Have any of you ever wished for an opportunity to just put away your phone, unplug the computer, and live a different kind of life just for a little while? My oldest daughter, VG, is doing exactly that this semester and I couldn’t be prouder! She’s always been a deep thinker, but she’s also highly sensitive. She realized a couple of years ago that social media wasn’t something that was good for her mentally, so she got rid of it. During her spring semester, she came across this program that her university is a part. The opportunity came at the most perfect time. The Oregon Extension
“Every autumn since 1975, several dozen college students from across the country have taken a step “out of the current” for an unusual semester of vigorous intellectual exploration. Students earn 17 credits, but focus on one topic of study at a time. Daily reading, small group discussion, and one-on-one conversations with faculty members comprise the heart of the OE program.” (theoregonextension.org)
Although, I can only talk to my daughter on the weekends (because their phones are put away Monday through Friday) I know that she is doing some amazing things. She’s camped out at the Lava Beds National Monument. She climbed Mt. McLoughlin the first week she was there. She’s made goat cheese. She’s milked goats. She has cooked more meals so far than she’s ever cooked before. She was part of de-feathering a turkey that was supposed to be a Thanksgiving Turkey, but was badly injured, so it was necessary to end its suffering. I’m sure there are many more things she has done, and I’m sure there are lots more amazing adventures on the horizon for the next three months. My prayer is that she’ll gain an amazing amount of confidence in herself and an awareness and appreciation for this wonderful world we’ve been blessed to be a small part. She shared a screenshot of a poem one of the professors read. It is perfection.
She also started a blog of her own. https://the20nothing.blogspot.com/?m=1 She’s actually had several blogs throughout her life, but this one is about the new phase of her life. I am proud that she is so brave to step away from the things she knows and feels comfortable with, and jump into a life that is so very different and extremely challenging, even if it’s only for a few months.
I think all families have fights over weird things. I know we do for sure! If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll end up with two kids who love opposite things. One will like the edge brownies and the other will like the middle, but that’s just not how my family ended up. My kids like the middle of everything. They will fight over the middle brownie, the middle pieces of bread, the middle cinnamon roll. They truthfully fight over everything, so I had to come up with some peace measures. My husband actually figured out the way to make all the cinnamon rolls seem like the middle. I’ve been making them this way ever since.
Okay, this post is going to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize already. I have had this thought on my mind for a few weeks or longer. As I have explained before, one of my daughters has an extremely rare brain abnormality. She struggles to learn and do what many of us take for granted. She has very little depth perception and peripheral vision. She has trouble with her short-term memory. She has lots of trouble with crossing midline activities like swimming, biking, reading, and writing (think about the fact that we read and write from left to right). She has what I would consider “special needs”. She needs help and accommodations to do regular, everyday things.
When I was a little girl, it was not unusual for all of my family to be outside together working in the garden in the evenings or the weekends. We were often together working on all sorts of projects. My parents even flipped houses for awhile and I loved when I went to the houses with them and helped paint, mow, or whatever we were doing that particular day.
lovedinthesouth.com 