time, anniversary, SCA students

Wow. Time flies. Not always at the same speed. And when I was little, time crawled. So did I. I still can't fly. Time flies, though.

Which of these seems better for a directory photo for an unschooling conference?






Holly likes them both. The one of them up on the roof is newer, and the other was at the zoo in October, on a playset. How can my little babies be so big? I know how, and I was right here the whole time, but still...

Tomorrow is my 23rd wedding anniversary. Those people up above are two of our three offspring. Pretty good deal. Yet I'm not going out with my husband on our anniversary. Something better came along. Not better than Keith, but better than going to a restaurant and a movie. Movie theaters aren't as fun for Keith as they used to be because of eye problems, and one thing he likes more than anything is to have time to himself, so I'm taking Holly and some SCA friends and going to a nearby town for many hours where I can be with people as I love, and Keith can have a quiet day as he loves. It's a fine plan.

Keith and I met in the SCA nearly thirty years ago, and have been involved in that organization the whole time. We've separately gone through short periods of finding other things more important and desireable, and I was doing all unschooling and no SCA for a few years (though I still clothed and provisioned others in the family who were going to events, and still did some counseling and advisement of friends and that sort of base-camp help).

Lately, though, I've been back and fully active, and Saturday instead of hanging around with my longtime SCA-buddy and husband, I'm going to a tournament and feast and making a new student, Lady Kymma Godric. That's Kymma in the middle. On the right is Karl, who's been my student for seven weeks. It seems like six months because he's done and learned so much and been so helpful. Sometimes time slows down so we can really remember the good parts.

Then there's Dermod, also an important part of this group. He's Artan's squire, but secondarily to that, he's asked to be my student in the areas of virtue and philosophy and the fun stuff. (fun for me)

It's ironic, I know, to spend so much time and energy getting away from "teaching" and "teacher" modes and then to formally engage in teacher/student situations, but in the SCA, it's different. It's more an apprenticeship relationship, without the specifics of one narrow area of endeavor. It's mentoring, in a whole-SCA-life kind of way.

I've had students in the past, and never planned to have more, but these three are awesome and inspiring, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to share with them what I know and have. I didn't know my life could be bigger and better, but they've made it so.