SAY IT WITH YOUR LIFE

In Little League, there’s a saying the coaches would use when the players started trash talking each other. Like one kid would say, “You suck, you neanderthal,” and then another kid would come back with, “Your mother is a pony-faced dog soldier.” 

Then the coaches would peal the yapping kids apart and say, “Say it with your glove. Get back on that field.”

It was a great way to handle confrontation and trash talking. “Say it with you glove” meant to shut your mouth and play the game so well that any argument would be rendered moot. Be the better player. Win the game with your talent and skill. Play the game with your glove and not your mouth. Win or lose, do your best and leave it all on the field.

During one play-off game, Adam, our youngest son’s team proceeded to crush their opponent. On a close play, Adam slid into home and was called out. Because he was sure he was safe he had started to argue the call with the adult umpire before he had even gotten off the ground to dust off his uniform.

Now I am not one of those mothers who think their little darlings are never wrong. I was one of those mothers that was completely sure her kids were up to no good, and twice on Sunday.

Before Adam could call the umpire a neanderthal, dog-faced pony soldier, I was on my feet, fingers hooked in the backstop wire telling Adam, “Shut up. Get up. And go sit down. The umpire called you out.” He did.

It wasn’t ‘say it with your glove.’ It was more along the lines of don’t be a disrespectful poor winner or a whining loser and get up play the game like the gentleman I am raising you to be.

“Say it with your glove.” 

It’s a phrase that has come to mind on more than one occasion lately as I listen to people try to tell me the right way to live and be happy. So much trash talking, so much whining, so many unhappy little leaguers turned adults.

“Say it with your life.”

I wish more people would shut their mouths and get back on the field and ‘say it with your life.’

If your choices are right for you, then they should make you happy, regardless of what that other team thinks or believes. If your choices are making you miserable, mean, or prone to name calling, something seems wrong.

Your happiness is not the umpire’s responsibility. Live your life so well that there can be no argument about who is or isn’t a neanderthal. Live your life so well that anyone looking at your life will know you’ve played the best you could and you’ve left it all on the field. 

My husband and I made big choices (against conventional wisdom for the most part) and sacrificed all kinds of worldly “trophies” in the name of faith and family. And in the end, I truly mean it when I say, “May you find your way as pleasant.”

Linda (Right Fielder) Zern

Flock Watching

Smoke. Burning. Fire. I smelled it in my dreams. The scent swirled by and over my nasal passages. I sat up in bed and yelled, “Do you smell that?” 

The acrid taste of destruction coated the back of my tongue. It was 3:43 am.

“Get up. Get up. Something’s burning.” I whacked my husband, Sherwood the high-pitched snore monster, awake.

One gravelly snort later, and he fumbled to his feet. I was already cinched into my animal (unknown species) print bathrobe. “I smell burning,” I snapped.

And like a bird dog scenting prey, I flew through the house sniffing vents, smelling walls, and scratching behind my ear. Horrified, I inspected the light fixtures, recently installed by my son-in-law. Was it possible he’d done defective work, caused an electrical short, and now we were all going to have to live in the barn in our underwear? Of course, it was possible. I flew to the Christmas tree, unplugging Christmas cheer with a vengeance. 

I counted grandchildren piled in heaps throughout my house, visiting for Christmas. I worked out an evacuation plan as I ran sniffing wall sockets.

“Sherwood!” I cried. “Do you smell that?”

He had already found a ladder, climbed the ladder, and was sticking his head into the attic.

“It can’t be the heater.” I screeched. “I turned it on earlier in the day. To seventy-six degrees. If it was dust on the heater coils it would have burned off by now. Surely. Surely.” On my hands and knees, I inspected baseboards with my nose.

My grown, combat veteran son appeared, followed by my daughter-in-law.

“Get on that chair and sniff that vent,” I ordered. He did. “Feel the ceiling,” I commanded. He did. 

“Nothing’s hot,” he said, calmly.

“It’s in the walls,” I countered, tearing at my hair and sniffing at picture frames. 

And then one horrible, terrible, nasty, awful thought occurred to me. I raced to the utility room to confer with my husband. 

“You didn’t come behind me when I turned on the heater and lower the temperature? Right? And this is the first time it’s kicking on? So my assumption that this isn’t coil dust burning off but a raging inferno is based on crap information in my half crazed brain? RIGHT?” I directed my comments to my husband’s feet because he was still standing on the idiot ladder, his head still stuck up in the freezing attic. “You didn’t lower the temp,” I repeated. “Right?”

“No,” he replied.

I ran to the thermostat. The heater was on—set to seventy-two. The temperature inside the house? Seventy-one. I had set the temp at seventy-six. This was the first time the heater had kicked on. It was simple math.

“You lied,” I hissed.

Flames bubbled behind my eyeballs. I squashed my eyes to narrow slits. “I’m calling the fire department!”

“No. Don’t. It’s probably dust on the heater coils.”

“You stupid, stupid man,” I yelled. “You’re not a fireman. You! Don’t! Know!” I dragged that last bit out with flare, passion, and drama.

He climbed down the ladder. 

Needless to say, the ensuing conversation was neither productive nor Christ-like. Everyone went back to bed, but I stayed awake, bug-eyed and unsettled, until dawn. 

Someone has to keep watch over the flocks by night.

Linda (Sheep-Dog) Zern

How I Made a Study Guide/Reading Guide for My Book!

 For those that love to learn,

I rejoice in a book that makes me want to learn more, do more, and think more, and with that in mind, I put together this unit study guide as a companion to the first book in my Strandline Trilogy (Beyond the Strandline, Book I).

As a teacher, tutor, and homeschool parent/grandparent, I always appreciate hands-on activities and unit style study guides that cover a multitude of subjects (history, science, social studies, language, and more) because learning is forever and connected. 

Authors often do a great deal of research when they write their novels. A study guide can extend the reading experience for students, fans, and even book clubs. Sharing what you've learned or studied in researching and writing a novel is a delightful way to teach both the value of research and a love for discovery.  There's also the added benefit of teaching comprehension and understanding. Unit studies also address the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. 

HOW IS A UNIT STUDY DIFFERENT? Rather than teach subjects in unconnected segments or subjects, a unit study seeks to show the connections between all of the disciplines. History can be a wonderful overview, when taught in a unit study framework shows the way humans develop and integrate knowledge. Individual subjects taught in sixty minute intervals are more for convenience in a traditional classroom setting, rather than a comprehensive program of integrated learning.      

HOW DO I START?   I went through a few of the study guides that I found helpful when I was a homeschooling parent. Also Google UNIT STUDY. There are a wealth of various guides and outlines out there.  Some focus more on discussion or book club settings. A lot of the study guides run very heavily to worksheets or pencil and paper activities. I've always preferred things that you can do or make (ie hands-on).

HOW DO I STRUCTURE MY STUDY GUIDE?  The sky's the limit, but I wanted a format with some structure. Each of the chapters include the following areas: 

    DISCOVER (Concept): Look for and discover ideas and facts that can deepen the story and the reading experience. (In this section I point out subjects or ideas for additional research.)

    DISCUSS (Observation and Discussion): This section is structured in a book club discussion format. (Once again, using the actual text, I chose a phrase or quote and suggest questions to stimulate discussion.)

    DEFINE (Vocabulary): Straight up definitions of words and phrases used in the chapter.

    DRAW/WRITE/SAY (Language, Art, Speech): Students learn to express themselves through written, visual, and oral projects. Example (Chapters 14-17) Research the history of keeping time and sundials and give an oral report.

    DO (Hands on projects to make and do): Anything that can be touched, created, or made is a fabulous way to cement concepts and learning.) Example (Chapters 14-17) Create a homemade sundial with a link. NOTE:  Internet web addresses are considered open source information and cannot be copyrighted. 

WHAT FORMAT SHOULD YOU CONSIDER FOR YOUR STUDY GUIDE? I have both an e-version of the guide and an 8 1/2" by 11" workbook sized version. I wanted something that could be opened flat, written in, and used as a workbook. But it's up to you and the focus you'd like for your study/reading guide.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON YOUR TOPICS? I was after something for a more academic use, but certainly those that write "prepper fiction" might want to focus more on the tips, tricks, and how to's of prepping and survival. And those that write more literary works might focus on the how to's of writing or creating a story.  Again, the sky be limitless. 

IN CONCLUSION:  Writers and authors are creative creatures, that can, from whole cloth, make characters that people love. And then we kill them. And then we solve the crime. We're awesome. 

Get creative.  Think outside the box. Be relentlessly helpful.

Sincerely,

Linda L. Zern