Tag Archives: life lessons

Lesson From A Rocking Chair

by Woody

Woody’s debut novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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A big-time New York City sportswriter once said, long ago, that his best pieces were when he quoted at length from columns by press-box legend Red Smith. Chuck Thomas, my esteemed predecessor in this space, humorously echoed: “Never write a bad column when you can steal a good one.”

Thusly inspired, I have stolen a new essay from award-winning novelist Dallas Woodburn, who will be a headliner at the “Books, Butterflies & Botanical Gardens” fundraiser benefiting the Ventura County Library Foundation on Oct. 15. (Tickets are available online at: vclibraryfoundation.org/events/ )

My daughter shares wisely…

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Yesterday, I sold the rocker from our nursery.

It was time. My younger daughter is two-and-a-half and was excited about putting up a “reading tent” in her room, in the space where the rocker used to be.

The woman who bought the rocker was delighted. It was for her pregnant daughter and it warmed my heart to imagine another family getting to use this item we had loved so much.

Yet still, watching the woman drive away with our rocker in the bed of her truck made unexpected tears spring to my eyes and a big lump rise to my throat.

It was a blinking neon-sign reminder that time is passing. So, so quickly.

I vividly remember when we bought that rocker, when I was pregnant with my older daughter seven summers ago, back when we were living in a small rental house. I remember setting up the nursery in what once had been my home office, a mix of excitement and nerves giving me giddy butterflies.

My baby daughter and I spent countless hours rocking in that chair. We rocked to calm her. We rocked her to sleep. In the early, early days, I nursed her in that rocking chair, listening to audiobooks and feeling like the two of us were the only ones awake in the entire world.

In those newborn days of early motherhood, time was molasses. I rocked her and rocked her, back and forth, back and forth, her head heavy in the crook of my elbow, praying for her to fall asleep – and stay asleep. It felt like she would always be tiny and I would always be rocking her.

Four years later, my husband and I were setting up the same rocker in a different house, in a different nursery, for our second precious rainbow baby.

Our younger daughter arrived and didn’t like to be rocked as much as her big sister. She preferred the standing-dancing-bouncing method. Still, she and I spent a lot of time, especially reading, in that rocking chair.

Why am I telling you all about this rocking chair? Because time is passing quickly. Children are growing up. Parents are aging. We all are aging.

And if we aren’t careful – if we aren’t intentional and purposeful and brave – time can be a cruel thief, slipping by like a cat burglar, stealing away our biggest dreams.

What were you dreaming about seven years ago? Do you hold a big dream in your heart that is older than my rocking chair? Are you still trying to “make time” for that dream? Do you tell yourself that you’ll make time to pursue it later; next season; next year; when life calms down and things are less busy?

The next piece of furniture we will likely offer away is my younger daughter’s crib, now converted into a toddler bed. I’m guessing we’ll get another two years out of it before she graduates to a full-on “big-girl bed.”

Two years from now, will your big-life dream be growing true?

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Life Lesson Inside A Glass Jar

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Life Lesson Inside

A Glass Jar

Many years past, one of my college professors gave a demonstration on our final day of class that seems especially fitting to share during the graduation season.

I was reminded of Mr. Lloyd’s lecture, which had nothing to do with Speech 101, when a dear friend sent me a YouTube video by Meir Kay featuring a professor giving a nearly identical life lesson.

In my mind’s eye, the two professors are one and the same. And thus, since I do not remember Mr. Lloyd’s specific words well enough to quote at length, I shall lean on the video titled, “Amazingly Simple Theory for a Happy Life.”

The Professor enters the classroom, greets his students, and then displays a mason jar.

“We all have just one life to live,” he says, “a fleeting shadow amongst all that exists in this vast universe. We have the ability to accomplish anything, truly anything, if we use our time wisely.”

From his leather briefcase The Professor takes out a box of golf balls and feeds them into the jar until there is room for not one more.

“Is the jar full?” he asks and the students answer as one: “Yes.”

The Professor now adds pebbles which filter into the open spaces.

“Is it full now?” he asks and again the answer is, “Yes.”

The Professor pours in sand, shaking the jar so the grains settle into every nook and cranny, until it reaches the top.

“And how about now – is the jar full?”

“Yes,” more loudly this time.

Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, from his briefcase The Professor produces two bottles of beer. He opens one and pouring slowly fills the jar to the brim.

A quick aside. Mr. Lloyd, perhaps on account of us being at UC Santa Barbara, employed a beach theme by using smooth stones instead of golf balls; colorful sea glass instead of pebbles; sand of course, but ocean water instead of beer.

Also, my professor used two jars – one small, one large – because, he explained, lifetimes come in different sizes.

“Now, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life,” The Professor on YouTube resumes. “Golf balls are the important things: your family, your friends, your health and your passions.

“The pebbles are the other important things: your job, your car, your home.

“The sand is everything else: just the small stuff. If you put the sand in the jar first, you won’t have room for the pebbles or the golf balls.”

Also, as Mr. Lloyd pointed out, if you put the sea glass in first you will not have enough room for all of the larger important stones.

“The same is true in life,” The Professor continues. “If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you won’t have time for all the really important things that matter to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Take care of the golf balls first. Set your priorities because everything else is just sand.”

A student in the video raises his hand and asks: “Professor, what does the beer represent?”

“I’m glad you asked,” The Professor answers. “It goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem to be, there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend.”

Mr. Lloyd, meanwhile, explained the ocean water’s metaphor as meaning there’s always time to go to the beach.

I think both professors are right: there’s always time to enjoy a beer at the beach with a friend.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

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