Pillow Book Time

Sometime, I really miss teaching. Out loud teaching. That doesn't mean I don't LOVE what I do now, because I do. But for a born teacher, there's just something about seeing that light come on, or having students suddenly sit up after I say, "Guess what?" One of my very favorite classes to teach is World Literature. Sometimes students ask, "What's your favorite book? Who's your favorite author? How fast can you read?" To most of those I don't have an answer. But I have an answer for "What's your favorite literature class?" Again, that doesn't mean I don't LOVE English and American literature, but World Lit actually covers those too. I love it.

On another note, sometimes I struggle with blog posts. So very much can go on in one day that I'm afraid sometimes I seem to ramble if I talk about all of it. And I have so little time to post that I have to get a lot done at one time.

Today, I was going over some of my online English class assignments, and I remembered that I had, for the sake of space, had to leave out Chinese and Japanese literature. I know, I know...big whoop. But I love it, and I love teaching it...the why and where and meaning. One of my very favorite is The Pillow Book written by a lady-in-waiting to a Japanese empress, Sei Shonogan. Don't worry. They can't say our names either :) Anyway, there are lots of reasons The Pillow Book is interesting: It was one of the first books written in the Japanese language (they thought Chinese was a "smarter" language and usually wrote in Chinese), it was written by a woman (very rare), it shows details of everyday life in the palace, and, best of all, it's written in little bitty chapters about random thoughts or events that she dealt with. It's called The Pillow Book because Japanese women slept on hollow wooden boxes curved to the shape of the neck in order to support their elaborate hairstyles. Because the "pillow" was hollow, the woman could put her "treasures" or important documents into the pillow. Sei Shonogan's book was published from her diary-like entries that she stored in her "pillow." Each year, I ask my students to write a series of selections for their own "pillow book." I usually join them, because I love the release writing gives. If you don't write occasionally, you should try it! With all that being said (most of which I'm sure you were not the least bit interested in), here are my pillow book entries for now:

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE
I love when Carsyn says, "ZiZi, um here. Play. Otay?" I love waking up on Thursdays and knowing that Robbie's coming home that night.  I smile when Daniel asks for a snack -- right after he finishes supper :) ; when Kaylee says "Wub my peet" ; when I read Nicholas Sparks; when Grace watches herself in the mirror as she's talking; when Blair comes to gymnastics wearing a pink, floor-length, long sleeve Cinderella costume and high heels over her leotard; when Caroline looks at me with big eyes and says "How do you know what the roly poly's names are?"--and believes me when I tell her they have name tags; when Dylan calls my parents Swimming Nannie and Swimming Papa--not because they swim but because they have a pool; when Lily and Breanna sing sooooo loud in Children's Church--but don't know the words and/or timing :) when all the clothes are washed...and it's only Wednesday ; when I child says, "I want Jesus to live in my heart"; when a sewing project comes out even cuter than I imagined; when I hear the song "I Can Only Imagine"; when I listen to Carsyn sing "Peas Ike Ibba" ("Peace Like a River");  when Grace looks at the clouds for shapes and says she sees Uncle Kenny and Uncle BoBo in a boat...

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SAD:
The bridge of my nose stings and my eyes get leaky when Grace looks at the clouds for shapes and says she sees Uncle Kenny and Uncle BoBo in a boat...; when I hear that one of my babies has gotten hurt; when I hear that innocent children have been killed or abused; when I hear the song "I Can Only Imagine;" when I can find only one of my polka dot yellow boxes -- and they would perfectly match my outfit; when I have to leave Carsyn crying, even though I know she'll stop as soon as I'm gone; when I hear people being cruel about others--they way they look or talk; Nicholas Sparks books; Where the Red Fern Grows; when friends grow apart; when all I have left to do is put the elastic in the waistband...and I'm out of elastic and it's 2:34 A.M.

WHY I DON'T MIND EATING ALONE
When I eat alone (or only with close family), my whole meal is so much more peaceful. If I eat in a crowd, this is the way the meal goes: You don't eat ______? Have you tried it? Why not? Try a little bit. It won't hurt you! For real, this is wonderful! It tastes just like ______________. What?!?! You don't eat ______, either!? Where have you been living? What do you eat? Is something wrong with you?

Alone or with close family, this is what I get: This one is yours, Mama. It's not touching anything. I'll eat that one; it's more done than you like it. I cooked these for you because I know you don't like ______. I ordered one pizza with light/no sauce so it would be better. This dressing has pickles; the plain dressing is over there.

And that is why I like to eat alone or with close family.

THE PROBLEM WITH COOKING
Robbie can, without a doubt, outcook any restaurant we have ever visited. So why is it such a temptation to just pick something up while we are out? It's the dish gremlins that live in our house. While we are cooking the simplest of meals, the dish gremlins are messing up every available dish in the house! When we finish eating, the kitchen looks like General Sherman marched his army straight through it. So discouraging. And then of course it's late and we're full...not the best of conditions to foster a "jump up now and clean it up" feeling. So sometimes we go to a place where we leave all the mess. We can't do it all the time, but sometimes, it's just worth it to eat not-quite-as-good food and let them clean it all up :)

THE PROBLEM WITH TODAY'S KIDS
This is not going to sit well...

We always hear, or maybe are guilty of saying, that today's kids are a big problem. What in the world are they thinking? What's wrong with them? What's going to happen to our world if they are left in charge? Soooo...here's my answer:

What's wrong with today's children is yesterday's children. It's the adults who raise them. It's the parents who bail their children out of every scrape, give them the best of the best without their having to work for it, and make sure that they never have to suffer any consequences for their actions. Children are -- well, children. They are going to make mistakes. I'll be the first one to say that if a child doesn't have a good relationship with his parents, there will not be the openness needed for that child to come to the parent for help. But help does not necessarily mean "fixing it." It means guiding the child to do what is right; helping him carry that out; applying house rules consistently so that there is never a question that rules must be obeyed.

Children are not any different than they have always been...tiny humans who need help growing up. Adults, though--well, that's a different story.

TO BE CONTINUED...MAYBE :)