Harvesting Crumbs

So this is a post I've been meaning to write for a while.... and what better time to write it than when I ought to be writing my thesis?

(important note by the way: I just hit 40 pages yesterday -- which is the minimum! I still have 4 sections I'd like to write plus a conclusion, which will probably end up to be 18-ish pages I think, which is totally do-able! but please continue sending good thesis thoughts and prayers my way!)

Anyway...one of the things I've been thinking about lately is: why am I keeping this blog? When I was in El Salvador last spring it was obvious: it was a way for me to document, process, reflect upon and share with all of you my experiences, challenges, and celebrations.

I am not in El Salvador any more. Obvious, right?

Something happened last week that reminded me though.

So, last Thursday, I went in to the Peace Room (part of a community center after-school program). I was the only volunteer there that day. Jerry and MJ the co-directors were receiving an award for their peace work and all of the other volunteers either had finals or had gone home for the holidays already. So, it was me and three rambunctious crazy 5 year olds. Our mission: to decorate the peace room for Christmas.

So they came in, we sat in a circle on the floor (which really meant one of them plopped herself on my lap, and the other ran around the room) while we did our check-ins (what has made your peace? what has broken your peace?) then we said our peace pledge and sang a couple of their songs. At which point I gave them their mission. NO was the resounding answer. We spent the next 15 minutes or so with one (or both of them) falling down, and saying "OH NO I broke my neck!) To which of course, I would call 911 (on my hand...you, know....pretend :) and be instructed that the ONLY cure for a broken neck is to be tickled! Then my two 5 yr olds (the third hadn't arrived yet) started taking turns calling 911 and be the 911 operator.

Then, that game worn out... I gave them a choice: we cold read a book or work on decorations. We chose decorations (side note: i think I learned this in psychology, about giving a children 2 options and then they get to decide what to do, but usually youngs kids do tend to choose and option).

Coloring, cutting, and couple of other pretend games later... and it was time to clean up.

Of course here, in print, on a computer screen, I can't capture their smiles, or their screams (at one point we made a bath room field trip and one of them ran ahead of me into the bathroom and when I got in, she was standing in the middle with a HUGE grin on her face, screaming as loud as she could). But maybe a glimmer has been captured.

Curing broken necks, pretending us safe from pretend robbers, coloring with these five year olds made me think: Life. Be. Those crumbs are every where. Writing here, some how sharing the crumbs that bring me life and joy and awareness and reflection, that sharing helps me to be more aware of them. To keep my eyes and my heart open. So thank you. Thank you for joining me in my little feast of crumbs.