“All my life is a circle, sunrise and sundown,
the moon rolls through the night time,
‘till the daybreak comes around…
All my life is a circle, and I can’t tell you why,
the seasons spinning ‘round again
the years keep rolling by.”
From “Circle” by Harry Chapin
The funny thing about James’ and my life is that not very much ever changes. No one ever ages where we work. We attend the same back-to school picnics, the same graduate student Christmas parties and the same graduations complete with commencement speakers delivering nearly identical messages of hope and good will over and over and over. We wrap up one semester, go home for a weekend or two and start the ENTIRE process over again. The numbers marking the individual years change, (ie Fall Semester ’01, Fall Semester ‘02) but the process that guides our work lives and the mentality, looks and experience of our students NEVER changes. The people that we work with and for every year are perpetual 8th graders and college seniors/graduate students. It is often difficult for us to remember that time is passing. We of course see the passage of time in our son Alex as he grows, in the energy-level and agility of our dog as she ages and in the retirements of those we have known for years as they move onto life’s next phase – whatever that may be. (They are of course, soon replaced by people who will step into our circles and perform the exact same duties… teach the same classes, attend the same freshman week activities, etc)
Occasionally an event occurs that causes us to remember particular years in the endless circle of our lives. This seems an all-too familiar way to mark time as we have heard those in our parent’s generation comment on the memory of their whereabouts when President Kennedy was shot. Our generation can remember the year and our place in time as the space shuttle exploded and most recently we mark time by where we and our students were as the events of September 11, 2001 unfolded. We could go back even further to our grandparent’s generation marking the year in time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Round and round we go through the circle of time……..yet not much ever changes.
I recently began my 10th year as Clinic Director at Truman State University. At the end of every clinical semester, I am in the habit of asking my students what they have learned. I tell them that this is not a trick question and that I am not grading them, I am simply curious. (Actually, what I really want to do is make sure I am doing my job and that actual learning of some sort is happening here as we move from one year to the next.) Recently, one of the students turned the tables on me and asked me what I had learned……. (Uh oh…….. you mean I’ve gotta stop riding ‘round and ‘round in this circle and evaluate what’s going on with me?) I went home and shared this with James……. I needed to make him aware that I had been challenged with this question and beg him to agree that learning, in some form or another, simply HAD to be going on here. In an extremely short period of time we had an extensive list of a mere sampling of the new knowledge we have recently acquired. This year, James and I have together learned,
1. It is extremely difficult to entertain a 20-month-old child on a four hour car trip while obeying all highway seat belt laws.
2. The men and women at “Home Depot” are to be respected for their expertise and patience on the phone when remodeling your own kitchen.
3. Child-proof locks are also grandparent-proof.
4. There are people who collect and number the same Hot Wheels that James used to bury in the mud and smash with trucks.
5. NEVER let your son have access to a hammer after he has spent an hour observing his daddy install a brand new hard wood floor.
6. ALWAYS know where your child’s security blanket is … especially when leaving said child with his grandparents while you go for a night on the town.
7. Placement of the “time-out” bench next to a desired object defeats the “time-out” purpose.
8. Taking on a project such as the compilation of a state association cookbook with a deadline the first week in December is a big mistake!
9. Even the best behaved dogs can get jealous and act out in food-stealing and diaper shredding ways.
10. Music appreciation takes on a whole new meaning when including Raffi in the mix.
11. Turning off the water at the main valve is an essential function of repairing your ice maker.
12. One can learn many important things about life from your washing machine repair man.
13. You will put anything you can find into a casserole on nights when you are dog-tired and you will both eat it.
14. The filth in your carpeting is in direct proportion to the success your child has in mastering the fine art of sucking and blowing through a straw.
15. You have no pride when it comes to getting your underweight child to eat.
16. The Teletubbies and Builder Bob can be decent dinner company.
17. Those gifts that you could not IMAGINE receiving as presents when you were a kid are now at the top of your wish list (cookware, snow tires, etc)
18. Cows and pigs are very different sizes. Buying 1/2 cow and 1/2 pig from the butcher take up very different amounts of space in your deep freeze.
19. When you order glass Mullion doors for your new cabinets the price is without the glass.
20.Putting a child to bed later does not mean he will sleep later, …only wake up crankier.
21. Trips to the emergency room with a feverish child at 2:30 in the morning are a completely normal thing and fashion is not an issue.
22. Not much changing in your life is a blessing because it means you and those you love are healthy and happy with the status quo.
And we are……. healthy and happy. We will never forget the events which have marked this particular year in our calendar but feel truly blessed because we are able to say that in spite of those events we are safe and warm in our home. We have each other and the normalcy of our lives to make everything “okay” in this scary time. We hope you all feel equally blessed this holiday season and that you will take the time to be thankful for the mundane, consistent and familiar events that should be welcomed as a sign of security in an ever-changing yet ever constant world. Merry Christmas
No comments:
Post a Comment