Nematodes

A Monday morning science session had Nolan, Atira and I reviewing the various phylum of the Animal Kingdom. I was quite pleased that when we came to the group Nematodes, Nolan's eyes lit up with recognition and he shouted, "Oh, oh! Nematodes! I remember what those are, roundworms with no segments." I praised his answer and asked how he remembered that. My teacher self-pride was completely deflated when his answer came back....."Spongebob." Really? Has it come to this, that the information my students retain is that which is reinforced by a drooling echinoderm and a poriferan in a pineapple?


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Rubber Bands

Last week, I had to purchase some large rubber bands to secure the shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Unfortunately, there were no small bags available and I was left to bring home a 1 pound bag of brightly colored bands. Nolan saw this as an opportunity to make a couple Lego rubber band guns........



......,which he then proceeded to bring to church yesterday. This was unknown to me until he was about to demonstrate it's firepower to fellow Lego enthusiast, Chris McCarthy. Should I have to explain to a 12 year old that he should not be shooting rubber band guns in the church sanctuary?

On the continued subject of rubber bands, this was a conversation this morning in the Gilbert house:

Tell: (holding a brown rubber band) In the old days did they have jes plain rubber bands, not colors?
Me: Yes, that's true. Although in the VERY old days they had NO rubber bands, not even plain ones.
Tell: No, no. I didn't mean way back then. I mean in the NEW old days.
Me: Then that's right. They only had plain rubber bands.

(Tell, satisfied with my answer, twirls around, hops across the kitchen floor and heads downstairs.)

Jubal: (chuckling) So what constitutes the new old days?
Me: After the very old days, but before today. It's all extremely scientific.








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Sending and Receiving Gifts

Each year we join many others at Woolwich Wiscasset Baptist Church and fill a couple shoe boxes with small gifts to be sent overseas and distributed by Operation Christmas Child to needy children during the Christmas season. Nolan, Atira and I went on Saturday night to pick out the items we would put in the boxes. Nolan chose for the boy's box and Atira for the girl's. Atira also enclosed a letter in hers in which she hoped that the recipient would enjoy all the "cool and girly stuff". This year we donated our shipping cost online which allows us to track exactly where in the world our boxes end up. I love to imagine the joy that this small box of goodies will bring to one little life.



It is usually much more enjoyable to give than receive. One exception to this would be receiving the gift of children.
Jubal's 16th birthday coincided with the day I had planned to drop off our shoeboxes at the Nazarene church on Lisbon Falls. This worked out very well because the corner store, on 196, specializing in Moxie paraphernalia, was only a couple miles a way. After dropping the boxes off, The kids and I managed to snag a Moxie tie, t-shirt and glass mug for Jubal's celebration. At home there was a phone call from the Australian grandparents (during which he managed to eat supper and play living room soccer with Atira and Tell).



Then Grandad and Mimi to arrived with cake to round out Jubal's sixteenth birthday quite nicely.






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Wired

Just a quote from my friend Butch Brown as his wife Liz and I discussed the type of information that is revealed as we women chat with one another at a women's retreat.
Butch: "You'd never find any of these kind of conversations going on at a Men's Retreat."
Liz: "That's just how we're wired"
Butch: "I know that, it's a short circuit."

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Treehouse Tradition

When Jubal was much smaller, his birthday parties were big events with about fifteen little boys running around our house and yard. As he got older, he whittled his celebration down to include only Nate Fisher, Matt Brown and James Morrill. When Jim's dad built the treehouse, it became tradition for the boys to spend the night up there, despite the fact that Jubal's birthday falls in the middle of November. Last night, the mercury dipped to about 30•F but that's no problem for Maine-bred boys with warm sleeping bags. Some years have had more excitement than others. I recall the year I made a 2am call to the police because the boys thought for sure they had seen a stabbing at the neighbor's house from their treetop vantage point. This year there was a bit of laughter when, as the boys headed out the door, I called out, "If you guys see anyone murdered tonight, just come in and let me know!" I prefer a bit less excitement, like the year the boys made their own pizzas and the oven caught fire. I handled it quite calmly and extinguished the flames as I flung out the contents of the orange Arm and Hammer box. The only casualty was poor Matthew Brown's pizza. Baking soda is apparently not an appetizing pizza topping. There was no pizza this year as all of us, minus James, had attended the Coastal Christian Soccer Banquet that evening. I did, however send them up with some Moxie Chocolate cake to go along with their array of candy and soda..


Each year I have made the bleary-eyed crew pancakes as they emerge from their chilly, semi-sleepless night. Tell was quite happy to accept the mission, this morning, of climbing the ladder and informing the boys that breakfast would soon be on the table.


As I watched him ascend, it struck me, how quickly time has passed since Jubal was Tell's age and that these teenage boys only have a few more of these treehouse birthdays left and so I will enjoy the moments and memories.



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