Tag: Nicaragua

Friday Photo: Back to the Future

Posted on February 10, 2012 by

Some days I wish for that machine from ‘Back To The Future’ – the one where I could climb in and time travel backwards.  In the movie, Marty McFly found himself thirty years back in 1955, smack in the middle of his parent’s romance.

Mainly, I’d travel back to beautiful places I’ve been in my life. I’d love the convenience of pushing a button and finding myself in a new location.  If I felt like great adventures, I’d go to Nicaragua.  For youthful abandon, I’d wake up in a hostel in Amsterdam.  Missing my childhood pen pal? I’d go back to Yorkshire, England.  Nostalgia for family who have passed on would send me back to Sherman Oaks, California.  A yearning for academic stimulation would find me in Berkeley.

Today I want to jump in with Marty and travel back to the place where generations of my family have landed before me.  I want to walk on the soft white sand towards the lone Cyprus.  I want to climb over to Bird Rock and peek into the Whaler’s Cabin at Point Lobos.  I want to climb Hawk Tower and stare into the Pacific, imagining Jeffer’s view from the early 1900s.  I want to watch my babies bury themselves in the sand of the Bird Sanctuary Beach and giggle as they wiggle their toes free.

Then tomorrow I’ll be back in 2012, immersed in life as I know it today. I’ll be driving from mountain to mountain, cheering my children as they catapult down the ski run.  I’ll be packing lunches and loading skis, grading papers and doing laundry, unloading groceries and washing dishes.

But just for today, could you open the door and let me have a moment just for me?

primark

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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The Universe is Taking Care of Me

Posted on February 6, 2012 by

Sometimes we all are so caught up in how we want things to be. Who will win an election, who will find the right relationship, what college our kids will be accepted to, what treatment will be found for an illness, what job might open up for us. We face these all-important, and sometimes critical, issues in life. However, I wonder if perhaps we are all just trying a bit too hard to make it happen.

I will admit I am a cerebral person. I stay up in my head all the time. I like it there. I like to think, to ponder, to imagine what if. I have never been one to jump into huge risks, or vocalize my thoughts immediately as they come to mind. I keep them ‘up there’.

Interestingly, I also wear them on my sleeve. Emotional, shy, sensitive – all adjectives used to describe me my entire life. It’s hard to feel intensely and try to keep it inside. I’ve never been good at lying or keeping secrets. Mix that all together, and I often find myself missing opportunities, misunderstood, or thinking of what I ‘should have said’ 30 minutes after the occasion ended.

So in the last few years I have kind of surprised myself. Surprised my family and my colleagues, too. I’ve decided that I needed to let these feelings and thoughts out of my head and heart and put them in motion. Like a slow leak in a balloon, I let the control in my head move towards my center. Using my contemplative nature, instead of thinking it out I let it settle and sink in. I acted on intuition over intellect and to my great surprise, amazing things started to happen.

I found myself in the mountains of Nicaragua, along with my children and complete strangers, mucking in the dirt and rocks to build a school. I found myself teaching and coordinating a new program at my school to help kids and families find their confidence and success. I found myself on a zip line flying over the jungle to challenge my fear of heights. I found myself applying and earning a government grant to study global education, with plane tickets for Washington D.C. and Indonesia. I found myself writing, testing the voice that began to emerge and finding new writing friends to share and learn with. Now, I find myself writing for Yahoo, my thoughts and words about education and parenting shared with an unlimited audience.

None of these experiences would have happened if I remained locked inside my head. There are too many reasons I could create to explain them away. There are too many risks, too many challenges, too many other people who would be better suited. Except that, the universe is taking care of me.

My writing friend Brenda Moguez, who shares her head and heart with the universe on a regular basis, writes in her blog ‘Passionate Pursuits’, “just once, this singular time, I’d like a leg up, the map, the golden key, the spoonful of sugar, the ruby slippers, and one of the wishes Genie gave to Aladdin. It’s ballsy of me to ask, I know, but I have good reason. I looked at karma’s life ledgers and I am showing a substantial overpayment. The same auditors, who tally the votes for the Academy Awards, keep karma’s book, so the numbers are accurate. Trust me.”

I couldn’t agree more. Karma’s life ledgers do keep the tally marks next to our name. Santa Claus does know who has been naughty and who has been nice. Cinderella’s fairy godmother does turn a pumpkin into a carriage so she can meet her handsome prince. And the Blue Fairy does bring Pinocchio back to life after he proves his bravery, honesty and selflessness.

But all of those magical experiences would remain in the ledger book if not for one thing: the voice and actions that put them out into the universe to be answered. As the great philosopher Bill Cosby says, “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

Is this what holds so many of us back?  It’s our lives; we have to want it to happen.

In the end, I believe a combination of desire and action allows the universe to move. Trusting that we will be taken care of, that things will happen the way that they are supposed to, not necessarily how we think they should.

That, and a bit of fairy dust.

 

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Friday Photo – Harvest

Posted on October 22, 2011 by

Cameron in a Nicaraguan produce marketSometimes as I’m moving around in my day, an image gets stuck in my head that I can’t shake. Sometimes it conjures up a memory, a feeling, or provides an impulse to do something. Often, though, I just see something that I want to capture in my mind for no particular reason-it just speaks to me. I’d like to offer these images up for ‘thought contributions’-as a way to generate a community of ideas together.

At this time of year, it’s all about the harvest.  Crops are ripe, summer gardens are being sowed and then tilled under in preparation for winter planting.  But my garden this year – not so good.  I tallied less than a dozen tomatoes, and four measley peppers.  And this wasn’t due to lack of effort or care-I tilled, composted, fertilized, watered, planted and tended my crops from last April til now.  I guess this just wasn’t the year.  Mother Nature didn’t cooperate – our cool northern California spring wasn’t the right temperature to set fruit.  Our usual one hundred degree plus summer heat never really materialized, leaving valley farmers shaking their heads and hoping for the best.  Me?  I keep my plants in, hoping that those green orbs will somehow ripen if I just have faith.

So today’s Friday Photo reminded me of what an abundant life I have.  No matter what happens to my own garden, I will have enough.  I have resources to get what I need.  It might not be directly from my own hands, but it will be fresh, healthy, available and enough to sustain me and my family.  In today’s photo my son marvels at the bounty we found in Ciudad Dario, Nicaragua.  Gorgeous produce can be had there for mere pennies-but to many Nicaraguans, pennies are like diamonds.  Produce is grown on your own land, and a luxury to purchase.  There are no ‘bulk buys’ or prepackaged warehouse size amounts.  People simply buy what they can, only what they need.

I enter this harvest season with a heart full of gratitude, and a faith that next year, my harvest will be that of my own making. What hopes do you have for the next year?  Will you have an abundant harvest?

 

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Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Embracing the Scary – guest post for G. G. Vandagriff

Posted on October 10, 2011 by

In the mountains of Nicaragua

Just over a year ago I traveled with my two children to Nicaragua.  I learned HUGE lessons from this trip-some immediate, some upon reflection.  So when I was asked to be a guest writer about ’embracing abundance’ on G.G. Vandagriff’s blog, this experience came to mind.  Here’s a sample:

” I get really tired of excuses.  In fact, in my classroom when my 8th and 9th graders try to excuse their behavior, lack of homework, or unpreparedness I tell them kindly yet firmly, “Excuses are useless.”  Initially a quizzical look forms on their face, and then they start to stammer…which is exactly when I interject my reasoning.  Everyone has issues.  Everyone is busy.  Everyone can blame someone, something, or some “whatever” for anything.  But what’s the point?  It’s not about the excuse.  It’s about being responsible, respectful, honest and courageous enough to create the kind of success we want in life.  Some get the idea more quickly than others.  I just hope that before they end their year with me, they’ve at least thought about it…”

To read more, please click over to G.G’s blog-you’ll not only get to read the rest of my Nicaraguan life lesson, but you’ll find a blog and website full of intriguing writing.  G.G.’s bio says, “My new book “The Only Way to Paradise” is the result of intense immersion in the Florentine and Tuscan culture, and most of it was written there. Of course, the art and landscape are spectacular, but what makes my heart sing are the people. I think that they are born with a genetic tendency to agape (unconditional love).”

So go on, check it out! Why not?

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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