What in the world did I do back in the 70’s and 80’s before all these “wonderful” technological entertainments my children have these days???? I remember begging my parents for an Atari and there was only 1 game at that time (or so I remember) PONG! I recall growing up in Maine and in the fall as a child being “made” to rake the leaves in our giant, open yard with barely any trees. I used to think how wrong my parents were for forcing manual labor on this small, weak, spoiled child! As I fondly reflect back on those days, and thinking of the hard work that went into those “manual labor” jobs, I know realize how strong that made me today. It was hard work, my arms grew tired and my feet would be cold and blisters formed on the palms of my hands, however at the end of the several hours and few tall pile of leaves I formed around the yard I would tell my mother I was finally finished. Her answer was “now go jump in the pile of leaves!” The joy of those simple moments I long for my own children to experience. Playing in the dirt and creating mud pies with crunchy filling in them or designing cities in the sand simply by using the sand, some water and whatever decor I found around me, a leaf, a twig, some blades of grass….Life was simple back then and forced this woman to use her imagination and even in the hard times or through the hard work and blisters at the end of the day there was pure and innocent joy. I was free to imagine and dream and hope that I could rake a pile of leaves big enough so that when I run and jump in them it wouldn’t hurt when I hit the ground beneath. My children take for granted the joy of being outside with the nature as their canvas and the earth beneath their feet as their opportunity to dream of a city created by them with only the things around them to use as their decor for the city. I don’t want my children or grandchildren to think that all they have in this world is the opportunity to build a virtual world on Minecraft I want them to know that they can do those same wonderful and creative and imaginative things in real-life! I have 2 rakes I think I will show them how fun raking up the leaves can be if you rake enough to form a big pile and jump all your frustrations away into that pile we’ll go! But what do I know, I’m “old mom” we didn’t have cell phones, Wii, Xbox and I still remember we were the last people to get a microwave. Imagine that, what in the world did we do in the “olden days”. Life was so simple and so peaceful then..
Harvesting Life’s Lessons 