Praise for the young

This is a posting for all you young people who read this blog, or maybe don't. It is for all of you who over the years have e-mailed me, written me, come to visit, called, sent actual letters, sent me greetings via others. I love this affirmation and I am always interested in what you are doing with your lives. I know that each of you really knows that, even distantly, I care about you and will spring into action if you need anything. I will always be ready to teach you things and protect you. By now you know that I will always keep confidences and that I am not judgmental (and always oblivious!)

This summer we have had many of you visiting. We love to feed you, make you happy, play games. One of my old students, Stephan, now a Sophomore at Brown, came to visit and made a spectacular meal for us. I was worried at first that he was going to grill beef (I don't eat red meat.) and I had prepared a scenario of shoving the beef onto Andy's plate. But- not to worry! There was grilled chicken for me! He and his brother spent the morning chain-sawing to clear out a downed tree or two.

Julie, whom I have known since birth, spent the summer in St. Petersburg, where her family lives. Julie is a stellar and brilliant person, right now a human rights lawyer, studying for a post-law degree in Sweden. I always invite Julie to use our townhouse when she's in town. Her familial home is infested with cats and she's allergic to them. I also think that a young adult could use a free place to be, not under any old parental tapes. She mostly lives with Adam in Oxford, a British 'rocket scientist'. They came to visit us when we were on vacation in Paris last autumn. We are connected. We love Adam! We were happy when we found that Adam would be coming to Florida this summer.

I have written about the girls who visit us every summer. They are the best! I feel so comfortable with these bright girls who require very little and can speak about pretty complicated issues. They made lovely art when they were here.

The Lacoochee kids, who are younger and harder to imagine have been here on Fridays this summer. Last Friday we did a lot of hands-on stuff, including a volcano cake that erupted with steam and lava. The kids were mesmerized. One boy, Raymond, who will be going to sixth grade tomorrow, was so interested in the geology- and the recipe! I gave him the recipe and the web links to volcanoes.

I am a generous person in many ways. I give away money, but that is never what is really all that is needed. Right now I am thinking about what volunteer work I could do that would be important to kids in the community we live in. One kid, last Friday, said to me as were looking at the spiders on the eaves of my studio, "Remember when you told us about tarantulas in Peru?"
She referred to a morning in which I had been in her classroom as a volunteer talking about the rain forests of South America. We had hunkered down under a blanket, pretending to search for tarantulas. I told the kids about looking at tarantulas in Peru. This kid remembered.

In some ways, I am not generous. I truly need my own space with no one else in it. I don't want to have people popping into my studio, striding by, or wanting me to provide stuff. But I really can get into the mindset for a few days at a time of showing people how to do this or that. This is especially true as I deal with young people. For me, I have always thought that the greatest gift is for someone to teach me something.

I love all you young people, from those of you are at Harvard and Brown and in Hawaii and Sweden and England and Florida, of course, and struggling in public middle school and in high school working hard to figure out what's next.

You'll get there! It's an adventure and you are at the forefront of an amazing life. Thanks for including this old lady in.