I have been unplugged lately, hence the lack of blog. I have neglected all things requiring a glowing screen and it feels good. It feels good to walk the talk so to speak.
Been thinking, with all these kids around and warm weather coming...been thinking that I am tired of talking and maybe I would like to do more walking. Simple, cheap stuff, you know. Maybe dust off the free bike I picked up in an uncharacteristic moment of assertiveness when I rang a doorbell, "Is that bike by the road going out with the trash?""Yes, please take it," she said and now all five of us have wheels. My husband and kids washed it up for me one morning and my bike, it has a basket. Seriously. I love it. Sort of purple and the seat is waaayyy better than the others. Wider, you know, more accommodating for a behind that has followed me through three pregnancies and more than my share of brownies.
And that new basketball goal. sigh. The kids are crazy about the goal. I am not a fan of sports and particular of basketball. Dare I say this in print? However, I have been feeling lately like maybe I want to go out there and shoot ten or twenty baskets when the sun is warm and see if I can make two or three for no other reason than because it's there.
One thing I don't want to do is shoot imaginary baskets on our Wii.
Now I am not saying my electric stuff is evil. Our iPad and DVR have brought things to us that we would probably never have seen and my kids talk about things like whose music they like better, Vivaldi or Beethoven and how cool it is that crater lake was formed when a volcano exploded so violently that it blew the mountain away and left a hole and whether you can see Ursa Major or Canis Major from our hemisphere. This stuff comes to us in full color care of our connectivity.
Warning: Rabbit Trail Ahead
Oh, by the way, before I paint too unrealistic picture, my children also talk about terrible things like gas and I don't mean petroleum, the dog's pooping habits and their current favorite word, constipation. Honestly, does it ever end? Ever???? I just wanted you to know in case there is anyone else out there whose childrens' brains seem to have been incubated in a bathroom. You are not alone, maybe I am, but you are not.
Back on track now...
But I think, right now, I would hope for all of us that we remember to live a real life, not watch a virtual one.
Remember how the sun feels on your skin and how the wind smells when it brings rain and real bowling is way harder and way more fun that Wii bowling.
Go see one of your Facebook friends in person. If I am one of your friends, I could really use a trip to a coffee shop, consider this an invite. Come over and please ignore my kitchen. Maybe I can make you an iced tea and we can chat while I wipe off the counters and sweep. You don't mind, right? You don't even have to schedule a playdate for next month, come over and we will walk to the playground today and the kids can scream all they want. Mine wash up all right, yours?
If I am lucky I am only about halfway to dead and I don't want to lay in assisted living with the only thing I have to talk about being what I liked or pinned and the memes I shared.
Modern education theory says we need to focus as much on our kids' EQ (experience quotient) as on IQ and that may be true for us too.
Instead of buying more stuff, maybe we could put our resources into experiences. Instead of a new device, what about a trip to the ocean? Instead of six new toys, what about an amusement park? Remember, how fun it was to ride the scariest rides over and over?
There is a lake about an hour from us and it would cost about $20 in gas and a packed cooler to spend an entire day there at a real lake with my real toes in the real water and a real cold coke freezing my real fingers. My real kids could dig in the real muck and find real "things" under the sand and even if something bites or stings, well that is real...life does that sometimes.
You should know, I write these things and I don't even know if anyone reads it so I write them to myself, not to preach to anyone else but to remind myself.
What I want to remember is that I want to live this summer, not watch it. I want to feel this summer. I want to remember this summer, soak it up and experience it. This world may be but a shadow but while I am here I want to really live!
In the interest of complete disclosure, I do still love my iPhone.
Michele
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