Swatting Flies

When my sons began studying viola and cello at school, I tagged along. I enjoyed tuning the instruments, adding rosin to bows, and especially playing along on the school piano. There was a D.A.R.E. officer there who was learning to play the violin. We were chatting one morning when he casually mentioned that a boy my kids had known for years had become what the police call a “frequent flyer.” This child had come from a good family. He’d struck me as polite and respectful; even sweet. And yet at age 12 he was regularly in trouble with the law. I asked the officer what he’d recommend I do to ensure my boys never follow that pattern. “Family dinner,” he said. “Have it every night at the same time, and insist that everyone be there.” It takes a bit of planning and effort, but twenty years later the results still speak for themselves.

False Economy

2012 was a very dry year for films, especially the kind you can see with the whole family. Even Christmas week, traditionally a time for family movies, had nothing worth seeing with children. I have high hopes for this year, though. Beautiful Creatures opens Valentine’s Day. I may go just to hear Jeremy Irons’ voice. Oz, the Great and Powerful will hit theaters in March. Iron Man 3 will open in May, Monsters University in June, and Despicable Me 2 in July. August will bring Pixar’s Planes (think Cars with wings) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers comes in September. In November we’ll see Mr. Peabody and Sherman (you’d have to be really OLD to know who they are) and Disney’s next fairy tale, Frozen. December will bring the next installment of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of the dragon. See you at the movies!

A Budding Romance

Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth, once said, “To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.” The more I see of life, the more I am convinced she was right about that. If you enjoy doing something, such as playing a sport or a musical instrument, it is only natural that you will find more opportunities to do it again and again. The more practice you get at anything you do, the more you will excel. Even mundane tasks such as cooking, cleaning or doing the laundry for your family can bring their own joy. You may feel required to do them at first, but as you persist in the doing, you find there is pleasure in doing them well. There is a satisfaction that comes with bringing order to disorder, and it is made even sweeter when someone notices and comments on the effort you have made.

Radiating Diamonds

“Northland College (New Zealand) principal John Tapene shared the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth: We hear the cry from teenagers “What can we do, where can we go?” My answer is, “Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you’ve finished, read a book. Your town doesn’t owe you recreational facilities and your parents don’t owe you fun. The world doesn’t owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent. In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. Don’t sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you.”

Desert Cactus

We’ve all got it at this time of year; watery eyes, a sniffling nose, a scratchy throat, and a headache that won’t go away. We’re stuck in a temperature inversion along the Wasatch front, and it’s like living at the bottom of a very cold bowl of oatmeal. The air is so filthy we can’t see the sun in the daytime or the stars at night. Everything is a dismal shade of grey. The only cure is a storm to blow the gunk away. But it looks as if there’s nothing like that in our immediate future. My eyes are as thirsty for color as my lungs are for fresh air. When I whine, John quotes Star Trek: “The air is the air. What can be done?” He’s right, of course. At least I have a temporary fix lined up. Tomorrow I mean to pull out some sunny yellow, blue and green floral fabric to sew while I watch Downton Abbey.

String Quilt

They told me when I was a teenager, and I didn’t believe them. “School,” they said, “is practice for life.” I knew they were wrong. I could see adults all around and knew they weren’t dealing with any of the things I had to. They didn’t have to study for tests. They didn’t have assignments to hand in on time. They didn’t have to put up with narrow minded, arbitrary, egotistical or domineering teachers. Then I graduated and discovered that adults do live with those things. All of them, all the time. The one place in school where I felt completely happy was the drama department. I loved every aspect of our theatrical productions; set construction, costume design, elocution, music, advertising, the works. There are several decades between the me I am now and the me I was in school. But both of us will never be far from a stage.