Journey of a Thousand Miles: December 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Boys

This morning I volunteered in Eli's classroom. This was the first time for that. Everything is clear to me now.

There are 19 kids in his class. 6 of them are girls. That means the overwhelming majority are boys.

As I walked from table to table helping with a craft, I heard what seemed to be Eli's quirks repeated over and over and over. Turns out, they're not Eli's quirks- they're 6-year old boy quirks. Lots of non-word noises. Lots of imagination. Lots of crashing and exploding.

I will attempt to demonstrate using bits of real conversations I overheard this morning:

Boy 1: And, like, Santa came in and (crashing noise)!

Boy 2: And there was a bear and he was like no way!

Boy 1: Yeah, like ahhh!!! a bear!

Boy 3: I saw a bear at a dumpster!

Boy 2: I saw a bear with his head stuck in a milk jug!

Boy 3: I saw a bear on a tire!

Boy 2: I saw a bear with his head stuck in a tire!

Boy 2: Like, we go up to the cops and say what are cops?

Boy 4: Ahhh! Yeah!

Boy 2: And they arrest us and say you're bad guys!

Never mind, this is a worthless exercise. I can't even come close to recreating any conversations because I can't do the million sound effects that were thrown in and all the chuckling and giggling.

I'll just say that it all became clear to me. Eli sounds exactly like his many male classmates. Apparently, he's right on track for a 6-year old boy.

Conversation With Evan

Following is a conversation that took place in the car:

Me: Tomorrow is your school Christmas party!

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: Tomorrow is your Christmas party at school.

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: I mean that tomorrow at school you're having a party.

Evan: What kind of party?

Me: A Christmas party.

Evan: Oh...Is tomorrow the next day?

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Brrr....

It's 7 am and time to wake up the boys and get them breakfast, but I just wanted to announce that winter is definitely here. I just checked the weather and it's -29 Celsius, which translates to -20.2 Fahrenheit. That's cold.

Kendall is currently outside with his buddy loading the 4-wheeler onto the truck for a day of hunting. They couldn't decide which truck to take- Kendall's? (with a malfunctioning 4-wheel drive) or Jeff's? (with a malfunctioning heater). Hmmm... They chose the chilly ride. They may regret that.

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Big Parade

Tonight was the Santa Claus Parade here in Red Lake. It’s a huge deal here. An amazing event! There are well-over 4 floats and a couple police cars and ~~fire trucks~~ a fire truck and… Well anyway, it’s still a big deal for us. Everyone shows up.

Tonight was a beautiful night for it. It was snowing huge, fluffy snowflakes. Unfortunately, we got to the parade route 2 minutes after it started and missed about a large portion of the event. Being in a small town, we, of course, knew the people we happened to be standing next to. The boys got candy, we huddled together to stay warm, and we waved to people on the floats for 10 exciting minutes!

Our friend standing next to us was overwhelmed with the excitement. She turned to me and gushed, "This parade- It's goes on for minutes and minutes!"

He he. She makes me laugh.

But, even as I affectionately mock the Big Parade, I love that the whole town turns out for this community event. And afterward, everyone is invited to the Canadian Legion for snacks. There are some special things about being part of a small, isolated community. It makes not having a McDonald's or a Wal-mart a little easier to handle. :)

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles