I think I've found the key to kids' waking up ready to meet the day: get them involved in a project.
All week long our visiting grandkids have known that on Wednesday morning we would be in the gardens, harvesting food & flowers for Fare Share. Last night we did some prep work like setting up tables, picking some flowers that would be OK with sitting in a jar all night and labeling plastic bags. Salad greens go in bags saying, "Please Wash".
Frances got bored of writing "Please Wash". When you are almost 11, and you are bored of writing two words, you do 3X the work and illustrate as well. Time is not a factor in the decision process.
Breakfast, tooth brushing, dressing, backpack filling done on their own and lo and behold, we had two helpers! Neither of them wanted to pick flowers because yesterday they had seen a white spider half the size of my tiny fingernail. I think they've been traumatized for life. 🥴 The spider is now the size of a dinner plate in their stories.
Nora chose the job of runner, grabbing bunches of hydrangea and hosta flowers, zinnias, etc. from me as I picked them. She let me know how many more we needed of each type as we filled the tables with flowers.
Frances took on the role of recorder. I am keeping a record of how much we grow of each item so we can fine tune our production next year.
Today was a big day for tomatoes.
Our flower bouquets have a whole new look today. Our young helpers felt we needed iris leaves in the centres. Nice touch.
Here's the partial list (girls needed to go to camp before we were done) of today's haul. Do you notice a bit of a trend here? It seems that the tomatoes and carrots have the same measuring units as white spiders do.
This post is brought to you buy enthusiasm. It threaded its way through our entire morning.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson
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