And Now let Us Believe. . . Reading and Writing in 2019

When you give the book you want to read. . . 

The cats re-gifted themselves. . . 

Oh Yeah. 

Enough with the Sinatra thing. . . 

Was this on my wish list? Girls gotta know modern electronics. 

Another coveted book. 

But these ones have illustrations. . . 

Uncle Rick sent something for the cats too! 

Who is this Sam, that gave us such a fine toy?

"And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious and great things." Rainer Maria Rilke.

That's a lot of pressure.
Last Fall I set a goal to block my time and fit in two hours of piano practice every day. (Remember the "One Thing" book?) I did pretty good. I re-memorized all of book five, even those pieces I usually don't teach (shhhh.) I kept up with student repertoire and was able to prepare a piece to play on the Christmas recital and the Handel for Ben for church. I'm going to try to keep that up.

What else demands our time? Everything of course. So what can go? Facebook? Pinterest? Spam emails?

My kids are pretty good about screen time limits. Like most kids, they are pretty busy doing real things. Calvin tracks his screen time so I asked him to help me put some limits on my phone. Long story short, I couldn't limit Facebook without limiting my email, which I need to check for the studio and as the chief secretary administrative assistant of the Kotrba family. Of course this took him 30 seconds and now I have a 15 daily minute limit on my Facebook app.

Yesterday I had to override it because my Aunt Kathy is missing. My dad's 80 year old sister from Arizona has been missing since Monday. Like all of us, she's quirky--but not irresponsible. My mom talked to her on New Years Eve and everything was good. Then she was gone from her home. In her car. The good news is they put out a silver alert. Friends in AZ saw it on the news. She has been seen and cousin Scott flew in from Hawaii and is chasing her across the map. Texas. Louisiana. Now that enough reports have come in that she is alone and safe--I'm picturing the roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote and I'm singing "Oh, how fast can I go, gotta catch that little red rodeo, she drove off with my heart I gotta let her know. . . need the girl in that little red rodeo, Texas plates. . . candy apple red rodeo."  Maybe you don't know that song. Well, God speed Scott. Get her home. Get her to the doctor.

What is this work for 2019?

How can our baby be graduating? Five more months of Eastview High School. Eight more months of waking up to the Walstein sonata and the G Minor Ballade. I'm hanging on for dear life. And thinking about having the downstairs floor refinished and the walls painted. Cause that's how I cope. Keep the ball moving down the field.

There are two big trips planned. . . Hawaii for sunshine in March and France for Calvin's graduation in June.

My real goals for 2019 however, are to read more and write more. I'm going to carry a book with me. Instead of checking Facebook waiting at the dentist I'm going to read my book. I have about 30 books in the queue. Books about healthy food, books about Madeleine L'Engle, books about Chopin's piano, two books by Seymour Bernstein and Jordan B. Peterson's "12 Rules for Life." Calvin is half way through  it and tells me I must read it. Chapter five? Don't let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.

That brings me to writing more. I have so much to say. About kids. About the behavior of kids. It's hard though. I don't want to come across like a know-it-all or that I'm trying to fix other people. I love all the kids in my life.

My own kids are no saints but they are mostly amazing, at least to me. Now that I'm coming out the other side of the early childhood of Calvin and Mary, and I've seen a couple dozen amazing kids come through the studio, I'm feeling a little more confident about my gut instincts. I've been a citizen scientist and I've seen what makes raising children easier, more fun and more successful--success being evaluated as how ready for real life are these grown up toddlers. How have they met their potential? How are they contributing to society?

I'm gonna raise up my courage and start to write about my ideas, knowing that everyone will not agree and that there is more than one way to do things right. And, there are enough topics that are non-controversial to fill a book. And I have a lot of books to recommend as well.

Here are a couple teasers for you. . .

• Love is given. . . trust and affection are earned
• Give more attention for the desirable behavior than for the undesirable  
• Don't be a victim of your child. . . as the great Maggie (our retired nanny) once said to me. . . (I was I tears over Calvin's lack of nap schedule) "You're the mom, buck up." There is a time and a place for that. 

Happy 2019 and please say a little prayer for Aunt Kathy. We want to see her smoking a cigarette out on the screen porch of the cabin again next August.