i must have been having some intense dreams because it's almost noon and i'm still trying to wake up my brain. maybe it's just the good old georgia heat - but on i'm not on top of my game. or maybe it's because i'm alternating between making toast and calling embassies and airlines, putting toothpaste on toothbrushes and responding to emails from banks requesting more information about our house sale, responding to blog comments about my need to 'grow up' and not drag my children to uganda.
yesterday we bought some rubber stamps and ink to make thank you cards. the stamps were little alphabet letters so we can spell "weebale" which means 'thank you' in lugandan- then each kid picked an animal stamp for the note cards and today we began stamping. after a while bryn and zoe decided to draw their animal stamps- bryn did his lion and moved on to draw zoe's zebra. (jude was busy doing a math workbook at his request). zoe got really frustrated. she said that her lion was awful- that it wasn't as good as bryns- and wondered why she sees everything differently.
zoe has always struggle with this- she has always wanted everyone to see things exactly like she see things- at the exact moment- even when metaphysically impossible.
like on the phone.
"isn't that a cute cat?"
"i don't know- i can't see it- i'm talking to you on the phone, not sitting near you."
"but you have to see it! i want you to see it. why don't you see it?"
as if not sharing it made what she saw less real. as if she was unsure of her reality.
it took years for her to know that our lives, our senses are not inextricably linked - to understand she is her own distinct person- that she is only one person with one persons views- that the whole universe doesn't share her perspective. i think this falls under the category of ego-centrism- an immaturity that kids on the spectrum sometimes have- lacking an awareness of "other".
now she gets it- she knows that i don't see what she sees exactly how she sees it- but i think it still bothers her a bit.
i told her it's beautiful that we all see things differently. that art is about seeing it and expressing it differently. that individual perspective brings something new to an object or idea. how art is special because of the artists unique way of seeing. how we might connect with something, art, or an idea or the written word, because we resonate with the expression that someone else captured- and we become connected.
seeing things differently can create division or unity. i know for zoe and i- in our little world it does both. we drive each other crazy and we learn from each other. perhaps the connection is that much stronger and more meaningful when it happens despite such differences in how we see the world- i don't know- but i'm glad there is alternative perspective, and glad there are many mediums for expression - and thankful there are many ways we can live out our lives uniquely because we see things differently.
yesterday we bought some rubber stamps and ink to make thank you cards. the stamps were little alphabet letters so we can spell "weebale" which means 'thank you' in lugandan- then each kid picked an animal stamp for the note cards and today we began stamping. after a while bryn and zoe decided to draw their animal stamps- bryn did his lion and moved on to draw zoe's zebra. (jude was busy doing a math workbook at his request). zoe got really frustrated. she said that her lion was awful- that it wasn't as good as bryns- and wondered why she sees everything differently.
zoe has always struggle with this- she has always wanted everyone to see things exactly like she see things- at the exact moment- even when metaphysically impossible.
like on the phone.
"isn't that a cute cat?"
"i don't know- i can't see it- i'm talking to you on the phone, not sitting near you."
"but you have to see it! i want you to see it. why don't you see it?"
as if not sharing it made what she saw less real. as if she was unsure of her reality.
it took years for her to know that our lives, our senses are not inextricably linked - to understand she is her own distinct person- that she is only one person with one persons views- that the whole universe doesn't share her perspective. i think this falls under the category of ego-centrism- an immaturity that kids on the spectrum sometimes have- lacking an awareness of "other".
now she gets it- she knows that i don't see what she sees exactly how she sees it- but i think it still bothers her a bit.
i told her it's beautiful that we all see things differently. that art is about seeing it and expressing it differently. that individual perspective brings something new to an object or idea. how art is special because of the artists unique way of seeing. how we might connect with something, art, or an idea or the written word, because we resonate with the expression that someone else captured- and we become connected.
seeing things differently can create division or unity. i know for zoe and i- in our little world it does both. we drive each other crazy and we learn from each other. perhaps the connection is that much stronger and more meaningful when it happens despite such differences in how we see the world- i don't know- but i'm glad there is alternative perspective, and glad there are many mediums for expression - and thankful there are many ways we can live out our lives uniquely because we see things differently.
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