Learning From Our Elders

This month I’m celebrating reaching my forty-third birthday which, despite all the statistical evidence, I consider to be the mid-point in my life.  It’s a time to glance back, while marching forward.

Part of looking back is reflecting on how the women in my family have influenced my identity and decisions.  There are several important women in my village, but I’ll start with the elders.

A love of books and storytelling, inherited from my grandmothers, is the driving force of On Living By Learning.

The Long Journey

I’ve always thought that life is a long journey, with lots of time to accomplish my goals.  When it took me nearly ten years to complete my B.A. at Columbia University, due to financial and other obstacles, I persevered knowing that there would be time to use my education.

Knowing that both my grandmothers are relatively hale and hearty well into their eighties, and that my great-grandmother was as well, I’ve always counted on living at least as long as them.  One is a sedentary chain-smoker, and the other is a borderline diabetic with a sweet tooth.  I figure if they can keep on ticking, my asthmatic and only slightly overweight body should be good for the long haul.

The Book-Driven Life

I don’t know my chain-smoking American grandmother too well.  I’ve only met her once or twice, but I’ve picked up a few of her habits nevertheless.

Many years ago, I discovered that she is an avid reader who is content to stay at home with her books.  At the time, I couldn’t imagine giving up travel and social interaction to be a virtual hermit. 

Now that I’m an over-extended mom, I can appreciate the appeal of hunkering down with a stack of delicious books!

I’m grateful to have picked up the habit of a book-driven life. 

I never tackle a project without a stack of books, and I’m constantly scanning available literature to inform my endeavors.  These days, that means that I’m working my way through books on homeschooling, gifted education, parenting, wired learning, tweens, Caribbean travel, and computer manuals.  That’s in addition to what I read with book clubs or to relax.

Reading is essential to the On Living By Learning lifestyle.

Family Stories - Telenovela Style

My other grandmother, Meme, is the one who practically raised me.  For months at a time, my mother dropped my brother and I with her parents while she pursued her entrepreneurial ventures.

I didn’t mind.  I loved helping Meme with sewing projects as we drank mate and watched the telenovelas.  And when the telenovelas ended, the family stories began.

In true Latina fashion, these stories took on the high drama of the telenovelas.  One often told story is that of the younger brother of an Argentine protester (who escaped to Mexico,) a young man with absolutely no political leanings, who was taken by the police and became one of the ‘disappeared.’  Another relative was a drunkard who drowned in a boating accident.  One great-aunt became a permanent resident of an insane asylum due to complications incurred during her first menstrual cycle.  And then there were the slew of women in our family who died of a broken heart.

It is from this tradition of oral history, that I picked up the desire to understand and document our experiences.

From The Elders To On Living By Learning

For me, blogging On Living By Learning is nothing more than the age-old desire to share what we have learned so that our peers, and our children, can learn from our experiences. 

Living the book-driven life and parenting in the the real world, I’m learning so much that I need to share before I forget.

And, if I can put in a little drama and a few embellishments like in the telenovelas, what’s wrong with a little fun?

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Tagged as: blog, books, storytelling