Nutrisystem, Homeschooling and Imagination

Jan. 31, 2008
So here we are on the last day of January and you may be wondering what the three items in the title have to do with one another. Let me explain.
My dear husband, who will be 50 in the summer, has started Nutrisystem in order to lose around 50 pounds or so. It's all in the interest of health -- and permission to purchase a new (read different....we can't afford new) motorcycle on his 50th birthday. It's amazing that one month of food can fit into a foot locker-sized cardboard box. And it's providential that my husband and father-in-law installed new cabinets in the laundry room over the holidays as that is where the Nutrisystem food is stored. All in neat little boxes. Red for dinner, green for lunch, etc.
So, hubby is sticking to the diet so far (week 1) and losing a few pounds, but the box itself is worth its weight in gold. We have two children, 7 and 8, and they have turned the box into a time machine set for different times such as the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Columbus' time, Pocahontas' time, and, of course, dinosaur time. The box is complete with buttons which are accurately labeled. During breaks in homeschooling they travel to a different time and have adventures. I have to mention that these times correspond with the history dates they have so far memorized for homeschool. And their adventures are significantly augmented by their reading of the Magic Tree House books in which a brother and sister, ages 7 and 8, go back and time and have adventures. Funny how art imitates life in this case.
So, here in the cold heart of winter as we prepare to enter Lent, I am grateful for many things: For my husband's health, for my childrens' ability to be children and avoid the consumeristic appeal of Webkins and American Idol and video games. And I am grateful for imagination -- the forerunner of hope.