Grounded

We grounded our children this past weekend for the first time in their lives. Both of them. And from everything they hold dear. Friends, TV, Legos, computer. Drastically bad behavior calls for drastic measures. So, with one sweeping, "You're both grounded!" it was done.

Funny things happened--there have never been so many board games played, so many books read, so many original works of fiction written in little notebooks and so many plays created and performed. Wow. Does being "grounded" really mean "grounded"?? As in being happy where you are and with what you're doing? Did some smart person come up with that concept long ago, and I had missed the boat until now? Grounding is my new favorite thing.

Speaking of being grounded, I attended my monthly D.U.P. meeting, and the women who come always remind me that number one, I will get old and die. I am, at 37, the youngest member of our group by forty-two years. About half of the women who attend are in their nineties. They are at the end of their lives and aren't shy about that fact. And two, that all our lives are basically the same--just different details. They all had hard years with young children, husbands who they alternately loved and wanted to strangle, had to go to work at some point to help make ends meet, and did their very best to live good lives. I always come away from our meetings feeling very, very grounded.

And, fall weather always brings on the mandatory slow-down. Less running around, less pressure to be "doing" something. More sewing, more reading, more wandering around the yard looking at the dried up flowers and wilting grasses. I snapped this photo of Wils the other day when he put on his new coat and he reminded me so much of my dad that my heart jumped.

If you haven't tried grounding of one kind or another, I highly recommend it.