A Get-Away

My sister Holly, cousin Amy, and friend Cheris joined me in a quick get-away. We left first thing Monday afternoon and headed south, picking up my cousin along the way. It was a short but much needed respite.

The company and conversation were wonderful, even if the weather—torrential downpour, blinding spray, and standing water along the curvy, hilly interstate for hours—left a little to be desired. We had a delightful, leisurely dinner out, followed by some shopping. I’d like to say we took full advantage of our child-less night, but we craved uninterrupted sleep above all else (though I suppose that is certainly an advantage). We propped our eyes open with toothpicks for an hour or two of Olympics and then fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

Tuesday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we drove a couple blocks to the seminar location in plenty of time (it is astonishing how easy it is to be on time when one doesn’t have four other people to get ready!) to situate ourselves right up front. The only time I sit up front is when I’m child-less and desire to hang on every word.

From six hours of listening, I have pages and pages of notes and my mind is mush. I pray it recovers by Friday, because I have the privilege of listening to Andrew Kern on two more occasions this week.

Andrew Kern is a self-described non-linear thinker and my notes are all over the place, not to mention that so many things he said tied into other things I’ve been reading and thinking about. It may take weeks, months to sort it all out into something coherent enough to post. Until then, let me share a few random quotes from my scribbles to whet your appetite.

"Anxiety is produced when you ask something (or someone) to do a thing it isn't meant to do or cannot do."

 

"A creative mind is an analogical mind before it is an analytical mind. True knowledge *of* things comes to us analogically. Knowledge *about* things comes analytically."

 

"Rhetoric without truth is manipulation."

 

"If you've done the day's work, be done with it."

 

"It is already yours."

 

"Every command from God is an invitation."

 

"If you like math more than art, it is because you see beautiful things in it."

 

"Perceiving truth is very different from getting through a lesson."

 

"If things don't have a nature, you can't know them."

 

"The principle of harmony works across the curricula."

 

Home beckoned as the afternoon waned, and we were on the road again by 5:30. The sunshine immediately turned liquid, and we had hours of torrential downpour, blinding spray, and standing water along the curvy, hilly interstate. I pried my fingers off the steering wheel at 9:30, and sent my numb mind and body to bed.