"In the meantime Alice got up and washed her face and ate porridge for breakfast. She went to school and came home and did her homework. And pretty soon she was grown up."Miss Rumphius by B. Cooney
The previous quote is from a children's book. Miss Rumphius was a little girl who told her grandpa she was going to travel to far away places and then come back and live beside the sea where she grew up. Her grandfather told her to add "You must do something to make the world more beautiful". The book is about her travels, her getting to know herself, and ultimately figuring out how she was going to make the world a more beautiful place.
I love this book. A friend of mine read it to her students and told me about it. She said it reminded her of me. So, what did I do? I went out immediately and rented it from the library. I love children's books; metaphors and simplicity woven throughout every page.
Miss Rumphius has taken time to travel the world, to get to know herself, to invest in what she loves, and to discover new things. This is very much like my journey. And while I am trying to figure out how to make the world a more beautiful place...and while every summer I am hopping around continents....mostly this book speaks to me about how quickly we grow up.
Today I was in my backyard racking and trimming the garden down to get it ready for winter's frost and Spring's growth. (And sitting on the porch reading Chronicles of Narnia on this fine, warm, autumn like day!) I was hauling this huge amazon.com box that my coat rack came in this morning, filling it with leaves and dragging it to the street corner. I must have done this 7 times while my neighbor causally walked along his lawn with a leaf blower. Eventually he turns to me and says, "Meg, you know, you really need to get one of these". And then I thought to myself, "Am I really at a time in my life when for Christmas I should ask my parents for a leaf blower?!"
Mind you, I never thought I would be settled down anywhere. The thought of leaf blowers, gardens, or silly window fixtures made me cringe. I thought that was selling out and pictured a life of traveling and adventures packed into a dirty, weathered, purple, Colombia backpack.
But God is a God of balance.
And hopping around the world wasn't what I needed.
(Although every summer I will go to a new place, damnit. And I still can sleep in a mud hut on rocks)
The truth is, we are as old as we act and feel.
We can make the world come alive with just a little switch in perspective.
And our habits, thoughts, activities, and attitudes make all the difference.
But while I am really a child at heart, playing with etch-a-sketches, watching Captain Planet, and taking adventurous hikes throughout random parks...I might need a leaf blower.
This is a strange season to be living in.
But definitely a beautiful one.
So, as you're picking up the leaves that have fallen and preparing for a cold winter... (I do this now?!)
As you're sitting on your back porch drinking your homemade beer and reading Chronicles of Narnia...
As you're learning to get to know the neighbors and the birds that frequent your bird feeder out back...
As you're learning about coat racks and leaf blowers...
Just roll with it.
Because pretty soon you'll get back from school, each your porridge, and be all grown up.
xoxo,
mp
The picture above is from approximately page 8. In it, she has settled down in a house. The page reads as follows, "From the porch of her new houe Miss Rumphius watched the sun come up; she watched it cross the heavens and sparkle on the water; and she saw it set in glory in the evening. She started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground. Miss Rumphius was almost perfectly happy. 'But there's still one more thing I have to do. I have to do something to make the world more beautiful. But what? The world is already pretty nice' she thought, looking out over the ocean."
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