After many months of planning and research and milk jug collecting, Benjamin and his friends got together this afternoon to build a raft. And I'm so happy for them!
They're making plans for its maiden voyage in the lake near J's house—they've got lifejackets and everything. And, like I said, I'm just so happy for them.
Erik Erikson theorized about the stages of human development from birth to death. Infants might wonder, "Can I trust the world?" while adolescents wonder who they are and what they might become. People around my age are often curious about how they can make a difference in the world, while those in my parents' generation might wax reflective or introspective, wondering whether they have made any difference at all.
Kalervo Oberg theorized about culture shock and the four stages people usually go through as they adjust to a new place: Honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, adaptation.
Then there are the stages of grief, theorized by Kübler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
I find myself wondering what theory can be used to describe the process of saying goodbye to your current home, knowing you're about to embark on a new chapter of life in a new place. It could be akin to grieving, it isn't yet culture shock, and while it isn't a universal stage in human development I do wonder whether it can trigger a person to (temporarily) move into more introspective ways of thinking.
Social sciences are messy and nothing can ever be adequately described. For example, I recently noticed how Eurocentric (and Christian-centric) Holmes and Rahe's original Social Readjustment Rating Scale is. Whereas newer (more discerning) renditions of the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory might include "major holidays" as something that could contribute to someone's overall level of stress, their original paper specifically lists only "Christmas" (as if major holidays outside of Christmas couldn't even hold a candle to that day). Putting "major holidays" is better than simply "Christmas" but...it makes me wonder what else our own biases (or inexperience or over-generalizing) blind us to.
We're always working on describing things...and yet can never fully capture what it means to be human or the way humans are (probably because humans are always changing and, honestly, no one deals with anything in the very same, predictable way because life is at once horrifyingly mundane and unique. This is frustrating and fascinating.
Anyway, I've been wondering whether getting old is the only time people reflect on lives and wonder whether they've lived it well enough? I'm not so sure, Mr. Erikson. I think moving (and many other situations) can cause a person to think about life quite deeply.
Miriam noted that moving has had her reflecting a lot on her time here, and ultimately she's feeling sad about not being sadder than she is to leave. I am with her in that regard—I too feel a little bit sad about not being sadder about leaving here.
Rather than dwell on the frustrations behind those particular emotions, however, I wanted to take a minute to just be grateful for the families in our ward (all homeschool families, now that I think about it) who are as nutty as we are—who agreed to let some spare corner of their house become a collection place for used milk jugs (for many, many moons), who are making sure we all fit this adventure in between our summer swim team engagements (we're all swim families, now that I think about it...just on multiple teams), and who are willing to just let these kids be kids.
This project was certainly an exercise in these kids making sure they're living life to the fullest.
We interrupt this post with a brief announcement: I wrote some beautiful reflections on how thankful I was for these kids and their families...which probably even tied into all my review on psych theory. Unfortunately my computer then ate it all up because it decided I wasn't logged into my account and wouldn't even let me take a minute to copy everything I had written...so that was a real bummer.. Suffice it to say: I'm proud of these kids for having had an idea and for then making it happen.
The rest of this post was written after they took it out on the water (and after I recovered from feeling frustrated that half my post disappeared).
I didn't get to see them launch their raft because they did all the construction at J's house (due it its proximity to the lake) and then took it out to the lake together (again because of her proximity to the lake—it's technically a half mile walk from her house, but her mom lowered all the seats in the van and gave the raft a ride to the lake and made the kids walk, which was certainly easier than their original plan...which was to carry the raft to the lake).
Here's Benjamin looking absolutely gleeful that the raft actually floated (with four people on it, no less, here getting an extra boost courtesy of their friend C):
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| This represents the bulk of our youth group |
They had such a great time. The raft sustained minimal damage and the kids are in talks about whether to dismantle and scrap the project or whether to repair and fine tune things for another go on the lake.
Summer's only just begun, so I know where my vote lies...
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