Bluesday

We've all heard about going green, but (in my humble opinion) I think the environmental movement is the wrong color. Our lives - and the 'green' parts of earth where we live - depend on the ocean. The great blue ocean deserves our highest protection and respect. Our push to make choices that are better for the environment should be a blue movement focused on caring for the ocean - what we put into it, and what we take out of it.

Allow me to introduce Bluesday.

Bluesday on my blog is the first Tuesday of each month. On Bluesday, I will post a tip about How To Be Blue. Why only one tip per month? I want to keep it simple, make it easy to remember and possible to do. Experts say it takes thirty days to create a habit, so I'm allowing thirty days for each tip to become your new habit.

Look for the first tip on Bluesday, March 2, 2010.

My inspiration for Bluesday comes from my lifelong fascination with the ocean and marine biology. I am also inspired by Sylvia Earle, a pioneering oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. Sylvia Earle has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. She has led more than 50 undersea expeditions and has been an equally tireless advocate for the ocean and the creatures who live in it.

Sylvia was one of three winners of the 2009 TED Prize for her wish to protect the ocean:

“I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.”

Sylvia appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss her new book The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One. To watch Stephen Colbert's funny and informative chat with Sylvia Earle, click here

May you turn a deeper shade of blue with each passing month!

Make a Life List

In the first month of a new year, we become aware of the passing of time. We make resolutions. We promise ourselves that we'll get in shape or learn a new language. Before we know it, New Year's Eve is upon us once again. We make new resolutions (or renew our old, unfinished ones). The cycle continues until a decade passes in the blink of an eye. Our reliance on the new year as a measure of success leaves us with too little time to accomplish our goals.

We need to think big. We need to set life goals. We need to make a Life List.

A Life List is more concrete than dreams, more grandiose than the daily to-do list (see the movie "The Bucket List" or MTV's new series "The Buried Life"). A Life List includes five, ten, a hundred, or however many things you want to do before you die; the experiences you wish to have in a lifetime; a handful of actions (however small or large) that will mean something to you when you look back on your life.

But how, you might ask, do you go about making and doing your Life List? The items on the list are as varied and unique as each person who hopes to achieve them. You will need to find time for some intense introspection (that scares us all a little bit), and time to work toward the goals you set for yourself. Have a sense of humor about it (I’m sure there’s something funny or embarrassing that you’ll want to put on your list). Be creative. Have fun!

The following steps will get you started:

STEP 1: Put It In Writing. The most important step to take when making your own Life List is to write it down. Something about the act of writing makes your mind take note that what you've written is important and worth remembering. I recommend actually handwriting your list on paper instead of using a computer. You'll probably outlive whatever word processing and backup method you use right now.

STEP 2: Ask The Basic Questions. While creating your Life List, ask yourself: Who? What? Where? The "Who" may be people you would like to help, people with whom you want to spend more time, or people you admire whose lives inspire an item on your list. The "What" may be things you want to do, learn, have, be. The "Where" could be places you want to visit or live. When you set out to achieve an item on your list, ask yourself: When? How? The "When" includes a time frame (in months or years), a specific deadline, or a certain date (depending on the item). The "How" includes preparation to achieve each item and the cost involved – both money and time.

STEP 3: Check Off and Add On. A Life List is an open-ended work in progress. Just as you never know when your life may end, you never know when your Life List is complete. You may add to it for as long as you live. But don't forget to check off each item as you accomplish it. That's the best part!

Enjoy the process and remember that it may take you a lifetime to check the last item off of your Life List.

Which item on your Life List do you think will be the most difficult (or daring) to accomplish?

The Land of Four

We’re all familiar with the mysterious disappearance of one sock from the dryer. Where does it go? How is one missing sock a universal happening? Somewhere far, far away there must be a bunch of single socks running around wild and free in sock land.

Well, I recently discovered a new land: The Land of Four.

I came upon this new land very much by accident. I was simply setting up a magnetic alphabet & numbers set on the refrigerator. Letters A through Z were lining up nicely. Beneath them, numbers zero through – hey, wait a minute, where is number four? And that’s when it hit me. Number four had done what so many socks before it had done -- split, disappeared, vanished without a trace.

Somewhere (probably over a rainbow) was a land where number four frolicked in fields with other disenchanted toys. They were all toys that grew tired of the same old routine – life as a magnet stuck on the freezer door, life as a passing piece of entertainment for toddlers with short attention spans. So they got out. But I was on to them.

It wasn’t only the number four that made a hasty escape from our house. I noticed other toys missing – a plastic spoon from Taylor’s tea set, an orange toy fish from the bathtub. I couldn’t find them anywhere. Which toy would be next? Where was this black hole of a toy land?

More than a week has passed since the toys went missing. I still look around for them, but I know they’re gone. Alas, I haven’t given up my search for The Land of Four. When I find it, I’ll be sure to post directions. That way, all of us can find the toys that got away.

Then again, if it’s a really fun place (which I suspect it is since it’s full of toys), I may just stay there and play for a while!

The Sitdownagains

I’m not a big fan of TV for toddlers, but I’ve come to realize that there are times when I need it. There are times when I’ve been on my feet since I stepped out of bed, chasing my toddler, dressing my toddler, playing with my toddler, feeding my toddler, cleaning up after my toddler, and wanting nothing more than ten minutes to sit down. That’s when a short (and educational) TV cartoon show can provide a much needed break.

One such show is The Backyardigans, which is my two-year-old’s current favorite (although her favorite changes by the week). Some of you may know this show, others of you (especially those without kids) may be trying to figure out what in the world the show name means (and how to pronounce it). Basically, it’s about five little creatures who live in a neighborhood together and make up adventures in their backyard (hence, “Backyard”-igans). Their pretend adventures come to life in the yard and transport them to the places they imagine. There is also a lot of song and dance.

Most importantly, these cartoon kiddos succeed where most other toys fail – they hold my toddler’s attention for more than five minutes. In fact, I often find that I have a full twenty minutes to sit down! That’s why The “Sitdownagains” has now become my favorite show, too.

This Second

This second is never enough. This second swallows toothpaste. This second speeds. This second is a second chance. This second is ten seconds too late. This second wants to run away with the dish and the spoon. This second is a hot pepper in cold milk. This second needs a minute. This second breaks her heart. This second takes more than this second to read. This second happens. This second didn't do it right this second. This second wastes time. This second is Dylan Thomas reading Auden. This second once read Charlotte's Web and killed a spider in the same day. This second just left lefty in left field. This second listens to violin and mandolin. This second pretends.

This second is your life.

This second fell in love. This second mixed past tense with present tense and takes a sip. This second isn't second best. This second is about one second from full blown rage. This second ran a ten minute mile. This second loves to hear itself talk. This second surfs and gets stoked. This second exceeds expectations. This second laughs last. This second is a grasshopper on the window of the 48th floor. This second is fresh cut grass and daisies. This second is pregnant. This second once made a promise - and broke it. This second, that second, and the other second lived happily ever after. This second hates meatloaf and white chocolate. This second thinks vampires are overrated. This second doesn't believe in multi-tasking. This second is a lot like Dane Cook, but funnier. This second is on first. This second framed Roger Rabbit. This second once spent a month waiting for the hour it could spend one minute with Sting. This second is when, now, and then.

This second is this second is this second is all we have...

Momminy's Birthday

A letter from Taylor to Momminy:

Dear Momminy,

Happy Birthday! To celebrate your special day, I'm going to sleep in this morning until almost 11:00. I'm going to count from 1 to 10, skipping over 8 (someone ate my 8). I'll sing the ABC song (sort of) along with Leap, my toy frog. You and I will be sure to dance to "Viva" at least five times and also, my new favorite, "Bus" (short for wheels on the bus go round and round).

Today it is sunny and mid-60 degree weather with lots of pin oak leaves to pick up and swish through. Gigi is coming to visit! We must take a walk (maybe to Cotswold Starbucks for venti chai and banana bread). We will watch Classical Baby Music Show, especially "Sun" and "Baby Steps", which are my favorites. And I'll even take a nap in the afternoon for at least an hour (I've been doing such a good job with my naps in the past couple of weeks, don't you think?).

Most of all, we will have lots of FUN on your birthday!

"Yuve You, Momminy"

Taylor (21 months)

P.S. Maybe, if you get a present, I could help you open it (even though it isn't "me's", it's yours).

Maiden Voyage

Today's Fiction Free Write:

Mimi Maiden didn't fear being alone. She feared being forgotten.

In the heart of Cambridge, Mimi sat at a table that wobbled in the corner of a coffee shop. It was the second day of her first trip to Boston. She loved being in a new place. In fact, her lifestyle bordered on nomadic. New places meant new cities to explore, new people to meet, and new adventures to be had.

Mimi talked to strangers.

The music student she met at breakfast told her that the coffee shop was a favorite of Yo-Yo Ma. Perhaps he would shuffle in with his cello in tow. Mimi wondered what he ordered. Had other famous people sat in the same chair where she now sat? Were there great and famous people among the crowd of coffee drinkers tucked into seats around the room at that very moment? It was possible. And the possibilities - in each destination, in a chance meeting on the street, in the world of the person she might meet there - made new places exciting.

A man in rumpled pants paused at the door of the coffee shop. The middle buttons on his dress shirt strained against his protruding belly. He puffed and sighed, pushed the door open, and walked out to the corner. A gust of wind lifted the gray strands of hair from the balding crown of his head. With his index finger, he pushed his spectacles above the bridge of his nose and looked to cross the street. Mimi thought he might be a professor - a troubled, fidgety Ivy League professor caught in the depths of his own mind - like her father. Preoccupied. Distracted. Perhaps he drank coffee to spike his already high-powered brain with caffeine energy to fuel his ongoing research for the next major publication or the cure for cancer or the economic theory that would solve poverty.

One had to be great to be an Ivy League professor, but greatness was difficult to tolerate in a father. Although Mimi followed her father into academia, she vowed not to neglect her family in the process. Mimi’s father had been distant, surrounded by books and ideas and an ego impenetrable to the simple interests of a young girl.

When she used to go to Lucy’s house in the afternoons, Mimi saw how a father might be in the world beyond the pressures of tenure. Lucy’s dad set up the paint sets and showed them color charts, art books, and stencils. He even sat at the newspaper-covered table with them and took a brush to exercise his own creativity. He admired Lucy’s work - and Mimi’s - telling them they could be the next great painters. He said they could do anything they set their minds to do, anything in the world. It was good to hear that from a grown up, from a dad. Mimi’s mother often told her the same thing in a vague way, but Mimi longed to hear it from her father. He reached the pinnacle of a profession that was also his passion. She wished her father would tell her that she could do anything. She wanted him to believe in her, in all of the possibilities that were her future. She wanted him to convince her that she could be great.

Instead, Mimi's ache for possibilities led her to new places, to seek greatness in simplicity, to explore the world around her until she was certain that if any person could rise from obscurity - from the millions of people doing millions of things - then she, too, could rise.