THE GIFT OF WONDERMENT

Wonder delights the senses.

To wonder is to delight in the simple and complex mysteries in nature; we love the sights, sounds, their tastes, touch, and scents. They touch our thoughts, the unknowns with their complexities and much more than one can take in.

Children have a gift of wonder. They delight in watching an insect alight on a leaf, a pill bug roll in their palm, a lizard doing push-ups, a snail on the sidewalk, and a snake slithering in the dirt.

Children ask many questions that originate from their innate ability to wonder. How do things work? Why do they do that? How are they made? What do they eat? Why are they that way?

I like to wonder as I wander especially out in nature. I see much that fascinates me. I open my eyes to see the unusual in the usual. Mysteries abound. Everywhere you look you find them.

My brother and I share this love of wonder. I remember being in second grade and he in first grade, how after school we wandered the alfalfa field while looking at the sheep and talking.

A few years later he and I scrambled to a distant corner of the farm acreage to look at a bed of wildflowers full of California poppies and violet lupine. Luscious, they were. He and I, content.

I have an outlet for my sense of wonder. I view as I write. My words describe the beauties as they touch me. I act like a conduit sharing the mystery of wonder with my quite willing pen.

Artists understand wonderment.


*photo by Katie Rodriguez on Unsplash

HAPPY HAPPY, MR. H., IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

MY SIXTH GRADE TEACHER

My sixth grade teacher was a teacher-principal.

The grade school was the only school in the Shasta Union School 

District with one classroom per grade for kindergarten through sixth grace. The principal was the sixth grade teacher. He managed it well.

Mr. H. did some unusual things for back in the day. Art class was a Friday event. We learned various art forms such as yarn and paper crafts, still-life, shading, and drawing with perspective.

We sang in his class and learned the old songs of our country. Students took turns bringing flowers from home in vases for the flag corner. The Christmas program had lots of choral singing.

Mr. H. liked literature. The achievers got to read The Yearling, a coming of age story. I remember feeling honored when I got to read it as a reward for reaching a plateau in SRA. We wrote poetry.

Bird watching was a fun unit. We learned the native birds and went for walks around the school campus as Mr. H. identified the birds. He tested us by pointing to birds, and we wrote the names.

Mr. H. stressed grammar knowledge. He went after it by teaching the eight parts of speech in a sequence. I got the top score, which was a rare event for me. He gave us opportunities to write.

Sixth grade meant country reports. I was assigned Ecuador. But I was ill for a couple of weeks. At home I completed each component and sketched the report’s cover, flag, bird, and map.

Mr. H.'s birthday was every four years. He was born on February 29, leap day on leap year. 

photo by Andi Goldstein on Unsplash

PATHWAYS IN LIFE

 

Make a path all your own.

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson knew what he was talking about. Find your best life. You can create it.

Do what you must do. Say what you must say. Build what you must build. Create what you must create. Sing what you must sing. Write what you must write. Do it to the best of your ability.

Use wisdom to guide your steps. Make understanding your friend. Let personal initiative propel you forward. Be wise in your risk. Ask for help when you need it. Carry on no matter what.

I met an engineer that spent his life immersed in his career. He said he had no choice; his job paid the bills. But his heart wasn’t in it, and he never pursued his interests. I say, it’s never too late.

I’m saddened when someone gifted and talented lives an unfulfilling life. There are ways to blaze a trail in spite of any limiting factors. I hope these individuals somehow tap into their dreams.

Bright days lie ahead with hidden opportunities. Surprises come when they’re least expected. Should one dream die, then it’s time to pursue a new one. You know best what works for you.

Seize the day.

Photo by Debby Hudson, Unsplash

THE GIFT OF HOPE

HOPE
We can struggle in ways that unglue our usual ways of doing life during the hurting times. Hope is what we cling to.
Hope can dim, too, if life is hard enough. Yet it is hope that we look for; hope for better days ahead; hope for new beginnings; and hope in hope.

HOPE IS
Hope is present in a word of comfort, a hug, a smile, a colorful card, a kind word, a pat on the arm, a gift, lunch together. These are a few ways we encourage each other.
What may seem like a small thing when given from the heart and received in kind that has the unique capacity to rekindle hope and decrease despair.

HOPE ENCOURAGES
I have been the recipient of 'gifts of hope' on many occasions when I desperately needed them. The givers had no idea how much they helped and encouraged me.
We say "thank you" by turning around and giving a 'gift of hope' to someone else who is struggling, hurting, and in need of it.

Pay it forward.