Getting to the root of the matter

One of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache stories has the characters following a lead into the basement of a centuries old library. Instead of the coffin they were hoping to find, they dug up boxes filled with turnips and potatoes. They had discovered a root cellar.

My mother would often send me to the basement, to the little room we called the fruit cellar. I was to get a jar of canned tomatoes or pickles or to pick out a couple of apples from the bushel on the floor so she could finish making dinner or packing my dad's and my lunches. The shelves also served as an overflow pantry where things purchased on sale could be stored. I think that my mother, a young housewife during the Depression, found comfort and some pride in storing up supplies and having a place to do so. 

As I was editing the initial draft of the above paragraphs, the importance of the word   'root' really struck me. In previous musings I've shared how my roots include Sir Francis Bacon and Susanna North, a brave widow in the early colonies accused by Cotton Mather and ultimately hung as a witch. I only know about those people because a friend graciously rooted out the information. Throughout the years I have written about beliefs and things that root me, helping form my foundation. I've mused about societal issues and what I might consider their root cause. I've shared images and talked about events that rooted me to the spot and mused on some good things I would hope to take root in me. Currently neighbors are transplanting impatiens and geraniums, gently handling the roots so the flowers can absorb nutrients while other folks are calling Rooter Router to destroy what might block sewers. 

Turns out root is one of those mighty words that we don't pay much attention to until a thought takes root and we follow it where it wants to go. Inspector Gamache ultimately found the murderer and thanks to a clue he left, I got my idea for this week's musing. Now it's your turn to root around for an idea to share.

Marilyn

Fire departments, schools, and town drunks

Long before national standardized tests New York State had the Regents exams. High school curriculums were designed to ensure that each student had the required courses in the appropriate year. At the end of each semester there were 3 hour exams in each subject and, if we achieved a passing grade, we moved forward, working toward accumulating the correct number of points to graduate. The June exam my senior year included an essay topic, "Every town has one."

As my friends and I walked home and talked about what we wrote, we all chuckled that a town drunk was something we each had thought of, probably because of the character Otis on the Andy Griffith Show. At that time we weren't aware enough to realize that it was probable that many of our classmates probably had an alcoholic family member. Fire departments were a touchy subject since our school had burned and students and teachers died. Writing about a town's school was a fairly obvious and safe choice, and some admitted they took that route.

Me? I wrote about the flagpole on the town square. A place where people gathered on a day like today, a day then known as Decoration Day, a day marked with parades and cemetery visits, not mattress sales. I wrote about the Girl Scout troop assigned to Tuesdays and how they carefully and reverently hoisted the flag in the morning and lowered and folded the flag at night. Decades later I served on a condo board where we had to enforce a 'no flag of any kind' rule.

If presented with the 'every town has one' topic today, I might write about gathering places. From a large suburb to a tiny hamlet, every village has a place where folks come together to talk, play, vote, worship, learn, celebrate or share a meal, be it the school auditorium, city hall, diner or town square. So on this day when traditionally people get together, may you enjoy whoever you are with, whether friends, family or fictional characters, and let's all toast those who have died in service so that we might do so.

Marilyn

Four life lessons from physical therapy

In recent years I've had physical therapy three different times. The first was after I got knocked down by a car as the driver was backing out of a parking space.  Last year a slight impingement in my right shoulder and a pulled hamstring muscle sent me back. Here are a few things I learned from those experiences.

Experts who demonstrate and explain the whole process are more effective than those who just tell me what to do. When I used to do leadership development for a living I followed the tell-show-do-review training model. Tell the trainee what to do and why. Show them how to do it. Allow them to do it and then review what they did. It's a model that works for any age and in any learning situation.

It's important to pay attention. The slightest angle off as I pull the elastic band or lift the weight can actually harm rather than help. I also have to pay attention to my instincts, such as recognizing when I hit a limit or need to change how I plan to lift, push or pull.

We have to to it ourselves. Once I've been taught, it's up to me to do the work that will result in an improvement. No one else can do it for me. It's my responsibility and my work alone that will make things better.

We have to keep at it. The pain may ease or go away, but for some, PT exercises need to be part of a daily routine to keep it that way. For many, we remember what to do when we feel a twinge and need to head off a return to the state that sent us to PT in the first place.

 

Whether or not you have had physical therapy perhaps you can agree with the truths of these learnings and along with me select just one of them to concentrate on today.

 

Marilyn

The u-turns of life

As someone with no sense of direction, I've made many u-turns on roads near and far. Sometimes I do have a feeling that I'm on the wrong road or going the wrong way but don't know how to fix it other than with a u-turn so I can backtrack. 

A u-turn is not a fork in the road where the decision is one way or the other. It is not an intersection with a left or right choice. It is a gentle or harsh half loop to intentionally go over ground already covered, to retrace our steps with the hope of a different outcome. That outcome may result in a total change of direction or perhaps going farther along the road we were originally on because we hadn't gone far enough. 

On highways along the median and at major intersections there can be signs that indicate if a u-turn is permitted or not. I find those signs oddly comforting, knowing that I'm not alone in needing such an option. 

U-turns are similar to do-overs in that they allow for a different outcome; however, in many do-overs you get to erase the first attempt. Not so with u-turns. The initial wrong choice and the lost time remain part of that trip and that experience that got us from home finally to point B.

It is not just when driving a car where u-turns may need to be made. There are times in our life journey when it would be helpful to u-turn, whether it is in a relationship or in a personal challenge we are facing. Too often we continue straight ahead, forgetting the u-turn option. Maybe we keep going because we've been taught to always plow ahead or to work through the pain and we interpret that as needing to continue forward. 

Our nation and humankind could do with a few u-turns. We are on so many wrong roads, are headed in so many wrong directions. If given the possibility of one collective u-turn, I wonder which power struggle you or I would recommend for an historic rewrite. Unfortunately the list is endless.

U-turns have been on my mind because of my recent vacation. My sister-in-law and I took a couple of day trips with neither detailed maps or a GPS.  Because she also is directionally-challenged, we luckily could laugh together over the number of u-turns we made on each outing. Decades ago, in the era of AAA trip-tix and after another vacation, my traveling companion gave me a key chain engraved with the title "U-turn Queen." Some things never change. Some things may be improved with the use of a strategic u-turn.

Marilyn