My Last Lecture: Part 1

I’m lucky enough to work in a place that encourages us to create and grow relationships not only with those that we serve but also those that we work with.  We have staff meetings twice a month and during some of that meeting time we get to hear “what’s up” with the people that we work with and what is going on in their lives that is important to them.  We also begin all our meetings with a devotion and this has looked many different ways over the three years that I have been here.  In the spring, we decided to read a book and discuss what elements of that book or story could be related to our lives daily and spiritually.  The book that we chose was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Several of us had read the book before but it was nice to revisit it.  The plan was to read and discuss the content in relation to us during the spring and then we had the summer to create our own last lecture that we would present to each other during our fall meetings.  We were given a lot of wiggle room and creative space to make this “lecture” what we wanted it to be.  Our only criterion was that we had a time limit in which we could deliver our message and it had to deliver a message of wisdom we have gained thus far in our lives.

If you are unfamiliar with the book and where it stemmed from, it was a lecture given during a lecture series by different professors and staff at Carnegie Mellon University.  This particular book focuses on the wisdom that Randy Pausch wanted to leave with his listeners because this would in fact be one of the last opportunities he would have to do so.  Randy Pausch passed away from cancer following the lecture and the publication of the book based on that lecture.

Because my background is in education and I LOVE school, I decided that my lecture would be based on the wisdom I gained in different subject areas of school.  When I delivered it a few days ago, the speech was about 15 min long and based on bulleted notes.  I decided that I would take the “lecture” that I gave and break it up between three blog entries so as to not bog you readers down with a lot of type and reading.  In this particular entry, I will be covering the subjects of Science and Math and the life lessons that I gained as I reflect back on the last 26 years of life.

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Last Lecture

The Things We Learn Inside and Outside of School

Science: It’s Important to dig deep and experiment

I really enjoyed Science in school.  I liked it until my first chemistry class and then my love for the subject became quite questionable.  Science was COOL!  Getting to do experiments regularly was something that I looked forward to almost daily when working with this subject.  I remember talking about properties of matter by creating an interesting substance called “Oobleck”, experimenting with heat and watching things blow up, and one of my favorites was when we suctioned an egg though the top of a bottle.

But what I loved most about science was that it was full of answers but there was always room for growth and error.  When we started digging into the scientific method, I loved it even more.  We were allowed to try something and change our minds if we wanted to based on the outcome.  We learned that there isn’t always one way to do something but sometimes there is a best way to do it.  And, much of this digging deep and experimenting didn’t only have to happen in the classroom.  It could happen in everyday life.

When I was old enough and brave enough to start cooking and following recipes, I got my fair share of experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.  I never understood why I could make something absolutely divine once and then it tastes awful the next time I made it.  Did I forget an ingredient? Was the oven set at the right temperature? Did I cook it long enough?  Did I use salt instead of sugar? These are all questions that I have asked myself at least once while cooking or trying to repeat foods.

As I matured and was able to self reflect, I began discovering what made me “tick”.  Sometimes I would wonder why some things would set me off when others wouldn’t.  Or how that one thing could drive me nuts at one moment but the next moment I could be oblivious to it.  Being in relationships with people and learning the anatomy of how that relationship functions is always fun.  Some friends really bring out the fun, exciting, creative side of me, while others may see a more pensive, subdued side.  Each relationship functions differently and what works in one may not work in another, but we have the room to try.

                       

Science has allowed me to grow in many ways.  I can experiment to see what works and what doesn’t.  I can stick to those things that I know work, but I also have grace room to make change.  I’ve learned that there isn’t always one right way (and my way isn’t always the right way when working with people although sometimes it might be the best way…just kidding!) 

Math: Use a pencil! You’re going to make mistakes!

Math has an EXACT outcome.  For example: 2+2 will always equal 4.  Always!  And where there was some wiggle room for error in science, there is very very little of that in math.  So, when I was in school, doing math in anything besides a pencil was off limits.

Pens in school were a novelty for a long time.  I was in fifth grade before we were allowed to start using them for anything else other than correcting or grading work.  The only subject that we weren’t ever allowed to use pen in was math.  I hated this.  I think I saw the pen as a sign of maturity and when we couldn’t use them for math I felt I was regressing back to “the days of being a child”.  Yes, I actually thought I was a grown up at the age of twelve.

Through junior high, we would lose points in grade if we used a pen instead of a pencil.  And even in high school, depending on the teacher, this rule was still in place.  I learned that this was because our teachers wanted us to show our work and if we messed up with pen it meant we had to scratch out our work, white it out and write over it, or start completely over.  If we were ever brave enough to turn in math homework with scratches and scribbles all over it, we could pretty much guarantee a grade reduction just for the sloppiness of our work.

I once had a teacher tell the class, “You didn’t give yourself the grace to make a change with pen so I’m not giving you grace in your grade.  Plus pen scratches just look sloppy and math is supposed to be neat…”  I then realized the gift of the pencil.  It allowed you to make the mistake in the subject of right and wrong.  You could always erase and start over with a pencil.

There are times I can think back to that I would have loved to have a pencil to erase and start over.  One such time was when I was in high school and had just gotten my driver’s license.  I was seeing a boy that my parents weren’t fond of so I rarely saw him outside of school.  I was also the kid in school that HATED getting in trouble so I never rebelled, but on this one occasion, I did.

(This is also my favorite story about my mother and I grew to appreciate her more and more after this happened)

I was going to a dance one weekend and I had told my parents that I would be picking up a girl friend and we would be going to the dance together.  They were okay with that arrangement and gave me a curfew for the night.  I left the house on a Saturday evening, picked up the friend, went to the dance, took the friend home, and went home soon after.  The next morning my mom came into my room and asked where I had been the night before.  I told her the chain of events listed above, she looked at me funny but then left my room.  This interrogation happened over the course of a few days and as each day went by I became more firm and permanent with my answer.

Finally my mother couldn’t stand it anymore and demanded that I tell her the truth because she knew there were some events I had left out of my story.  And, being the wise woman she is, she was right.  I had done all those things but after I was at the dance for all of five minutes, I drove to this boy’s house and spent the evening with him before picking my friend back up and going home.  I demanded for her to tell me how she knew.  Well… she used math.

She knew roughly how many miles it would take me to pick up my friend, get to the dance, drop her back off, and come home.  She had checked the odometer before I had left and then checked it the next morning and saw that I was about fifteen miles over her estimation.  BUSTED!  If I could have erased that whole lie, I would have.  It was the biggest one I had ever told and I felt awful.  The deeper I got into it and the more permanent it became, the harder it was for me to tell the truth.  I learned to tell the truth from the beginning knowing that sometimes the truth would hurt or not be the right answer, but I always had the grace to fix it if I needed to. 

                       

Math may be exact, but we are not.  It’s important to stay flexible and be willing to make mistakes.  Most of the time we can go back and correct those but it’s a lot harder to do if we permanently set our minds to something and it can also create for a messier situation.  Thank goodness for the day that I discovered the pens with the eraser. 

My Year in a Nutshell

Every three to four months, the staff that I work with is asked to write a report to the board of directors for our camping system.  In these reports, we are asked to give life updates—most of them pertaining to what we are doing in relation to our job descriptions.  But, they are genuinely interested in our personal lives and want to know what we are doing to keep ourselves happy and healthy outside of the work place.

It’s usually around this time of year that I take the most time to reflect.  Since I was in junior high, I marked my years in two different ways.  I kept track of time like most people based on the calendar year that starts in January.  But, I also mark a year of time right around now (the month of September).  There are multiple reasons for this.  Summer ending and moving into another school year was usually a big transition and I loved that my year always ended with going to camp but began with school.  For those that know me well, they know that these are two things in life that I LOVED!  Camp was a great way to end that time and school to begin another.  It also happens to be the month of my birthday, which also marks my years for me.  So, it seems to make sense to me that I would keep track of time in this way, also.

We have another board meeting approaching in October and in this report I usually include all the highlights from the summer but also the things that I’m looking forward to as we approach another camp year. (We also seem to count years by summers, so it is quite convenient for me and my preference of counting)  It is natural for me then to reflect not only on what has been happening with me professionally but also in my day to day life outside of my work so that I can make adjustments and look toward my hopes and dreams for the future.

In the words of a dear friend from high school, “A lot can happen in a year!”  And, as I take a jog down memory lane, these words ring true.

Around this time last year I had the opportunity to be apart of many new relationships.  I started dating a dear man that introduced me to a group of wonderful people.  As time went on and relationships grew, I began to wonder where I had been the past three years.  Until this time, many of my friendships were with people that I either saw on a daily basis at work or hardly at all due to distance.  I have been blessed to have gotten to know many of these friends over the course of the year and I’m hoping that those relationships continue to grow.

Over the next six months or so following that time, I got the chance to love someone in a way that I hadn’t in a long time and it felt good to let walls and guards down.  And although that relationship didn’t make it, there were so many things that I learned and got to experience during that time.  I discovered the wonders of a state I had never been to, go to my first big twelve football game, and I grew in ways that I didn’t know I could.  I saw compassion and care for others from this person almost on a daily basis and I was in awe of what it did for those around him.  I wanted to push myself to be more like this and over this past year, I have found myself taking more time to slow down and take in what is around me so that I can make others happier.

And following that time, I have jumped head first into being more active.  I have taken up running and swimming, and with some nudging from friends, I may invest in a road bike to round out my workout routine.  I have found joy in making my body work hard and I have seen results in more ways than one.  My body is becoming healthier and I am more and more happy with its appearance as the days go by.  But, what I am most proud of and excited about is that I am now able to do things that I would have laughed about a year ago.  I got lifeguard trained and certified for the first time at the age of twenty-six and just ran a distance race that was longer than a 5K.  A girlfriend of mine has somehow convinced me that I am ready to start training for my first half marathon that we are hoping to do in February, so training for that will begin shortly.

This summer was phenomenal! There are so many things that I could say about it that I’m worried if I start, I may not be able to finish.  Or, this blog will turn into something of a novel and I don’t want to bore readers much more than I already might.  But, I should share a few highlights because I giggle every time I think about them.

Highlight #1: Getting to work as a summer staff member during the weeks we were tight on staff.  It was a great hands-on experience and a reminder of why I love what I do!

Highlight #2: 8yr old camper weighing no more that 60lbs having a voice that boomed louder than any adult that I knew singing the “Taco Bell” song. 

            “Mmmm. Yeah. Burrito. Yeah!”

Highlight #3: Staff member at day camp during music rotation letting campers lead their favorite song for the group.  One camper chose “Sixties Party”.  The next few minutes played out as such…

Staff: “Ready so-and-so to lead that song?”

Camper: “Yep. It’s a sexy party in a sexy movie…”

Staff: “…Sixties party! Sixties party!”

Camper: “Oh yeah.  I’ll start over…It’s a sexy party in a sexy movie…”

Staff: “SIXTIES party.  How about I help you lead the song?”

Camper: “Awesome!  Thanks!”

Highlight #4: Getting to lead devotions for staff.  My favorites are when I got to read children’s books as a part of them.  (I think most staff secretly liked those the best, too because I have gotten quite a few Skippyjon Jones things since that time) 

Highlight #5: Getting to be a part of the crew to light fireworks for the campers during our 4^th of July celebration.  There is something really magical about seeing them explode directly above you.

And now, as the autumn and my favorite time of year approaches, I begin to make plans that take me into the future and help to develop new relationships that are forming.  So many great things have happened in the past twelve months and I can’t help but find myself getting nostalgic when I hear a certain song or visit a certain place with a specific group of people.  I look forward to creating new memories as this next year begins with relationships that are new and old, but with me I will carry all the fond moments of the past.  Here is to another great year!