Got sleep?

We were all struggling with sleep issues ten days ago: it was the morning of our Annual Religious Education (RE) Sleepover at the meetinghouse and about the only person in chipper spirits early that morning was my seven-year old, who seems to wake up every morning with more than one person's share of energy.  The group had put in a full day the day before: duckpin bowling in Waterbury, homemade pizza at the meeting-house for dinner, an evening full of games and ice cream sundaes, followed by a brief worship service and some quiet time before the lights went out for the night.  We feasted on eggs and pancakes that Sunday morning, cleaned up and left for a hike at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield.  It was a cold morning--brisk!--but thankfully, no snow.

When I have described this annual sleepover event to other Directors of Religious Education in the Clara Barton District, they are most often amazed that we include all of the students in our RE program for the overnight.  Apparently many other congregations (if they hold such an event) will limit the participants to only the high school crowd or perhaps include the seventh and eighth grade students.  As I think back on the history of our sleepover's evolution, it seems that the all-ages inclusion came about due to a characteristic of smaller congregations: a shortage of volunteers.  The parents willing to spend the night, initially, had younger children and thus our "inclusive" approach to the RE sleepover was born.

It's an interesting event to be a part of . . . anyone who has spent more than sixteen hours in the company of someone else is bound to see a different side or two of that individual.  The sleepover allows us all to be in community with one another in a way that's hard to achieve in the short span of a Sunday morning RE class.  We get a chance to see each other at our best and maybe worst (or at least tired!) and still be there in the morning.  It's also a chance to just be silly and laugh like crazy.  Monica's games have a way of celebrating the various qualities of our students, whether it be one's competitive nature in the obstacle course or another's ability to collaborate with a peer during the egg-drop.  Spending time in community with others this way enables us to learn not only a bit more about the friend we sit with on Sunday mornings, but also a little bit more about ourselves.

Six of our older RE students will be sharing some of their insights with the rest of the congregation as we celebrate their Coming of Age on Sunday, April 10.  I hope you can join us for this multigenerational service as we embrace these teens during this very important time of their lives.

Denise Pedane, DRE
Mattatuck Unitarian Universalist Society

Do fish count as more than one pet?

The sanctuary was filled with people, there was a lively buzz of excitement in the air and the inviting smell of lasagna wafted out of the kitchen.  The sounds of the drums that were played earlier were still ringing in my ears, and we were in the middle of a heated debate: do fish count as more than one pet?  The game we were playing involves filling in various blocks on a sheet of paper, labeling each section with the person's name that fits the description.  For example, if someone I met in the room had been to a General Assembly (the national meeting held by the Unitarian Universalist Society each June), I could place their name in the box titled "Been to G.A."

It's a game the teens and tweens of our congregation are familiar with.  For each of the middle school and high school rallies we have attended in the past few years. a similar ice-breaking game has been played.  It gives the members of the group a chance to get to know one another and to move around the room in a relaxed fashion.  It also is a great way to find out some interesting information about the game's participants.  Who does speak a foreign language fluently?  Who has lived in more than four states?  Who is a life-long Unitarian Universalist?

As I drove my children to school on Monday morning, I shared with them the events of last Saturday: the hard work the adults put in at the Visioning Workshop, the delicious food and thought-provoking conversation that was shared at the Stewardship Dinner.  And as I related the details of the game mentioned above, I also shared with them how much fun it was to see the adults enjoying themselves as well . . . having as much fun with that particular game as the kids do at their own activities. 

Do fish count as more than one pet?  In a two-cat/lots of fish household, could I legitimately occupy that space labeled "has more than 3 pets?"  It's an important piece of information; I may need it before the Annual RE sleepover March 19.

Denise Pedane, DRE
Mattatuck Unitarian Universalist Society

Lehigh Green, Webster Green and Shy Cherry

I painted my dining room last week.  It was a week-long endeavor: buying supplies the Friday of Martin Luther King weekend, choosing colors and moving furniture out of the room, repairing the window frame and filling in holes, taping the room floor to ceiling to cover the trim and lighting.  I spent quite a bit of time at my local hardware store, asking for advice and loading up on more paint each time a snowday seemed imminent in the forecast.

After the initial "weekend warrior" sensation in my shoulder, from maneuvering paint-filled rollers across the ceiling and moving the stepladder, I settled into a groove.  Taping and repair work was done during the daytime--around dinner and carpooling--while the more meditative painting was completed in the late evening hours, after my six-year-old son was asleep.  It felt a bit like the old "Elves and the Shoemaker" story; he would go to sleep each night seeing the room appear one way, only to wake the next morning to something entirely different.  Who came each night and did this work?

Painting a room in this fashion gives one quite a bit of quiet time for thinking, and I found myself reflecting on our congregation's Religious Education program.  In many ways, its yearly cycle parallels the changes that were taking place in my dining room.  Plans are drawn up, decisions made about the particular details and then the program is set in motion each September.  We seek advice from the professionals when we're unsure of which approach to take in certain situations, but we carry a vision in our minds of what we hope the final outcome will look like.  Everyone has their own opinion of what it might (and should!) look like in the end, but we ultimately hope for a room--or RE program--in which everyone feels comfortable.  It's a place where life happens and milestones are celebrated, stories are shared and learning takes place . . . the people in our lives are welcomed at the table.

Painting the dining room took more patience than I had imagined.  Time was involved in a fashion over which I had no control: time for allowing the paint to dry before I could add a second coat, time for one stage of the process to be completed before I could move on to another.  It was surprisingly gratifying in the end, to step back with the furniture in place and the lights on, to know that this was something of my doing; this new dining room is what my children will remember when they tell their stories as adults, their stories of what they learned around our dining room table.

The work we do as religious educators (and we are all religious educators) is equally gratifying, and just as far-reaching.

Denise Pedane, DRE
Mattatuck Unitarian Universalist Society