Social Renegade at last!

I was that kid you hated in high school, you know, the quiet intelligent one that NEVER did anything wrong, not even misspelled a word…okay, my spelling wasn't perfect, but I was never even remotely close to rebellious; I was too terrified to rebel.  My clothes didn't have holes in them, my hair wasn't purple, I never got a tattoo or piercing, everything I learned about drugs and alcohol was from a book, I didn't even go out with anyone or listen to loud music.  Growing up and moving on with my life, I still never found my way into 'trouble,' even as tattoos and piercings became mainstream; I did skip class once, in graduate school, to buy movie tickets…wow, now that is rebellion!  Sigh, I'm still that kid you hate.

Then I woke up one morning and discovered I was a rebel at last!  I had attained the status of social renegade through no effort of my own.  I'm still the same, ho hum, theoretically boring, drab person I have always been, but the world has suddenly turned on its head.  I grew up in the midst of the divorce craze that ravaged so many families at the end of the last century (boy I sound old) and have watched marriage rates plummet in the intervening years until it is no longer a cultural norm, but rather one lifestyle choice among many, and then the whole institution has suddenly been redefined, meaning it will soon have no definition at all, at least among the majority of Americans.  Get married if you like or don't, it doesn't matter, marry whomever you want, break it off when it gets cumbersome or dull; it's all the same, at least on the level of cultural perception and acceptance.

So the cultural rebels of yesteryear had long hair (it was green) and tattoos and listened to stuff that could not possibly be classified as music at headache-inducing decibels.  Today's rebels will marry someone of the opposite genetic sex and remain in that sordid relationship indefinitely; weird, that's like so retro, man.  Talk about countercultural!  Does this mean I'm finally cool?

Google the all knowing

We live in a wondrous age: we have vast amounts of information (and probably far more than is good for us) at our fingertips.  Need a new recipe?  Don't know what to do with that chipped and ruinous dresser?  Want a free copy of 'Romeo and Juliet?'  What does, 'que pasa' mean?  And on and on, ad infinitum.  But omniscience does have its limits, really.

I picked up an older wind-up clock at a thrift store for a great price because it did not run, I googled fixing the little buggers, and figured I'd have it running in no time.  I managed to unscrew the back and take off the pendulum, but dared go no deeper for fear of ruining the entire works.  It was certainly more complicated than my internet how-to guide made it sound.  I'll take it to an expert for a second opinion.  I've noticed google's limitations in the medical field as well, go type 'fever' or 'lethargy' into webMD or any other medical information/diagnosis site and see what happens: you should have narrowed your differential list to about 25000 diseases more or less, but this still does not prevent the occasional person from walking into my office certain sure of their diagnosis, all they need is the proper medication to treat it, and sadly that requires a prescription (and thus an office visit); why can't they just make every medication over the counter?  We have google, who needs a doctor?

New Forest Disease?  Never heard of it, you're sure?  The eyes are watery, some are red with a white center?  I'd recommend some oxytetracycline ($5) but you want a gallon of aloe vera juice ($75), you're sure?  Sounds like your calves have pink eye, but you're sure?  Okay then.  That's an actual conversation, google had spoken and I couldn't talk them out of it.  At least the tetracycline should work on the pinkeye, I don't know what they'll do with the aloe.  I also had a case of 'distemper' I managed to treat with doxycycline (antibiotics don't typically work on viruses, but as this was a classic case of lyme disease it actually worked quite well).  There is definitely a difference between wisdom and knowledge; we are adrift in a sea of knowledge (and even more opinions), but few are those that know how to sift through the flotsam and jetsam to find the bits of true worth and how to apply that information for the benefit of others.  We are all of us experts on everything, at least if we have a smartphone handy!

Strange Obsessions

I did not grow up in an urban environment, so have no idea what kids do for fun in the summer therein, but in rural America, way beyond the last exurb, we go to the fair.  And not just go, we enter stuff in it. Everything from three year old scribblings to bulls massing over a ton have a Class and a Lot wherein to be entered and judged.  It started innocently enough, grandma would have us bake cookies and pick flowers and make little craft projects.  Then came 4-H and FFA and the plethora of exhibit options available to their members.  After high school came Open Class, wherein anyone could enter anything, assuming they could find a Class and Lot for it.  As I've grown old, I've continued to enter photographs, which depending on the fair, have done quite well, or not.  There is still nothing quite like entering all your junk and then rushing back opening day to see if you got a ribbon; silly, quaint, juvenile, archaic, probably, but still exciting, and a tradition I hope to share with my kids as my grandmother did with me.

All the world in a seed

I tried to grow delphiniums from seed last year and started them in the house, it was an unmitigated disaster, the goofy things came up, put out their first pair of true leaves then just up and died.  I had a packet of columbine seeds as well, but figured it was hopeless as they must be as finicky as the delphiniums, but I had them so I had to do something with them.  I scattered the contents haphazardly in a couple large pots, but besides for watering them occasionally, I didn't pay them any particular attention.  The silly things sprouted and thrived!  With a shrug, I transplanted them, figuring they wouldn't survive the process, but they did and they even made it through the summer.  Then this spring, they all came up when many of my shrubs and other plants were killed or severely damaged by our bipolar freeze/thaw winter.  Then came the deer, they ate most of the flower stalks, but they missed a pair which is now blooming.

It is hard to imagine such a delicate, beautiful flower came from a tiny little seed, that it could somehow grow from nothing into a splendid plant all on its own, that the necessary programming was there from the first.  With all of our technology and scientific advancement, we humans still can't come up with anything so intricately wonderful, yet we continue to insist it came about by accident or cosmic chance, yet columbine is just one of thousands of species of flowers, and that says nothing of the other plants, bacteria, fungi, insects, mammals, fish…that fill our world.  I find nothing more intriguing than watching a seed become a plant and then producing more seeds, it fascinated me as a child and still does, perhaps that is why it is said only a child may possess the Kingdom of God; it seems a very sad thing to grow up and lose all ability to find any enchantment in the world.

As a vapor

I was babysitting a two year old a few days ago and he pointed at the clock and named all twelve numbers.  My three year old can't do that, he can probably do 1-9 but I really haven't worked with him on it all that much.  Perhaps my jealous mommy side should have kicked in and I should be drilling him on numbers 1-20 in English and Spanish on a daily basis, but rather I started to wonder if we push our kids too hard sometimes.  I never had preschool yet still managed to get a doctorate but there are families that think their kids will never succeed if they don't get into the 'right' preschool.  I almost ended up in a class for those with learning challenges, not because I had a learning disability, but because I thought the things we were doing in class were rather inane and decided I didn't want to participate (this was in first grade); my teacher thought my lack of cooperation was because I couldn't rather than I wouldn't, thankfully my mother intervened on my behalf.  We have a wrestling program in our tiny town open to four year olds!

I am okay with my kid learning about birds and flowers and sunshine before ever he memorizes the multiplication tables.  He's a bright little boy and picks up things quickly, and he has years to learn his letters, I'd rather he got to be a kid for a little while before I place the weight of the whole world on his tiny shoulders, and no, electronic devices have very little part in his life right now.  His imagination and a few sturdy, simple toys are more than enough to divert him for hours on end.  Childhood is short enough these days, and most of us spend our entire lives looking back longingly thereon, my dearest hope is that he is not one of them.