Saturday, August 14, 2004
A Slow Moving River
Okay... I'll go ahead and acknowledge it again... Steve and I are going to be older parents. When I am exhausted at the end of the school day, I think about how I don't even know what level of tired I am capable of experiencing... when I come home next semester and I have at least one little one to consume my last few ounces of energy and patience.
But on the flip side, Steve and I are also very relaxed about life in general. It's the little things we love - a rainy day, a great meal of spaghetti, reading aloud to each other... We'll still have rainy days albeit louder ones, messier meals of spaghetti, and plenty of opportunities for reading aloud. We know we love a simple life and have passed the stage of urgently trying to discover ourselves.
I began a parenting class this week - "Parenting with Love and Logic". I thoroughly enjoyed it, because it rings true in relation to my elementary classroom experience. I was in the parenting class with young parents, "streams that still run, jump, and sparkle" and I was reminded of this great quote from Pooh...
By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
p. 92, The House at Pooh Corner
Our "brown envelope" from the US Consulate came today. There are papers in Chinese, making the whole experience feel even more real. I keep thinking about enjoying the wait time... "There is no hurry. We will get there someday."
But on the flip side, Steve and I are also very relaxed about life in general. It's the little things we love - a rainy day, a great meal of spaghetti, reading aloud to each other... We'll still have rainy days albeit louder ones, messier meals of spaghetti, and plenty of opportunities for reading aloud. We know we love a simple life and have passed the stage of urgently trying to discover ourselves.
I began a parenting class this week - "Parenting with Love and Logic". I thoroughly enjoyed it, because it rings true in relation to my elementary classroom experience. I was in the parenting class with young parents, "streams that still run, jump, and sparkle" and I was reminded of this great quote from Pooh...
By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
p. 92, The House at Pooh Corner
Our "brown envelope" from the US Consulate came today. There are papers in Chinese, making the whole experience feel even more real. I keep thinking about enjoying the wait time... "There is no hurry. We will get there someday."
# posted by lorrainegriffith @ Saturday, August 14, 2004 
