People are people too.

Is there a difference between personal and professional relationships? I always thought there was. I believed in some very important distinction. It occurred to me recently I don't know what that distinction is. Now I'm wondering if all relationships aren't "personal". If they involve people, how could it be otherwise? Oddly this little shift in thinking effects how I think of people in my "professional" sphere, how I interact with them and how I treat them. Not only close colleagues, but suppliers, clients, media, and any other stakeholders.

Halloween Costumes: Round I

Halloween is already showing up in the stores and at Calloway Park which prompted a conversation about what the girls wanted to be this year. Kaylee said she wanted to be a hook.

"A hook?" I asked. I was unclear.

"Yeah, a hook like to hang coats on," she explained.

...Ok.

"I want to be bird," Emily jumped in. That seemed more normal, but she wasn't quite done. "A bird with wings that can really fly. No, with a button you can push so the bird can fly by magic, when you push the button."

Alrighty. I'll get right on that.

There's no place like home

I was humming A Little Fall of Rain from Les Miz . The girls told me to sing it louder. I did. They wanted to know what it was about. I told them. I didn’t fluff over it too much. I told them the story of Eponine getting shot and dying and Marius being with her before she went to Heaven.

“Why did she get shot?” they asked.

I told them she was helping people who were fighting for something. They wanted to change things, to make them better for everyone. It was called the French Revolution.

“What’s the French Revolution?” they asked. Wow, how had I gotten myself into this?!

I ran through the basics of absolute monarchies, the feudal system, societal oppression, human selfishness, and used Veggie Tales, King George and the Ducky to illustrate. Ta da!

“Why?” they asked.

“What do you mean, why? I just explained it all. They needed to change things – to make things better.”

“But fighting isn’t a good way to change things, is it Mommy?” Emily countered.

Are you kidding me!? I was just recovering my history lesson on the French Revolution aimed at a 3 ½ year-old audience, and now we were delving into philosophy and human psychology! A deep breath.

“Well, do you want the little kids’ answer or the real answer?” I asked

They said they wanted the real answer. I guess it was a dumb question. My best answer was that fighting always had to be done very carefully because when you fight, people often get hurt – sometimes very badly. There are lots of ways to change things and often there are much better ways then fighting. Fighting is dangerous. But sometimes things are bad enough and the options are so limited that there is no other choice. Then you have to fight.

I’m sure they took it all in. They wanted to play Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz then. I was much relieved. I can handle being Glenda, the Good Witch of the North and Auntie Em simultaneously. There’s no place like home.

God and the Velveteen Rabbit

The other day as we were walking to the park Emily asked me, “Will God become real one day, like the Velveteen Rabbit?” So interesting to watch them work through spirituality, magic, story and reality. I don’t mind at all if they blend a bit for now. In fact I think those things blending a bit more wouldn’t hurt any of us.

Sometimes they’ll ask me if something’s really real. I’m always reluctant to give them a direct answer. On a wooded path at the Lake Kalyee asked me once if fairies were real. “Well, I’ve never actually seen one,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t look for them. I think this is a good fairy path. Don’t you?”

I know many would accuse me of confusing my children. How can they learn to distinguish between inalienable truth of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, if we mix in magic and myth? They won’t be able to discern truth from fantasy. It will undermine their faith, their relationship with God, why, the very salvation of their souls!

Yet my instincts tell me the opposite is true. Creating a capacity for belief, imagination and comprehending a reality beyond what our five senses can perceive is not a simple thing. I think it’s innate to each of us, but complex too. Not only is God real, but there is room in His Kingdom for magic and mystery. And in fact, we don’t know everything. I think it’s possible that if we look for fairies along paths in the forest we might just find them.

Sandbox Managment

I was watching Emily and Kaylee in the sandbox the other day and was contemplating management philosophy.

They developed a complex project that involved creating a creek and a reservoir from a left over rain puddle in their sandbox. As I watched them I figured out what they were doing, what they were trying to achieve, what their obstacles where, and what resources they were lacking. Having made those determinations I assessed my possible role and function in this project - how I could join the game in the sandbox. I had power and resources they were lacking. I could provide what they needed. (In this case additional water and two soup ladles from the kitchen).

It's easy for me to philosophize about management, not actually having to do it, but what if leaders stepped back and watched their teams to see what they were doing and then reengaged only to provide them what the needed to get it done? Or is that totally backwards?