramblings about teaching, I took down the old blogs and hid them in a word document I have saved on my computer. The other day when I was practicing my activity avoidance techniques, I stumbled across this file and started reading. I came across one particularly spirited entry from a day when something had bugged me.

The story went that my dog, who, though now is very large and ferocious, was a puppy at the time, escaped my apartment and ran out into the yard where a burly man was walking from the parking lot to his apartment. Upon seeing my puppy, Jasper, he proceeded to squeal like a little girl and began running. Now, anyone who has ever had a puppy or even a full grown dog knows that if you run from a dog, he will chase you. So of course, the moment "the man" started running from my dog, of course Jasper playfully chased after him. I watched dumbfounded as "the man" ran toward no apparent safe haven from an animal that could not possibly cause him any harm... well, not much anyway.

Reading back over the story, which in it's original form was far more drawn out and amusing (even if a bit insensitive,) I realized two things. First, it wasn't Jasper who made "the man" run. Jasper was a 4 month old puppy who was more interested in the grass than anyone walking across the parking lot. What made him run was his fear. His perception of something mostly harmless caused fear... and so he ran. And secondly, once Jasper realized that, for whatever reason, "the man" was running away, it was nothing but instinct to chase after him.

At that moment, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. My brain started whirling thinking about all the things I'd been running from lately. And every single one of those things was, without a doubt, chasing me down. In fact, most of them were gaining on me because my fear of them was holding me back; fear that an attempt, no matter how valiant, might end in failure. Fear that pain might be seen as weakness. Fear of taking the next step not knowing exactly where it lead. Fear of accepting a challenge I might not be able to overcome with flying colors. 

So now, it's time to stop running. Running takes a lot of energy. If we were using that energy to run in the right direction, imagine what amazing things we could do. If we can just get past the fears that hold us back, chances are, the thing we feared isn't really that scary after all. Most likely, our fear blew it all out of proportion anyway and we had nothing to be afraid of in the first place. And even if there is something to be afraid of, there's no way around it so we might as well face it, head on, and on our own terms. One way or another, we'll work through them and past them. You may not always come out looking too pretty on the other side, but at least you'll be on the other side, with your fears behind you and no where to go but forward.

"Now, THIS is the life..."

I absolutely love days like today. Not quite summer, not quite fall, the breeze just cool enough to give you goosebumps every once in a while if you're standing in the shade. And I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the afternoon in one of my favorite ways: at the park. Even better, I got to spend it with a pretty inspiring 13-year-old young man.

I sat on the swings, my favorite park installment of all time, and my friend sat beside me pushing the empty swing beside me back and forth a bit haphazardly. (Yes, there was an incident in which I got hit and while it's funny, it's not exactly pertinent to the story... but you can totally ask me about it later.) Though we had been talking as we were swinging, we both grew quiet and my mind wandered back to where it had been all morning. Writing my thesis, fixing my instrument, paying my bills, juggling my responsibilities as a graduate assistant, teaching myself fertilizer calculations, trying to NOT kill my plants in my greenhouse management class. Trust me, the list goes on.

As I sat swinging, staring off into space and probably looking very silly as my list played pinball in my brain, I was suddenly jarred back to the real world when my friend said something that has echoed through me all evening. He said,

Liz, THIS is the life!

It's one of his favorite lines. He says it when he's at the beach, the pool, the park,walking on the green way, and anywhere that he's spending time with his friends or family. I've heard him say it a million times. Yet today, for the first time, maybe because I needed to hear it, it finally sank in. I finally understood. Though he has his plate full, even for a 13 year old it's REALLY full, with his own tasks and concerns and responsibilities, he is wise enough to realize that that plate full of stuff is just that... stuff. My thesis, my classes, my job, all the things that have been stressing me out the past few weeks: while it's all really important, it's just my plate full of stuff that at the end of the day won't matter at all if there's not a life to carry the plate.

But the life... the life is the time spent enjoying the September sunshine. The life is swinging as high as you can because even at 23 years old you still get a rush from the flip your stomach turns. The life is talking with a friend. The life is everything outside of the stuff that you'll miss if you're not careful.

I know as well as anyone that it's easier said than done. But as your plate piles up with all the stuff that life serves you, you have to remember that when it's all that's said and done, it's the life that matters. Nothing else. And when you become overwhelmed getting ready for your fall plant sale, planning your class field trip to the state fair, collecting fruit orders, teaching classes, supervising FFA members at their annual tailgate social, AND running the ticket booth at the high school homecoming football game, remember what truly matters and make time for the life. And chances are, you'll be better all around once you do.