Scotter and I took advantage of the beautiful 60 degree day yesterday to hit Wade Oval reflection pond and the art museum. We were delighted to see the new attrium that opened a few weeks ago, experience the new balloon exhibit and see the Wari art exhibit. I felt sentimental yesterday, thinking of how much I love Cleveland. I feel blessed to have lived these past four years 20 minutes from a world class art museum and orchestra. Who knows maybe we’ll match here and I’ll have five more to enjoy them, but just in case fate leads us elsewhere I’m excited to take fuller advantage of them these next six months! 

It’s a shame the atrium wasn’t open while I was at CIM. Talk about the PERFECT study environment- especially in the winter!

Scotter waited patiently to enter the latest installation: Martin Creed’s No. 965- Half the air in a given space. He was happy to play with the balloons that had found their way out of the room, as well as socialize with the others in line. I wondered how he would do once we were in there (and some of the staff were too!) He was confused, then curious, then nervously playful, then ready to leave. It really was an incredible experience. My slight clastrophobia kicked in, and I felt a bit of anxiety that there wasn’t enough air to breath. As we ran through the thick balloon wall, it felt a bit like swimming underwater. 

Inside the installation

Last week, I spent some prayerful time asking what I should be doing with my time home with Scotland. My impression was that the most important thing was to give him experiences and teach him. Teach him about serving. Teach him how to interact with people. Teach him how to be respectful. Teach him to love learning, to love art. While it is a simple message, it resonanted deeply with me. I too often get focused on “Doing things.”  Often my determination to do “things” (often not super important things) gets in the way of my mothering. This week I focused on teaching Scotland. To my surprise it also lead to us doing many more activities out of the home. My strongest impression was that I wanted to teach Scotland to love others. I realized that I can’t teach him to love and serve others alone at home. So we went to the children’s museum, the art museum, the library (several times) we treated our trips to the grocery store like a field trip. And to my surprise all of this focus on Mothering had the opposite effect than I would have thought. It was less exhausting, less time intensive, and way more fun and fulfilling than I thought. Like all of God’s teachings, it led to greater happiness.