Five Things I Learned in June 2016

Inspired by Emily Freeman’s series and a tradition in my besties’ annual letters, I’m sharing a few of the things I learned this month.

1. Friendship doesn't solve everything, but it makes everything more enjoyable.

This month I've felt so grateful for the good friends our boys have, for old friends passing through town, and my own tried and true as well as new friends. 

2. Sharing one's friends is one of the most generous acts.

Welcoming new people or the intermingling of friends from different parts of one's life can be challenging. I am not the best at it, but I have been on the receiving end of it and know what a gracious gift it is. 

Freida was the first friend I made in Golden after she rescued my boys from the wrong bus stop on the first day of school. She eventually invited me to her book club and it has been such a gift to gather with smart women and laugh about books, motherhood and life. 

My friend Angie is a master at this---she was created a new community out of disparate parts of her life, and this group has gathered for girls weekends for several years. This fall, for the first time, all our kids will be in the same place at the same time. I'm over the moon about it and sending occasional texts with the countdown of days.

3. Anticipation contributes to the actual experience---at least for me.

I would have loved to have surprised Sean on his 11th birthday by actually leaving that day on our trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Life didn't allow for that, and in retrospect, I'm glad. I love looking forward to the trip, knowing that, while we aren't taking any big summer trip, we have an adventure of our own on the horizon.

Besides time away with my favorite people, I'm most looking forward to the ocean. And looking forward always feels good to me.

4. New favorite podcast: Brooke Castillo

I've been driving the boys to summer camp at Mines all week, which has made me realize how much I rely on the time alone to listen to podcasts on my commute! I've been learning so much from Brooke Castillo's podcast, and still am amazed that so many people share great content for free. A post of favorite podcasts is coming. 

Also Malcolm Gladwell has a podcast now!

5. Other than the newly discovered podcasts in #4, none of these are new lessons or big surprises. But that is what summer is for---taking in blessings and things you knew and relishing them. So grateful for summer!

Sean at 11

"What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you don't feel eleven at all. You feel like you're still ten. And you are --underneath the year that makes you eleven."

From one of my favorite short stories, Eleven by Sandra Cisneros

The many Seans within his 11 year old self.

Sean let me know, the day before his birthday, that his great heroic journey was about to begin. 

"Harry was 11 when he went to Hogwarts," he explained, "and Link is 11 when he starts his journey. Eleven is also the Ewok age of coming, when they get their slingshot and put on their hood." Sean is an Ewok expert.

It is also the birthday that I've been thinking about ever since we finished the Harry Potter series. I had to search past Facebook posts to remember exactly when we finished:

[note to self: Facebook is a pain to search. Do not use it as your memory-keeper!]

When we finished the book, Sean asked me if I thought he might get a letter from Hogwarts on his 11th birthday. He confided that he knew we were all muggles but he thought he just might be wizard.

And so was born the idea of surprising him on his 11th birthday with a letter...

It includes an invitation to Hogwarts... at Universal Studios for this fall. 

I wanted to capture Sean at age 11 in this post, but that's an impossible task. He is growing and changing and figuring out who he wants to be. He is a bit adamant about being a nerd, and his two best buddies, Leo and Luke, have joined him in what they call the "nerd herd" at lunch. My understanding is that their game involves a mish-mash of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. 

I see no conflict with Sean's embrace of nerd culture and his love of sports, but he does and we have ongoing conversations about stereotypes and not needing to conform to any one box. He still loves soccer and running, and is playing baseball this spring (when the snow allows). He loves cheering for the Blackhawks along with his dad.

Some things remain constant, like Sean's love of reading, writing, drawing and acting. Here's a glimpse at some of his past roles:

(Superman, Buzz Lightyear, the Wise Man, "An Old-fashioned Thanksgiving," Huck Finn, and an elf in "The Hobbit")

Current Favorites at age 11:

• Color: Green
• Food: Hamburgers
• Dessert: Hawaiian Ice
• Book: Fellowship of the Ring
• Movie: Star Wars
• Song: "Concerning Hobbits"
• Game: Ocarina of Time
• Sport: Soccer

He still plays violin (above with his two best buds), and has been teaching himself the piano this year. He says he still plans to live in the Irish countryside and be a blacksmith, as well as write and draw comics. 

Just before his birthday, his godfather, Uncle Kevin came to visit. In a magical, serendipitous moment Sean asked my brother, who has never been into videogames really, what his favorite game was as a kid, and he said, "Probably Ocarina of Time." I don't think Kevin knew that Sean is slightly obsessed with Legend of Zelda, was Link for Halloween (even though everyone thought he was Peter Pan) and has taught himself to play the theme of Ocarina of Time on the piano. He was on cloud nine having Uncle Kevin play with him and point out things he never knew. For me, it was a "cup overflows" moment of gratitude.

Kevin also gave him a few too many tips on chess, and taught me, a rudimentary player, how to castle correctly. For his birthday, Sean received a book on how to beat anyone at chess, with key points highlighted by Kevin and annotated with his own advice. The rest of us have been forbidden to read any of it, and I think it may be my favorite gift any of our boys have ever received.

The past year also brought Eve, Sean's long-longed for tortoise, and a side gig as a personal trainer, and his first non-party birthday party (we stop at age 10) which involved pizza and ice cream cake, his best buds, "Jungle Book" at the theater, and a ton of time on the trampoline, playing Wii, and ghost in the graveyard. For his first year without a party, it still felt a lot like a party.

Then again, most things with Sean do feel like a party. In January he told me his goal for 2016 was to be more positive, which I thought funny because he is a pretty positive kid. A long time ago I said something to him and Nolan about how we can choose to make "a heaven or a hell" out of anything, and he loves to remind me of that whenever I throw a fit. He still loves to snuggle, still loves to wrestle his dad, and is the bridge in our family between the childhood world of Nolan and the teen world of Aidan. 

I'm excited to witness the heroic journey ahead!

Harry Potter Retrospective: Part 2 by Sean

The 2nd book is called Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets



When I read it: in the fall of 2010, right after we finished the first book!

What it’s about: A legendary snake escapes its chamber when Harry finds a secret & magic journal that tells him about Tom Riddle & the snake. Hermione gets frozen. There is a new teacher, Professor Lockhart, who is ridiculous. The secret journal takes over  Ron’s little sister Ginny! Dobby is a new character who tries to help Harry but usually does the opposite.

My favorite part: is when Harry fights the Basilisk, the snake, and its tooth comes out when it bites Harry.



Sean’s Score: 10!  We already have been introduced to Hogwarts and the wizard world, so there isn’t as much description. There’s more story and action in this book, and Tom Riddle makes it very creepy and interesting. We meet Moaning Myrtle in this book, and get to know Hagrid a lot more.

Movie Review:10 again!  First, the movie is a lot faster than the book. And so many parts of the book are funnier (or gross) in the movie---like when Ron has slugs coming out of him, or when the Whomping Willow attacks the car.

HARRY POTTER: A Retrospective (Part 1) by Sean

Keating Ratings: 1=Boring 10=Awesome

Editor’s Note: Sean began reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this week. I think eight-years-old is a bit young for a book filled with so much sorrow and evil. And yet, I’m jealous that he got to have Harry, Hermione and Ron as such great childhood companions. We have big plans to re-watch the entire series before we watch the final two movies (which cross over from Fantasy to Horror, in my opinion), and I’ve asked him to go back and capture his experience with each book. Today’s post marks the first in this eight part series.

You’ve probably already read the whole series, but I’m going to write as if you haven’t---just in case.

Well, first of all it started when I was 5 years old. My older brother Aidan and my mom were reading it together, and when we took a long drive to Park City, my mom got the audio book for us to listen to in the car. Aidan ended up finishing the whole series that summer on his own, so Mom and I continued reading.

The first book is called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 

I was young back then so I was shocked that his aunt and uncle could be so mean. I thought all the Every-Flavor Beans sounded kind of gross. I liked Ron a lot, and liked that Harry didn’t let Draco Malfoy choose his friends for him. Okay, it is impossible to talk about them separately now, without thinking about the other books, like the book I just finished last month, #6, when Mr. Weasley says what a lucky day it was for all the Weasleys when Ron sat in the same train car as Harry on the way to Hogwarts.

To be honest, I’ve forgotten a lot of the names from this book---I had to go look up the three-headed dog’s name. It’s Fluffy (even though he isn’t very fluffy!). There are a bunch of challenges at the end and each of the main character’s special talents help. I liked how Ron’s chess abilities came in handy---I was really worried that he got killed on the chess board.

Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)

Score: 7

Favorite part: My favorite part of the whole book [Editor’s note: Spoiler Alert!] is when Harry finally duels against Voldemort.Voldemort doesn’t have a body yet, so he shares with Professor Quirrell.

Movie Review: 6

 My mom didn’t even let me watch my favorite scene because she thought it would be too scary (it WASN’T!), and Aidan got to stay up and watch it all without me. So unfair. But we had a big party to celebrate that we had finished the first book and Aidan and I got to pick the menu based on ideas from the book.

 

Don’t worry ---the Werewolf’s blood is really ketchup. And we didn’t get any of the gross flavors of Jelly Bellies for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.

And, later that year I finished Chamber of Secrets, and before we watched that movie, my mom let me watch all of The Sorcerer's Stone, finally!