Boreal Witch

I had pulled out my old library discard Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition. It had been a while since I had opened it. It had been a while since I've celebrated a Wiccan holiday (I even missed Summer Solstice this year. It's been a busy summer) and I wanted to start accumulating ideas for Lammas, a holiday we've never celebrated.

Robinson saw me flipping through the book and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was looking for ideas for Lammas, which falls on August 1st.

Then we got into a rather lengthy discussion about our children and religion.

It's not like we don't talk about religion in our house. Most of the time we simply live our day-to-day life without the need for it. We don't go to church. We don't pray before meals. We don't encourage (or discourage) our children to believe in a God, Gods, or a Goddess. We don't have weekly Bible study. Perhaps some of you feel that we are doing our children a disservice.

But I don't think so.

I have many problems with the Bible. Chalk up my unbelief to: numerous inherent contradictions, misogamy, culturally inappropriate to modern day, and (my personal favorite) a God who acts like a 2 year old. I cannot worship a deity who throws tantrums when his followers misbehave. 

Don't get me wrong. There is something to be said about having faith. Faith can get you through hard times and challenging events. Faith can cement relationships and build new ones. But it's not an end-all. There are certain things that faith simply cannot do. I fear the people who exist on blind faith the most.

In the meantime, our discussion made me realize that I should be making more of an effort to celebrate the Wiccan holidays with my family. I enjoy watching Arthur get so excited about Yule and would like him to have that feeling throughout the year, not just during Yule.

Blessed be.

Arthur went to camp last week. A whole three hours for a whole week. I was excited, but truth be told, I was also a little nervous. He has a tendency to be highly emotional and I was worried he would cry - no wail, scream - as I left. But he didn't. His friend Jade showed up as I was leaving and, in the words of Jade's mom, "they started making out." They were hugging and kissing each other for comfort because the both of them were nervous about being there.

By the end of the week, Arthur was a bit more comfortable being left at camp, but he still wasn't very social. It seemed as though he didn't really interact with the other kids or the counselors. It took us an hour each day to try and get him to tell us about all of the camp activities he did. He won the "Camp Listener" award at the after-camp party.

All in all, it seems like he had a pretty good time. He says he doesn't want to go back next year.

He told us on the last day that he cried because he didn't want to put on more bug dope (in his defense, he did wake up at 5:00am and pretty strung out by the time camp even started).

Sometimes I'm upset because he isn't more social. I worry about him getting bullied. I get sad when he doesn't play with his friends, but begs me to play with him. Then I remember that he's not me. He may have come from me and there is a part of me in him, but he's not me. He's not outgoing. He's not an extrovert. He's not me. He's his own person. He has his own special qualities. He's exceptionally bright. He's creative. He's a builder. He loves to cook. His mind is like a steel trap. His memory and recollection of facts is incredible. He's interested in science and math. The other day he did two pages of first grade math. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he becomes an engineer. I suspect he's gifted. But he's hypersensitive.

Apparently hypersensitivity is pretty normal for gifted kids. And it doesn't go away, they just become more skilled at coping with their emotions. Maybe someday he'll be able to calm himself down instead of throwing a screaming, crying fit. We're still working on it. I find myself at times frustrated by his uncontrollable emotions. I wonder if this is how my own parents felt with me and how Robinson's parents felt with him. The both of us were very bright kids and often displayed over-the-top dramatics. As with anything in life, we take the good with the bad.

Our experiences shape us and lead us to be the person we are. I may have a hard time with Arthur's emotions but I need to be there for him because who else is going to teach him how to act appropriately? He will never be able to reach his full potential unless I help him develop some coping strategies.

I'm not sure how to do it. But I need to try.

Blessed be.

Flying from Anchorage to Fairbanks is surprisingly expensive and it can be dangerous to drive that route in the winter; therefore, I don't usually see my family until the late spring or early summer.

And then they tend to come in back-to-back-to-back-to-back visits. 

Blythe and Dustun visited us first. (My nephew, Josh, usually comes to visit as well, but he was in Wisconsin with my dad. He was a little bit sad that he couldn't join us, especially since we went to the Salmon Bake. Twice.)

We had an awesome time with everyone. Blythe trained with us, which was great. She's been training down in Anchorage with our younger sister, Becky, who really wanted to go on the trip with us, but was unable because she couldn't find anyone to watch her kids while she was gone. She's hoping to make it next year for the Crow Pass hike.

Becky and her family came the same day that Blythe and Dustun left. They actually met on the road and stopped to have lunch together. 

Arthur was really excited to see his cousin Molly. They play together so well. I'm not sure if that's because Arthur can usually convince Molly to do what he wants (unlike his other friends who just do what they want and ignore his demands) or if it's because they don't see each other very often (since they always have good memories of their time together, there's positive rapport).

In any case, I enlisted the two of them to help me pick some rhubarb for Blythe and Becky. They eagerly obliged and were more than happy to run back and forth throwing the rhubarb leaves in the sunken field next to our house. They even helped cut those leaves off and put the stalks in plastic bags. Too bad Molly won't be around when we process potatoes!

Blessed be.

Last year my friend Amanda said she wanted to hike the Chilkoot Trail. She had just had her son in January, didn't realize she needed permits, and hadn't trained beyond our walks at the Big Dipper. Needless to say, she wasn't ready.

So, we waited. We gathered together a few other gals, made arrangements, trained, and prepared for the hike in July. It's been fun carrying 30 pound packs and having some small adventures around Fairbanks. I'd never been to Wickersham Dome before and it's a beautiful sight when you get past the mud and mosquitoes. It was so nice at the top that Loda and I took a nap. I'd love to take the family later in the summer for a family trip. I think Arthur and Balin would love running around the rocks.

We also hiked the full Angel Rocks Loop with Blythe, Dustun, and Loda. We hiked up to Angel Rocks last year with Robinson's dad, but didn't complete the full loop. After we reached the top, a freak storm began pelting us with chilly rain. The wind picked up. Arthur began screaming, which caused Balin to begin to cry, too. Loda found a small "cave" nearby and we raced in. We fed the boys some snacks to calm them down and waited for the storm to pass.

A short while later, the rain stopped, but so did Arthur's drive to finish the trail. He and Robinson turned back while the rest of us climbed higher. An hour later, we reached the parking lot where we found Arthur and Robinson running around. Arthur seemed to have forgotten the inclement weather. He had eaten the Luna Bar Loda had given him. He was fine.

If you'd like to keep up with our adventures on the Chilkoot (and other places), you can visit our blog here.

Blessed be.