Chapters 6 and 7

I know, I'm behind. I haven't had a lot of time to respond to the chapters but this morning, since I'm used to getting up early, the morning was spent catching up on some much needed reading.

Having Lunch with Your Parents - Ch. 6

"So paramount is this responsibility to feed and nurtue the young lives the parents have created that it alters the value of their own" (Page 66).

This is absolutely beautiful and was the first thing I underscored (well second actually, the first one was "[women's] new job as milk machine" - next to a smiley face, too). The chapter goes on to mention the way parents lives are altered after they start bearing children. Also, the paradox of prioritizing once children come into a couple's life. I have often wondered, like the author, why adults are instructed by flight attendants to put their oxygen masks on before the children. Like Smith said, it seems strange and conflicts with the extinct to protect them first. The children are the priority now! However, it makes sense. Parents/adults cannot provide for children if they're not already taken care of first. For example, a mother must eat first before her embryonic baby can take "a bite". So although the instinct is to care for the child first, the parent needs to be in a position to care, ergo: put on that oxygen mask and don't feel bad for gorging yourself on chocolate pregnant ladies (your baby will thank you later).

So, this isn't new news, but I have an auto-immune disease which plagues my digestive system and wreaks havoc as far as physical nourishment and strength goes. I wasn't breast fed as long as was needed because the doctor said it wasn't good for me. I wonder, now from my adult perspective, whether it would have been that bad to have continued to have been breast fed regardless of the intolerance. Would I have been OK? I read an article while at BYU about necessary antibodies newborn babies recieve through their mother's breast milk. These antibodies bolster and begin to protect a new baby's immune system and cannot be acquired any other way but through the mother. In short, I'm thinking 'out-loud' about the importance of the role parents play in nurturing (providing food as Smith put it) their offspring. There's little use in dwelling on what could have been but I can't help but wonder, especially when Smith makes such a great case.

Playing Hooky - Ch. 7

I never really liked playing hooky when I was a kid nor do I like playing it now. I have always hated missing out on things and playing hooky always conjured up that fear of missing out - even if I wasn't completely happy with my job, I still didn't want to miss anything. Though, I am a huge proponent of individual freedom. Smith says that "Individual freedom is what makes life worth living, and society should back off to let it breathe" (page 77). Amen brother, amen!

I appreciated his thoughts on happiness being something that doesn't hit you in the face but that it could be something that you can "think yourself into". I guess I have had a hard time coming to terms with happiness when circumstances are less than desirable. I know that I can still be happy in spite of what goes on around me, but the truth remains, it's harder to come by. I heard a friend tell me in all honesty, "I don't do happy well". I whole-heartedly agreed with this sentiment and applied it to my own life. Last year, most specifically this past winter, was one of the hardest times of my life. I didn't feel like I had any freedom and I felt like a prisoner to my own fate. I wasn't happy at work and I wasn't sure I was making a difference in anyone's life for the better (my own included).

Now the contrast to this summer and into this fall, I am happy again. Individual freedom is at a high. Although, I'm still doing the same thing: teaching, the difference is I love it this time around (for whatever reason). I'm at a different school, yes, but I'm actually working longer days than I did before. The difference is tricky to pinpoint since little has changed - maybe it was happiness all along. I chose to 'think' myself into happiness. Actually, I think it was my attitude. I'm allowing myself to be myself 100% and it has make all the difference. All day yesterday, I had a grin on my face and I remember laughing a lot. I am happy and it feels good and it has given me that feeling of freedom that comes when life is good. I still have obligations, work and things to do almost constantly - but it's good. I like it.

Life is full of paradoxes. I have found happiness and freedom in work rather than when I play hooky (not that I've done it in awhile - I found the most joy playing hooky in elementary through middle school). I just feel better about myself when I work hard. That's when the sweet comfort of satisfaction settles into my bones. Hello freedom!