Powerful Families, Powerful Lives
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ISSN: 1550-9664
Vol. V, Number 15
November 9, 2008
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1. Note from the Editor
2. Subscriber Comments
3. Book Review: ADD/ADHD Drug Free
4. Article, "Time Gone By"
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From the Editor:
Welcome new subscribers! In case I haven't mentioned it, I've been
writing a book for the past few months. It would explain the irregularity
of this newsletter, for which I apologize. St. Martin's Press is publishing
my forthcoming book, The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our
24/7 World (Fall 2009). It has been an intense, lovely, even joyous
experience to write it. But much of what I love, including my family and
this newsletter, have often suffered a tad bit of neglect. Apologies!
Since time has been on my mind, I thought an essay to honor the changing of the seasons was in order. I apologize if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. If you do, enjoy your summery frolick while it lasts, then dig out this essay come April!
Remember to forward this newsletter to whomever you think might benefit from it. May you be blessed this day and always!
Christine Louise Hohlbaum, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.DiaryofaMother.com
http://diaryofamother.blogs.com
(If you visit my blog, please consider clicking on some of the
ads. It costs you nothing and helps me pay for this newsletter. Thank
you!)
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Subscriber Comments
None this time around...
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Book Review
Does your kid have a hard time paying attention? Do you ever feel as
though what you say goes in one ear and out the other? Help is on the way.
Whether your child has attention deficit disorder or some variation (and in
this day and age, don't
we all?), this book is for you.
ADD/ADHD
Drug Free: Natural Alternatives and Practical Exercises to Help Your Child
Focus
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Article: "Time Gone By"
by Christine Louise Hohlbaum
As the seasons turn, we become acutely aware of how time passes. Seasonal changes are cyclical like the tumbling of leaves and the emergence of tulips. The Earth responds agreeably, with great acceptance of the changes that come. Understandably, humans are less accepting of the Earth's metamorphosis as we dig out warmer clothing and ice scrapers for the blustery days ahead. In fact, some of us downright suffer from the coming of winter in the form of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Bathed in a swath of simluated sunlight from my BlueMax lamp, I am writing this with the keenest of feelings that fall is rapidly losing its grip. The frigid tendrils of winter's wind are tucked just beyond the Alps outside my window. The few leaves left on the trees hang perilously from aged branches. Summer frivolity is but an echo calling from the patio.
The passage of time can best be seen in our children. As we scan pictures from a year ago, we notice the changes in their faces, limbs, and attitudes. Once an intense baby turned tween, my daughter seems to enter a new personality every day. My son used to be agreeable, but lately he has taken to fierceness as he plays out the fall of the Roman Empire in our living room for days on end. The pictures reveal baby teeth making way for full-sized adult ones.
Given the inevitability of time moving forward, why do we often view it with suspicion and remorse?
"Winter is the Earth doing its job," my equally SAD-suffering friend courageously told me recently. I should be grateful that the birds have somewhere else to go, that the trees can shed their months-old detritus, and that soccer practice is now held indoors. As an old college friend told me years ago, "the sun is shining...somewhere!"
The coming of winter does not just mean dark days and fewer hours outside, but also that my children will grow another inch up and away from me, that our battles over lunch will slowly morph into battles over late nights, and the trees, who patiently witness it all, will close their fingers tightly until the sun greets us again.
~~Christine Louise Hohlbaum, American author of Diary
of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff (2003) and SAHM
I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe (2005), has been
published in hundreds of publications. When she isn't writing, leading
intensive seminars or wiping up messes, she prefers to frolic in the
Bavarian countryside near Munich where she lives with her husband and two
children. Visit her Web site: http://www.DiaryofaMother.com.
Or go to amazon directly to purchase the books today!
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Please feel free to forward this ezine to your friends and
family. They can subscribe to subsequent issues of Powerful Families,
Powerful Lives via my Web site at http://www.DiaryofaMother.com.
Many thanks!
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