It’s all a “teachable moment”.

All these experiences we have with the kids…it’s all a teachable moment.

Maybe what I really have to figure out is this, though: Who is teaching who?

When I see marker or crayon or pencil contributions in a place that I never expected I’d see them, I’m not angry.

It’s mostly a feeling of resignation that washes over me, really.

Resignation.

That’s what I remember in some of the houses of large families that I’d visit when I was little.

I didn’t know what resignation meant back then, but sometimes, when the activity level was high and the census read “youth”, I wondered why the house was so darn messy.

Don’t these people care?

You can’t push the water back up the hill, though.

That’s where the resignation takes purchase on your soul….when you’re kneeling at the bottom of the mountain….wet and covered with mud…finally accepting the fact that the water does what the water is going to do.

You can’t stop some things….completely.

I remind these little guys that you can’t draw on some things….but there’s so many surfaces….and so much time….and so much creativity.

It’s hard to stem the flow completely.

Speaking of “stemming the flow”…..the river that runs through what used to be the pond over at the property is still flowing unimpeded…..still flowing through the muddy base of a pond that once was full of fish….including 4 grass carp@ 15.00 each.

That’s what rain will do….the gentle water….the powerful destructor.

Man, it will tear stuff up.

These marks aren’t appreciated.

It’s messing up my unsophisticated sense of  feng shui.

It’s not part of anybody’s design plan to have marker on the wall….or crayon on the door.

It doesn’t fit.

But….I’ll bet it will be welcome when I’m remembering these little guys and their hijinks.

What a nice surprise it will be to discover a hidden masterpiece at some point in the future.

You really do have to wonder sometimes….what’s the lesson and who’s the teacher?