Natalie Thinks

If there were balance in the world Then l would wish you joy Proportionate to my pain. May your joy be all-consuming and overpowering. And may your heart expand By the pieces hollowed out from mine By my salty tears. As you lie awake feasting On the dreams of your future, Drink deeply from the wine crushed from the fruit of mine. Natalie Simmons 2020

I discovered this title from a Facebook page by the same name and I find the quotes they share to be particularly powerful. Like this one. For four years I had four kids living in my house, in three different schools. I was teaching full-time, and running a guest house.   Futhermore, because we live in the countryside we have to drive 30-45 minutes to get pretty much anywhere. So I know a bit about being busy, but I have very deliberately worked my way out of that.   I am grateful to be in a much quieter season at the moment. How busy are you? Firstly recognise that everything that requires effort is work: house work is work; taking care of kids is work; meeting family commitments is work; driving a car is work; service in the church or community can be work.   Your 8 hours at your chosen occupation is just one facet of the work you do. The sum of all your daily tasks may be taking you over the top.   Studies have shown that in the workplace people ...

I wrote this 4 years ago, but didn't publish it. Still true. I want to start a movement called ‘Slow teaching’ in the same spirit as the Slow Food Movement. Because we’re starving our children, serving them superficial and contrarily highly complicated information instead of soul-building, sustaining basics. I speak as someone who has just moved from a very small, very unique school where ‘slow teaching’ is mostly standard fare; to a large government school, a very good government school; where compliance to the education department syllabi is adhered to. Now I must take a group of students through a beautifully written book with several complex themes in a matter of six to eight 30 minute lessons. It’s a thin-ish book but this is a second (or third) language for my students, so they barely understand the story. And I don’t have the time to go slowly enough to explain all the words, or to re-read paragraphs. I can’t take time out to discuss the setting of South Africa and...

I know this was probably one of those polite questions where I was supposed to respond with, “Fine thank you, and yours?” But I was caught off guard and when I just stared slack-jawed into my memory, she was forced to say, “Is that a tough question?” Well yes. Because nothing really bad happened but… Let’s take a look shall we. First, there is the ongoing matter of trying not to eat, breathe or move on the right side of my mouth.  Let’s just say if you thought getting a crown took you into the league of supersonic teeth aka JAWS (the 007 one), then you like me, are sadly mistaken. Seems I am soon to have the thing extracted. Next, there’s the ongoing siege of ants who are determined to invade my kitchen.  I then commit acts of ant genocide only to find that their envoys have not satisfactorily communicated the message back home, and another bunch of suckers are sent in.  I have to admit, they’re wearing me down… Thirdly. My son is now farming rabbits....

On my way out today I saw: 55 yellow and purple wildflowers, standing proud in the breeze 34 cows, lolling in the veld 21 birds, insect-hunting across the sky 13 children of God, waiting along the side of the road 8 guinea fowl, unsure which way to turn 5 sunflowers in search of sun 3 buck, meandering the cool morning 2 bright red Bishop birds, pestering a stem of grass 1 sky overall And within it all the embracing Spirit of God. * The Fibonacci sequence starts like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on forever. Each number is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. It's a simple pattern, but it appears to be a kind of built-in numbering system to the cosmos, and could possibly speak to the idea of a divine creator.

I grew up always feeling outside or other.  Some of these reasons were: Being an only child – it’s a lot more common today, but in the ‘70s it frequently meant I was viewed differently and excluded from the mystical world of sibling-hood and the classic Cosby family picture.  Also, we didn’t have a television.  My parent being avid readers and viewing themselves as somewhat bohemian, intellectual sorts; decided not to buy-in to the TV culture which was sweeping the nation in the early 70s – this not only led to frequent questions of, “Are you poor?”, but it left me outside the chit-chat and copycat games of Charlie’s Angels, Pop Shop and The Bold and the Beautiful .  And then just to put the cherry on the cake, we lived in a brand new suburb where schools had not yet been built, which meant that physically I was also an outsider from school, where it seemed that everyone else was in walking or cycling distance from one another. Then we come to the end of Grade ...

In two weeks' time, I come to the end of a decade of teaching.  It has been a great joy and also a journey about 3 years too long. As the daughter of an English teacher, the career held no appeal to me, even though I love the language, am an avid reader and majored in English at the University of the Witwatersrand! Ain’t life funny though! (yes, English teachers may use ‘ain’t’ to be ironic) Funny that I should find myself almost accidentally thrown into the job at the age of 37.  Although I had taught adults in other settings, it was a joy to discover within myself the ability to impart concepts to young minds. And what a wonderful journey it has been! I have been so privileged in so many ways. Firstly to teach at a very special school: Woodland School, which is unique in so many ways as a small, countryside, private school. I enjoyed great freedom to set curriculum and make literature choices.  Creativity is so important to me and I spent hours p...