A Burst of Joyful Creativity

Who knows when it's coming or why! All I know is that Liam has decided to start drawing a series of cartoons! It's the "Stick versus _____" series. "Stick," the protagonist, is a stick-figure character (as you might have surmised) and his nemeses have various names like "Copy Cat" and "King Marijuana." This is an action series, and Liam is really, really jazzed about it!

I love to draw, even though I'm not so good at it, and I always wished that Liam would love to draw, too, but he has never responded well to our drawing sessions. He used to draw all the time when he was much younger. But, then I think he got it into his head that he wasn't good at it. So, he didn't really want to continue. There was not much I could say or do to help him here, since that's just not what he wanted.

Sure 'nuff, today he's really getting into it! And, he clearly feels really good about it. His drawings and ideas, as you might expect from Liam, are so interesting and strikingly original. He reports that he loves to draw when he's not under pressure.

'Nuff said!

Our Friend, Lisa Heyman

Too tired and behind in my work to re-write this message, I am simply re-posting it here for anyone who should stop by and not actually know about this. I'm also contemplating renting a billboard in Times Square! :-)


First, please accept my apologies for this cross-posting. Many folks receiving this are liable to get several copies of this (as I will), but I wanted to ensure that I was thorough.

Many people reading this probably know Lisa Heyman; she and her family attended Live & Learn last year and several years, in fact. She along with her husband, Larry, has been a speaker at at least a couple of L&L conferences and has been involved in the NE Unschoolers' conference. She has been sharing her incredible wisdom on national forums for years, and if you're lucky enough to live in her neck of the woods, as I do, you also know that she is also a proactive organizer who, in creating a rich world for her daughters, Roxanne and "Fire," makes the world a richer, more interesting, more fun place for everyone else, too.

If you know Lisa, you may know that she has been having some health challenges for quite a while, now, that have been manifesting as heart-related. However, a definitive diagnosis had been frustratingly eluding her. But, last week, after testing that included a biopsy of the heart itself, she finally got the diagnosis, and it's a tricky one. She has been diagnosed with amyloidosis (I'm guessing primary amyloidosis, but that's just a guess on my part), more information about which can be found here:

http://www.amyloidosis.org/whatisit.asp

Lisa asked me to let you know about this, and she is asking for the community's support in the following ways:

If you know Lisa well enough to call her, *please don't*. Her daughter, Roxanne, asks that folks not call the house as she doesn't want to endure the pain right now of having to answer questions and retell stories. Roxy says would appreciate adults not asking her about what's going on; however, her friends have shown interest in how Roxy herself is doing, and that feels good to her.

Lisa has gone no-mail on the lists she belongs to, so if you want to send her an email message, you can send it to her home email address, if you know it, or send your message to me, and I'll forward it to her (putting "forward to Lisa" in the subject line will be extremely helpful!).

Otherwise, she asked me (directly quoting Lisa here) to "put a request out to the unschooling community (e-lists at large) asking for healing circle of energy to be sent our way. I haven’t been terribly active on the lists over the past year but do continue to read....We have booked our rooms at the NEUnschoolers conference and the Live and Learn Conference and look forward to seeing everyone there – but in the meantime I am calling upon all to send us a welcome energy of light, healing and well being to be sent our way. I have called upon my community of friends and the love we feel from everyone is a great comfort."

She will benefit, I believe, from all the concentrated loving energy that can be focused on her, and I am asking folks to hold her in that kind of light.

Thanks, everyone!

Since then, a regular weekly healing circle has been organized by Jean Magee. Here's what she has to say:

Hi all,

There is a small group of us that have decided to have a weekly meditation for Lisa. We have chosen Sunday evenings at 6 pm (EST) for about a half hour.

Last Sunday there were 8 of us doing a guided visual meditation sending out lots of positive energy, positive thoughts, lots of light and balance. I was thinking that if we could have as many people as possible join us "virtually" we could give Lisa a tremendous surge.

So wherever you are on Sunday evenings at 6 pm (EST) would you take a few minutes to just think of Lisa and see her as the strong, beautiful, creative, vibrant, loving woman she is. Send her your prayer, meditation, visualization, energy, light or whatever else you may have to share.

In love & light,
In peace & harmony,
Jean McGee

I would like to add that sending a dose of positive, healing energy to Larry and Roxanne and Ruby would probably be a good thing, too, and of course, Reiki practitioners are wholeheartedly encouraged to do their thing, too!

I am contemplating starting up a new separate blog that can be an information clearinghouse of sorts for Lisa. When I speak with her, I will run that by her. Many, many people want to know how she's doing and want to keep in touch.

Best,
Marji

Playing...

Our friend Bob is visiting. He's a big kid, and Liam LOVES wrestling with Bob. Here it is, Sunday night, and Liam is playing with Bob. Bob is sleeping over tonight; our house is about halfway between his weekend home in Delaware County and the house he lives in during the week. Every other weekend, Bob stops by our home for a visit on his way south and then sleeps over and heads home Monday morning.

Liam doesn't have to miss one moment of Bob's visit because of school. I don't know why this thought just occurred to me, but it is a happy thought! It's one more simple, beautiful, sweet reason to love our joy-filled unschooling life.

It's Getting Near Dawn ~ making music together

That's what I'm listening to right now, Liam and Jimmy upstairs playing Sunshine of your Love.

Jim and I grew up feeling tremendous passion for our music, to the exclusion, perhaps, of our familial relationships. I loved singing with my dad, who had a beautiful, sweet, smoky voice and an extensive repertoire, but we weren't going to be rocking out anytime soon! Music, specifically, playing guitar and the songs of the day, was mine, and I pursued it hungrily and passionately. It was discovery for me. Playing music connected me with my deeper self as well as my guitar-playing peers, if there were connections to be made.

But, Liam is coming at music differently than Jim and I did. He's up there playing with Jimmy because of the connection to his dad. Liam loves how happy Jimmy is when they're playing their electric guitars together.

Now, they're jammin' on the blues.

Very cool, this unschooling life!

Man... It's been, uh, a little quiet around here...

I've been a derelict blogger. Not so great at writing about our life, I'm far better at actually living it. My intention here when I started this journal was to keep a diary about our wonderful unschooling life, but I'm so much in the moment with it that I forget to come over here and journal about it. I'm one of those folks who is sure to pack the camera but forget to use it. I was even appropriately kicked out of the unschooling bloggers' ring for being too uncommunicative. Ah, well. I'm hoping they'll give me another chance. I shall try to do better.

:-)

I came back because I'm busting with joy about Liam. He is an amazing, wonderful, super-cool, super-sweet, extremely fun person, and I'm enjoying him as well as our journey together more and more and more.

I have been particularly enjoying his acquisition of literacy, awareness of the world, and other skills that are typically acquired in a school setting in this culture. It is impressive how well he has acquired reading, spelling, math, and other such skills.

But, what's really beautiful to me is that during those years when he would have been contorting himself and forcing his brain to acquire skills he clearly didn't need or want at the time, he was able to acquire and refine other kinds of skills, perhaps not as readily identifiable or quantifiable as reading or calculating the area of a particular circle or knowing the intricate details of the Crimean War.

Liam, while beautifully preserving his child-like nature, even at 13 years of age, is perceptive and wise beyond his years. He is thoughtful and has a self-understanding that I wish I had now, let alone when I was 13 years old and getting myself into all kinds of trouble over my lack of self-awareness and the desire to please others and fit in. He is generous and sees this world as a loving, giving place. He naturally fits into that as a loving, giving person himself.

Another cool aspect of this is that he owns the process! Truly, we all ultimately own the process for acquiring the skills we have, but chances are that we may not know it. We have been led to believe that someone else, someone who may or may not even care about us, deserves credit for the things we learn, a la "If you can read this, thank a teacher." What a load of crap we have bought into! Sure, we can be helped (or hindered) by other folks. But the responsibility and the credit for learning the things we learn fall squarely to and belong solely to the learner, not the so-called teacher!

Liam is aware of this Big Lie, and he is aware of the Bigger Truth. He is aware that it is his fantastic ability to learn, his desire to learn, his ability to decipher and reason and retain and inquire and question...all these things are to his credit and no one else's. He is aware that this is true not only for him but for everyone, only most folks in our society don't get to live that reality as he does. This awareness is so much more empowering than the ability to read or calculate alone.

How fortunate am I to be his mom and be here for this process!?!

I am so acutely aware of how special each and every moment is with him. Forgive me for being morose, but I am keenly aware of how uncontrollable and unpredictable life can be, and I believe that this awareness is a gift that helps me appreciate our nows much, much more.

Because we had discovered and embraced unschooling when Liam was so young, I feel that we have been given a pass to avoid the usual pitfalls that many folks may believe go hand-in-hand with living with a teenager. Liam has always been shown consideration, compassion, empathy, respect, and kindness, and he is now extremely considerate, compassionate, empathic, respectful, and kind. I guess I was that way, too, as a kid, but perhaps a bit more out of fear (fear of punishment, fear of judgment, fear of ridicule, fear of a butt-swatting). Liam knows no fear of these things. He is considerate, compassionate, respectful and kind because it is a cultural norm for him (in our family's culture).

Well, there you have it: a post for February 16, 2008. Liam is sleeping over his friends' house, and I'm sure they're having a blast, as they should be!

Liam understands fully that his purpose for being here on Earth at this time is to live a Joyful Life. How cool is that?