Sunday, September 05, 2004
On being a Lola
This morning I woke up thinking: I can either think of the world as being fragile and endangered or I can think of it as being in the midst of the eternal constant cycle of creation and destruction. Either way, I thought, I am not in control. This might seem like an onerous thought for a Sunday morning after a wonderful day of gathering with loved ones to welcome our little Noah. But actually this represents a shift in my attitude. I have always been a bit too critical, pessimistic, and easily discouraged by sociopolitical and ecological trends (and it's not always because I am a Virgo). I realize that even thinking about these trends in narrow contexts terms gives them more power than deserved...So I am a new and improved Lola!
This is the power of Noah over me. He has already begun to teach me new things.
I was also telling folks that this semester started with the least worry and stress (in spite of worse conditions in CA higher ed). This attitude is not something that I have consciously willed into being. I am simply noticing that I’ve never before started the semester without the usual worries, gripes, and whines about nothing and everything. Facing my students (175 of them in 4 classes), all I can think of is "could that face be Noah’s 19 years from now? How would I want him to feel sitting there with 50 other anxious souls facing a strange professor?" Of course, I’m hoping that when that time comes, I will not seem like an oddity like I am today.
We thank our friends for sharing our joy of having Noah in our lives. Thank you all for sharing/creating our little village so that he may grow up in the tradition of "It takes a village." (Of course, I know you also came for the lumpia and adobo, salads, scones -- none of which were store-bought and all Leny-made).
Eileen and Tom who took time out from playing with Achilles to come and join us. Eileen, of course, was able to make a pitch for Menage a Trois and I Take Thee, English... even as she was making her gracious exit on the way to another party.
Betty and Jorge from Costa Rica and Unocal. Thanks, Betty, for making sure the punch bowl was replenished and for taking ice water to Cal as he fried lumpia in 90 degree weather outdoors. Jorge, we will have the karaoke party next time.
Didiet, my Indonesian friend - for helping me with day-before preps.
Susan and Bruce, Ardath, Roshni and Chuck – my mentors and dear friends from SSU – who are making sure that I don’t take this academic track too seriously so as not to have fun while doing it and for reminding me to look forward to retirement when one can still become a farmer, an art enthusiast and advocate, a novelist, and ride a tandem bike from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz!
Ianthe and Paul who have just arrived back from taking their only daughter to college in Oregon.
Judy and Pam brought us home-made chutney and apple juice from their farm.
Laurie shared her irrepressible joy of grandmothering. I want to be a gorgeous Lola, too, like Laurie.
Niki who is raising Tenzing and Trinley and writing her book on "motherhood and buddhism" – for teaching me on how to raise multiracial (grand) children.
Ginny and Babatunde who found a short window of time in between Babatunde's gig at the Benicia Yatch Club to take the long drive from Vallejo. Thanks!
Pat G, Noah’s Dad’s art teacher at Santa Rosa High School. I think we should all honor the teachers that make a difference in our children’s lives. Pat is one of those.
Lata and her husband who reminds me that we have promised to have lunch together and we haven’t done so yet.
Peter and Grace (and six year old Shamani) - my former students at SSU, and founders of the Fil Am organization – for telling me that I have mellowed/lightened up since their days at SSU.
Michelle and Rhett who brought buko pie and egg pie from Valerio’s . (I had to fight with Shamani to have a slice of both). They brought the video of the pamanhikan and as the last ones to leave, they also helped us eat more leftovers and take more food home.
Sopheap (with husband Denny and young sons, Maverick and Ethan) – who couldn’t stay because the kids were sick, thanks for dropping by! Sopheap and I go way back when we were still both students at SSU. Sopheap, a survivor of the Cambodian Holocaust, is one of my inspirations and I have frequently invited her to my classes to talk about her journey on how she finally passed the CBEST and getting her teaching credential.
Our neighbors Elsie and Maffie who couldn't believe that the little boy next door is now a Dad.
Shakira, Evelie, Linda, Jean, Francisco , Mutombo, Rina,and other friends who weren’t able to make it but sent their best wishes on this occasion – thank you, too!
Noah’s parents, like all protective parents at this stage, overcame their anxiety about how little Noah would hold up amidst so much attention. He stayed awake all afternoon and enjoyed it all. Just like Lola, he loves to party!
This morning I woke up thinking: I can either think of the world as being fragile and endangered or I can think of it as being in the midst of the eternal constant cycle of creation and destruction. Either way, I thought, I am not in control. This might seem like an onerous thought for a Sunday morning after a wonderful day of gathering with loved ones to welcome our little Noah. But actually this represents a shift in my attitude. I have always been a bit too critical, pessimistic, and easily discouraged by sociopolitical and ecological trends (and it's not always because I am a Virgo). I realize that even thinking about these trends in narrow contexts terms gives them more power than deserved...So I am a new and improved Lola!
This is the power of Noah over me. He has already begun to teach me new things.
I was also telling folks that this semester started with the least worry and stress (in spite of worse conditions in CA higher ed). This attitude is not something that I have consciously willed into being. I am simply noticing that I’ve never before started the semester without the usual worries, gripes, and whines about nothing and everything. Facing my students (175 of them in 4 classes), all I can think of is "could that face be Noah’s 19 years from now? How would I want him to feel sitting there with 50 other anxious souls facing a strange professor?" Of course, I’m hoping that when that time comes, I will not seem like an oddity like I am today.
We thank our friends for sharing our joy of having Noah in our lives. Thank you all for sharing/creating our little village so that he may grow up in the tradition of "It takes a village." (Of course, I know you also came for the lumpia and adobo, salads, scones -- none of which were store-bought and all Leny-made).
Eileen and Tom who took time out from playing with Achilles to come and join us. Eileen, of course, was able to make a pitch for Menage a Trois and I Take Thee, English... even as she was making her gracious exit on the way to another party.
Betty and Jorge from Costa Rica and Unocal. Thanks, Betty, for making sure the punch bowl was replenished and for taking ice water to Cal as he fried lumpia in 90 degree weather outdoors. Jorge, we will have the karaoke party next time.
Didiet, my Indonesian friend - for helping me with day-before preps.
Susan and Bruce, Ardath, Roshni and Chuck – my mentors and dear friends from SSU – who are making sure that I don’t take this academic track too seriously so as not to have fun while doing it and for reminding me to look forward to retirement when one can still become a farmer, an art enthusiast and advocate, a novelist, and ride a tandem bike from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz!
Ianthe and Paul who have just arrived back from taking their only daughter to college in Oregon.
Judy and Pam brought us home-made chutney and apple juice from their farm.
Laurie shared her irrepressible joy of grandmothering. I want to be a gorgeous Lola, too, like Laurie.
Niki who is raising Tenzing and Trinley and writing her book on "motherhood and buddhism" – for teaching me on how to raise multiracial (grand) children.
Ginny and Babatunde who found a short window of time in between Babatunde's gig at the Benicia Yatch Club to take the long drive from Vallejo. Thanks!
Pat G, Noah’s Dad’s art teacher at Santa Rosa High School. I think we should all honor the teachers that make a difference in our children’s lives. Pat is one of those.
Lata and her husband who reminds me that we have promised to have lunch together and we haven’t done so yet.
Peter and Grace (and six year old Shamani) - my former students at SSU, and founders of the Fil Am organization – for telling me that I have mellowed/lightened up since their days at SSU.
Michelle and Rhett who brought buko pie and egg pie from Valerio’s . (I had to fight with Shamani to have a slice of both). They brought the video of the pamanhikan and as the last ones to leave, they also helped us eat more leftovers and take more food home.
Sopheap (with husband Denny and young sons, Maverick and Ethan) – who couldn’t stay because the kids were sick, thanks for dropping by! Sopheap and I go way back when we were still both students at SSU. Sopheap, a survivor of the Cambodian Holocaust, is one of my inspirations and I have frequently invited her to my classes to talk about her journey on how she finally passed the CBEST and getting her teaching credential.
Our neighbors Elsie and Maffie who couldn't believe that the little boy next door is now a Dad.
Shakira, Evelie, Linda, Jean, Francisco , Mutombo, Rina,and other friends who weren’t able to make it but sent their best wishes on this occasion – thank you, too!
Noah’s parents, like all protective parents at this stage, overcame their anxiety about how little Noah would hold up amidst so much attention. He stayed awake all afternoon and enjoyed it all. Just like Lola, he loves to party!
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