By telescope or microscope, or no scope at all – what did you discover? A new aspect of yourself? A favorite artist, musician, or variety of cheese? Did you discover something about a loved one? A familiar or new-to-you place? Be broad, be narrow, or be surprising.

I discovered a place, not necessarily a new place for me but one I had typically avoided because I am an urban snob. I have new two jobs this year, and both of them are in Hamilton County, the county of north of where I reside. Hamilton County is often perceived as the polar opposite of Marion…less diversity, more wealth, fewer bike lanes, more traffic, fewer real neighborhoods, more subdivisions, less crime, more round-abouts and fancier stores…basically more pretentious. Or least, that’s the comfort we Indianapolis urban rats take when we think of “up north.”

One of my jobs, with a small community development corporation, is focused on building more affordable housing in the area. This is not a need that anyone immediately sees or thinks necessary, and yet it is a desperately real need. This job has taken me through the classic suburbs of Fishers and Carmel to the small towns of Sheridan and Westfield, and the former small town of Noblesville. Through corn fields, subdivisions, strip malls and small downtowns.

I have been deeply impressed with the professionalism and passion of municipal staff, throughout the entire county. Especially the planners…gosh, there are some awesome planners in Hamilton County. I have met kind police officers who are not as jaded as their inner city colleagues. I have met overwhelmed elected officials who hold their duties close to their heart, with little funds or resources.  

I get to see the beauty of the seasons in the trees and fields. My minivan zips past horses in the field and I feel the wind unfettered by buildings.  

And I have reconnected with the teenage version of myself, who grew up in the suburbs of Indianapolis. My high school was surrounded by corn fields, and during junior high algebra class I used to gaze absentmindedly at the horses across the road. This was a time when suburban Indianapolis should have been labeled “subrural.” It was a great place to grow up, as I am sure it is for the teens in Hamilton County. I worry more about the teens in my urban neighborhood, my own kids included.

I work in an area that actually has a high "quality of life," that term that we talk about a lot in the city yet never really attain. Maybe it is time for me to reconnect with my roots? Yeah I can already hear my friends lament and judge...  

back to school

The boys headed back to school today, after a one snow day turned into a whole week away from the classroom.  It was a fun week, and I am one of the most surprised by my own statement. 

I admit, I am the mom that actually likes snow days.  I understand that our school district is averse to cancelling school becuase our urban school provide safety and warm meals for many of our neighborhood children. 

That said, I absolutely love letting our boys sleep in and then surprising them with the news that school has been cancelled for the day.  I love making a big breakfast late in the morning; hanging out in our p.j.’s all day, playing games, baking treats, reading together and playing in the snow. 

The heavy snow provided a gorgeous winter wonderland on Sunday, great day of sledding and a lengthy snow ball fight with our new neighbors before the dangerous cold settled in.

Our family considered ourselves to be quite lucky this week that we had power, heat, running water, cable and internet access everyday.  These modern conveniences are so commonplace that we rarely stop to think about our lives without them…until we don’t have them.  We brought that awareness to our boys as we hosted friends one evening that had lost power for the day.

And while we were grateful for the chance keep our technology charged and ready to use, we took full advance of the time together to play games.  The types of games that we played did not require any technology.  The games were even educational (maybe that was accidental; I will never admit that to my kids!) Our boys loved playing the games not because we kept score but because they enjoyed the challenge, they enjoyed being silly, and they simply enjoyed our time together.

We also took the time to read.  We individually read our own books and articles and we read together a Harry Potter book. We try to demonstrate to our boys that reading is fun, as well as a necessary part of our jobs, faith practice and volunteer work. 

However, we completely failed at the “winter science” experiments.  We threw the boiling water, and we blew bubbles hoping to see them freeze.  Neither one of our experiments worked out the way we had read them about on the internet.  We tried to figure out together why these experiments didn’t work.  We hope our failed attempts were still provided an opportunity to learn for our boys, even if we were all a little bummed out.

We appreciated the winter break homework packet, as we directed our reluctant scholars to work on the packets each day. Admittedly, our appreciation for the packets may have been greater than that of our children.

So this week, I had my fill of snow day fun. We may not have needed a full week off from school, but our family took full advantage of the unplanned, unscheduled together time.