Aha Moments

Last week I wrote about Duh Moments, but I much prefer Aha Moments - moments of clarity, inspiration, and understanding.  Aha! I get it.  Aha! I know what to do.  Aha! I am wiser as of this moment.

Some Aha Moments are too personal to share in an article like this (no offence – if you’ve had them you know what I mean).  Some are profound and life-changing.  Others are like insightful splotches of light on the sometimes foggy path of life.

I experienced an unusual Aha Moment in high school when I was having trouble in math.  I studied and worked at it, but the light bulb remained off.  So I went to bed.  While sleeping, I dreamed of the concept I was having difficulty with.  In my dream the math made perfect sense, and when I awoke the clarity remained.  Aha! I could do it.

Most of my Aha Moments follow a pattern:  After serious thought, study, and contemplation, the ‘bing!’ comes suddenly during a quiet moment when my mind is relaxed – often while doing dishes, taking a bath, lying in bed just before or after sleep, or while enjoying the tranquility of nature.

Unfortunately, we live in a very noisy and busy world – conditions that are not conducive to regular Aha Moments.  Music, information, and electronic blips and bleeps come at us from every angle, requiring us to make a concerted effort to turn off these distractions if we want to think properly.

To be tossed on the winds of media and popular opinion is a frightening thing.  We need those grounding, directional Aha Moments.  Regularly.  So let’s turn off the iPhones, find someplace quiet, and take time to ponder the questions of our hearts.  If we listen, the answers will come.  Aha!

Duh Moments

I’ve had a few excellent “duh moments” recently which I thought I’d share with you.

First, when I was prepping my garden this spring, I mentioned on Facebook that I hated pesky crackgrass.  A friend of mine asked what we were smoking at our place since there was quackgrass or crabgrass but no such thing as crackgrass.  Duh.

Then I was at a retirement party and we had to leave early because my uncle was in town for the evening.  As we were making our apologies, I said, “My uncle from – uh, is it Yellowknife that’s in the Northwest Territories?”  For some reason I get Yellowknife and Whitehorse mixed up.  Once I even said Yellowhorse.  Duh.

Just last week I was going through a receiving line at a wedding reception.  To the mother of the groom I said “welcome.”  Fortunately I realized my blunder, laughed about it, and said, “Did I just say ‘welcome’?  I mean ‘congratulations’!”  Duh.

None of these can hold a candle to my super-duper duh moment aka “my most embarrassing moment” which happened in Grade 8.  The class was about to start and the teacher said, “Kathryn, bend down.”  I didn’t know why he would say this, but I obediently ducked my head.  He looked at me strangely and said it again, so I bent down further.  By this time the kids around me were laughing.  I was completely bewildered.  He said it again.  This time I got out of my desk and crouched next to it.  The whole class roared.  Then I figured it out.  He was saying “pen down” not “bend down”.

We all have the occasional duh moment.  If we laugh it off, apologize if necessary, and move on, they just make life more interesting.

Choosing Coverage

Summer’s here!  Out come the lighter clothes.  Unfortunately, light seems to be synonymous with skimpy and cool seems to equal cleavage.  Why is that?  Aren’t we encouraged to cover up to avoid UV exposure?

Okay, who am I kidding?  I don’t care about your exposure to the sun.  That’s your choice.

What I do care about is how we dress in places of business and education.  Places where our husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, and other good men have to be every day.  In those places, it’s not about fashion.  It’s about respect and service, and showing too much skin is simply not respectful.

There, I said it because the men aren’t going to.  They’re afraid you’ll tell them to mind their own business and stopping looking, or call them perverts and complain about harassment.

Most men aren’t creeps or perverts.  They’re just men.  Sometimes they’re like a deer caught in the headlights.  It’s like driving past the guy on the bike with his crack showing…  Do I want to look?  No!  Are my eyes drawn there until I realize what I’m looking at?  Yes.  Blech!

Consider this:  1) If you dress provocatively, you don’t get to choose who notices.  It might be the Hot Hunk, but it might be the Corner Creep.  Or it might be the Good Guy you work with who now feels uncomfortable around you.  2) If you’re showing skin to get attention, wouldn’t you rather know it was your pretty eyes, your witty intellect, your dazzling smile, or your caring heart that first attracted your special someone?  Not your skin.  Everyone has skin.

Let’s make life a little easier on the decent men in our midst – especially in places of business.  Let’s give ourselves – and others – the respect we deserve by choosing coverage.

Crash Course in Homeschooling

The 2011-2012 school year officially ends this week.  But it ended a month ago for my homeschooled daughter.  Working at your own pace is one of the benefits of homeschool.

Throughout the year, whenever I mentioned homeschooling, the reactions and comments were varied:  “Why? Children need to socialize!”  “Good for you. I wish I had the patience for that.”  “I homeschooled once; best thing I ever did for my son.”

It took me a while to figure it out, but there are different kinds of homeschooling.  First, there’s “home-educating”, which is basically a philosophy that children will learn at their own pace when presented with learning opportunities.  This type of educating works best when parents are dedicated and plan to teach their children at home indefinitely.  This wasn’t for me.

Instead, we chose a blended program of homeschooling which means my daughter was doing the same curriculum as those attending school, simply doing it at home.  “Blended” means I was her teacher for some of the courses (music, foods, textiles, art, and religion) and she had other teachers for her core subjects.  She could email, fax, call, or instant message those teachers if she needed help that I couldn’t provide, and they were in charge of marking her tests and assignments.  E-lives even presented regular virtual classroom experiences with other children.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone but it can be a great alternative for various reasons.  I was relieved when my daughter approached me about homeschooling this year.  I was suffering from post-partum anxiety so it was a relief to have her home with me.  I helped her; she helped me.  That’s what family is for.  Now that she’s had a break from pre-teen social fickleness, she’s ready to go back.

Thank you homeschool.