Wildflower Writes

I enjoy festivals . It’s not the crowds, because I could do without that. It’s the celebratory atmosphere, the neighborly chats, and the break in the everyday humdrum. I just came back from the Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival. Even though it was cold and wet, my children and I had a really nice time. After several years of festivalling with my children, I’ve learned a few things. 1. Know where you’re going. I spent a half hour traipsing all over a small town with young children because I was too proud to get a map and too cheap to pay for a shuttle. These days almost everything is online. You can look up schedules, directions, everything. You just have to plan ahead. 2. Dress for the weather. And walking. I always make my kids where tennis shoes and socks, even if it’s scalding hot. Hot is better than blisters. I also try to prepare for the worst. It was fifty degrees outside today, but if we hadn’t all had long sleeves and winter coats, we would have frozen. Ponchos would have ...

The topic of conversation in Sunday School class was "loyalty."  It was based on a Dick Van Dyke episode: Dick Van Dyke Show: A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own and the question is, "what is loyalty?" We decided loyalty includes the words spoken in front of someone, as well as the words spoken when they aren't around.  Loyalty includes faithfulness in actions also, as anyone who's witnessed a break-up due to an affair can attest to.  Loyalty involves choosing a person or principle to stand by, and not backing down. Sometimes loyalties clash.  If your best friend does something wrong and asks you to cover, do you remain loyal to your friend or your beliefs? Believe it or not, people take note of how loyal you are.  Your employer expects loyalty, and will probably not tolerate negative comments or doing non-work activities on the clock.  Your friends and co-workers secretly worry when you gossip about a third party if you talk abou...

It’s quiet. My entire family fell asleep within minutes of hitting their pillows. I guess five hours of water play, a sophisticated scavenger hunt, animatronic story-time, and a full-length movie will do that to you. Why is it when you just start getting into the groove of vacation- do what you want, when you want, all at a leisurely pace- you have to pack up and look forward to the next break? When I went on vacation as a kid, there were not many choices. Dad decided when we were leaving, and Mom decided what we could pack. On the way, it didn’t matter if you were hot, hungry, thirsty, or your bladder was ready to explode, we would stop when Dad was ready, which usually meant when the gas tank was near empty. Once we arrived, we weren’t able to go anywhere without adult supervision. Our parents determined when and where we would eat and shop. I am not complaining about our vacations. Our beach vacations were some of the best memories of my childhood. My husband and I have just chosen ...