(don't worry, I photoshopped myself out of the picture)
Back in St. Louis in the early 2000's I stumbled along in graduate school. Call me nerdy, but here's what excited me:
helping baby trees grow in deforested areas of the rainforest
(you'd be surprised that most tree seedlings die in an area that's been cleared of rainforest)
(For those of you who aren't numbed already by the science of this post, specifically I researched the way a type of fungus (mycorrhizal) helped tree seedlings to grow in cow pastures while insects (herbivores) devoured the nutrient-rich seedling leaves)
It was, in my world, thrilling! I was the mother to thousands of baby trees who were crying out "Don't eat me bugs!"
Now that world of science and research is far far away. I'm probably closer to trees as instruments of perfecting how to climb than how they sustain our planet.
I miss the demands on my mind. Motherhood is demanding, but my mind is not a sponge for things like listening to Dora sing "Come on Vamanos" or reading Big Dog...Little Dog six times in a row or picking up the Tinker Toys again.
My mind is hungry for the intellectual games of being an adult.
How do you keep your mind active? What challenges you so that your brain doesn't become as soft and depleted as Sponge Bob's?
8 comments:
You're so cute Kim. You are truly just too brilliant. I, on the other hand love reading my kids books and watching Dora/Diego with them. My mind has probably become that of Sponge Bob's. I'm keeping my mind active now by reading your blog. :)
I try to read as much as possible, not only blogs, but, magazines, newspapers, books when I can squeeze them in.
I also work full time still at an office that requires a lot of different intellectual challenges daily. Then there is Rotary and all the study that is done to stay on top of things.
I do worry sometimes that I am trying to squeeze too much into the old noodle when I forget something I just did or forget a person's name that I should know.
I would love to hear more about your adventures in the rainforest, maybe you can post a few now and then to fill us in.
Ihewlangs akghahful.
That's what I've become. Mush. :)
You're a writer, Kimberly. Write :)
Thank you Germaine :) I love reading books with my children so much! But it's hard on me when I have to read the same one over and over. Maybe I lack patience? Thank goodness for blogging as it too keeps my mind active, and fulfills my lack of adult conversation in a way.
Lou, you amaze me by being able to balance so much! I really enjoy reading the Rotary blogs, so thank you. I think I'd like to share some of my rainforest experiences as blog posts just as long as I don't bore my readers with my adventures in the tropics :)
Alison, I had to laugh. I am so garbled with my speech some times, usually when I am talking to an adult no less!
Thank you Susanna! I love to write. It gives me a natural high and I don't know what I'd ever do without it.
Interestingly, I find it very challenging when around my baby. My brain feels like the first time I tried to learn a second language - tired and stupid.
However, reading blogs has helped me somehow. I don't know exactly what it is, but it just does it for me a little.
What a sweet picture! Until I read the underneath I thought, uh-oh, that bay can really climb, her mom is not going to be happy!
I read quite honestly to keep my mind going. I'm currently reading The Time In Between (release is November-ish), a guide book on China (surprise!), Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son (about Chinese abandonment and adoption) and Gone With the Wind (again). It's kind of the way I can feel like I'm not lost out here in motherhood.
Such a cutie! I had trouble with my first daughter, being a single mom, I was tired all the time...but with my second, I don't know, I feel like a machine and I have my schedule now.
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