Posts tagged ‘children’

Jul 10

Luke, I Am Your Father

Driving home from work last night, my mind was meandering from trail to trail and I somehow landed on those words that Darth Vader (almost) spoke. But suddenly it wasn’t James Earl Jones’ voice in my head anymore; it was my own.

My sister and I spent a lot of weekends at my grandparents’ house when we were kids. It didn’t have air conditioning, and in the summertime there was always a big box fan blowing in the middle of the living room floor. Becca and I would take turns talking into the fan, and that was the favorite phrase of choice. “LUKE, I am your FATHER!”

“Get away from that fan, you’re blocking the air!”

Emperor Nannie needs no Jedi mind tricks to make her will be done.

What I remember most about those times is a lot of little things like that. Running around in the yard with the chickens and the kids across the street. Sitting in front of the wood stove, wrapped in a big towel after a bath in winter. The fact that my Nannie never locked her doors, and that’s why I walked home in the middle of the night from my friend’s house when I couldn’t sleep. I always knew I could get in.

We used to pull down her attic steps and play around the hole they left in the ceiling. I don’t remember what we played, but I remember sitting around the edge with boxes of this and that stacked all around us. And I remember looking up at dangling feet when it was my turn to climb that rickety old ladder.

We would go to “the candy store” before church on Sunday. It was really just the corner market, but Nannie gave us fifty cents apiece to buy candy with, so it was a candy store to us. We each could get two candy bars with that kind of money back then, and we took our time choosing.

Nannie and Grandpop watched Hee Haw, so we had to watch it too. But it wasn’t so bad. Other than that, we pretty much had our way with the television. We always watched the Disney movie, and I particularly remember seeing Escape to Witch Mountain at their house. But the big deal was The Love Boat and Fantasy Island on Saturday nights. Da plane! Da plane!

I saw JR get shot on their tv, too, something I’d have never been allowed to watch at home. But don’t blame Nannie; she was asleep by then. I was a tv and movie girl from the start, I guess, and I’d stay up all night long watching and watching and watching. Bring on the next story! Channel control was a mighty powerful thing to a kid like me, back before there was a tv in every room, cable or even the fourth network.

I lay on the couch in the dark, sometimes wide awake and sometimes half asleep but not willing to give up. Nannie would wake up in the middle of the night and ask, “What are you still doing up?!”

“I’m going to bed in a minute.”

But it always took longer than that.

There were always granddaddy long legs in Nannie’s house. They’d climb up and down the walls, and beside the couch their tiny pill bodies and giant spindly legs were cast in relief by the blue and white light of the television. It’s an image that will probably stay with me the rest of my life, creepy and fascinating all at the same time.

I liked the fireflies better.

There was a big old tree in the front yard and a well not far from it. An old-fashioned black iron pump and handle stuck out from the concrete well lid, and I always thought that was cool as crazy. It didn’t work, but that was okay. Nannie and Grandpop would sit in a couple of old lawn chairs next to the well, under the wide canopy of that old tree, and everything was exactly how it was supposed to be.

The sun would start to go down and the breeze would start to pick up. The grass would begin to cool beneath our bare feet. And lightning bugs – so many lightning bugs. The chase was on, and when you caught one, you’d cup both hands gently around it and peek inside to see the light.

Sometimes I miss being a kid.

I miss newness and the adventure that comes with unreserved imagination.

I watch my nieces play dress up and tea party, and I envy their ability to get lost in that make-believe world. I suspect the imaginary worlds I create for myself now are not nearly as awesome as theirs.

Would I go back? Heck no.

But I wouldn’t mind a visit from time to time.

To be honest, though, some things never do lose their magic. Like staying up all night watching television when I know I really should be asleep in bed.

And I’m certainly not above talking into a fan, even at my age.

If no one is looking.

♥

Jun 12

Suicide Awareness Podcast

The interview with Alaina and Peyton about their Suicide Awareness Project is now available.

If you are interested, you can listen to the podcast here.

The podcast is also available on iTunes here.

Thank you!

Jun 5

9 Comments

The Suicide Awareness Project

My nephew and his friend Alaina asked me to post this for them. They are working on a school project about something that, in Alaina’s words, “a lot of people don’t like to talk about very much because it’s a harsh topic. So we figured why not us, since we’re passionate about bringing awareness to it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi.

I’m Alaina.
Alaina

And I’m Peyton.

Peyton 2

We’ve been working on a project together; we want to spread awareness about a serious problem.

We feel that this problem is something that gets over-looked by many as an unimportant, non-serious issue. There is no enthusiasm about suicide prevention or awareness of the symptoms. We definitely don’t hear about it at school. And the fact that we never hear about it proves to us that suicide is one of the lesser things that the school system cares about.

But suicide affects many people in so many different ways.

Last year, we came up with a plan; we wanted to host a walk to support suicide awareness. But unfortunately that didn’t work out. Although a couple of the adults in our school supported us wholeheartedly, it only took one person’s lack of support to make the whole project fall apart.

We emailed her, called her, wrote her letters… It supported how we feel about it, that no one cared. Or at least that people at the school don’t care. And that’s what we were trying to do, to get our school – and not just our school, but others in the community – to realize that this actually does happen. That person not responding was a slap in our face that made it seem like it was true, that nobody did care.

We both personally know many people who have been and continue to be changed by the effects of suicide or attempted suicide. Suicide is a real problem that needs more attention.

Recently one of our own friends tried to commit suicide. He over-dosed on pills, but thankfully he survived because his mother found him in time. We were told that she found him at the last possible moment he could have received help to stay alive.

It was a terrible experience for him to go through, but also for his family and friends. It was a horrible thing to have to watch him go through that without being able to help him.

We feel like people don’t realize the true effects of suicide until it happens to them. It affects much more than what it seems to on the surface. Suicide is bigger than one person. For every person that commits suicide, there are on average six people who are affected deeply by that suicide. All of that person’s family, all of his relatives, all of his friends that cared and loved him are now left with this.

And we’re positive each and every one of them feels that they could have done something.

We need help spreading the word. Talk about it more, don’t let it be such a shy subject.

Mentor someone. Learn what to look for and how to respond to cries for help.

Share this post. Spread the word.

♦

Alaina and Peyton were also my guests on the podcast, talking about their suicide awareness project, why they took it on, what it means to them, and why they care so much. You can listen to that here.

May 22

Tipping

It’s possible, and even likely, that you’ve never heard of the kind of tipping I mean.

This week’s podcast guest has something so important to share! And I want to get that message out to as many people as possible.

Debbie Deming is on the show to talk about furniture tipping over onto little children. She says that in the US this year, about 25,000 children go to the ER and a child will die every 9-11 days due to a tipping accident.

It’s the kind of accident that can happen in any home, to any one’s family. And so many people have never even heard of it before.

When it happened to their granddaughter, Debbie and her husband thought it was a freak accident that had never happened to anyone else. But as they mourned the loss of Amaya, they found other families who had gone through the same tragedy, and they realized that tipping happens all too often.

So they started a foundation, Safe and Sound with Amaya, to spread the word about the dangers of tipping. And along with information, they give out free furniture straps to anyone who needs them.

You can hear Debbie’s story on the podcast, but whether you listen or not, I just want you to be aware that this is a thing that happens.

As I said on the show, I climb up on things that I know I have no business attempting. These little kids are just doing the same thing – trying to reach something they want. Only they don’t have the experience to understand that it’s dangerous. Until it’s too late. It’s our responsibility to keep them safe, and tipping deaths are totally preventable.

If you have kids or know anyone who has kids, please look around and see if they are as safe in their home as you think they are. A 25 pound child can pull over a 100 pound dresser just by stepping or pulling up on a single open drawer. That’s a fact that too many parents have learned in the worst possible way.

Free furniture straps are available!! Be safe now, instead of sorry later.