The Student Becomes the Teacher

  The Student Becomes the Teacher…

This is something I did not see coming. Perhaps I was too enveloped into my own self doubt, negative body image, due to my advancing years and the loss of most of my teeth through having recently experienced oral surgery. I was feeling stupid, sad and isolated. I didn’t want to talk to anyone because my lack of teeth made every word that left my mouth sound like some toothless trailer park hillbilly with a 3rd grade education. Or worse, like my own granny who was from the south and had the typical 10 kids who had lived on a farm in Kentucky. (I had always been bit ashamed when my aunties, cousins or any of mom’s family came to visit because of their Deep South accents and rural ways) OMG! I’m such an intolerant hillbilly basher! It’s a part of my maternal heritage and needs to be embraced not denied! I really thought I’d dealt with all of this when I wrote my short story “The Little Piggy”…

 The Little Piggy

Case Study in Genetic Memory?

It seems not so very long ago that my new husband and I moved to the small town of Olivehurst

California. We had both been raised and educated primarily in the "Big City". As for myself, Phoenix, 

San Francisco and later Sacramento. My husband Daniel was educated in Chicago and in Sacramento.

Yet we both thought the country to be the safest place to raise our children. (What with all of the drive-by 

shootings, drugs, gangs and other crime in our metropolitan areas these days.)

We fell in love, married and moved to this quaint, rustic little town. With our combined family,

five gold fish, two parakeets, a cat, Jacob my 10 year old, Ashley 7, Scott 6 and Barbara 4. A small town,

a great place to raise kids. A 3 bedroom trailer to stay in while we built our dream house on our own 

property. It wasn’t much but it was all ours. (And no easy feat considering our combined divorce 

settlements.)

Moving day was August 16th and it was hot even by California standards. We worked through the 

afternoon late into the evening to finish the move as quickly as possible. The unloading of all of our

furniture and kitchen supplies had taken much longer than we had anticipated. It had been nearly 12 

hours since any of us had ingested anything more substantial than an orange soda. 

My husband remembered that there was a fast food place with a drive-through open 24 hours about

5 miles away in Marysville. So I proceeded to clean up and prepare to make the long trek out for 

provisions.

It was far past midnight when our youngest came running into the new place shouting that there

was a pit bull at the front gate! Well, I was hot, tired and hungry, starved in fact. I just wanted to get 

something to feed my family. But the thought of a loose pit bull really concerned me.

I ran out of the house without my shoes, when I reached the front gate I realized that it wasn’t

a pit bull at all. It was the cutest little, brindle colored potbellied pig. I giggled and started yellin’, “Sooie, 

Sooie, piggy, piggy, pig, pig.” That four legged pork roast went a runnin’ down the road squealing’ with 

me bear footed and runnin’ behind while shoutin’, “Sooie, sooie, piggy, piggy, pig, pig!” (Talk about yer

fast food.)

Suddenly in mid chase it hit me, just exactly what was I doing? I am chasing this poor little pig

like some sort of deranged, “Daisy Duke” I had never in my life behaved in such a manor. And it

completely astounded me.

At that moment I began to recall the stories my mother had told me about her childhood in

the hills of Kentucky, where several generations of the family live still in, “HOG HEAVEN”.

So, is it that I’d been influenced by popular culture’s image of the “country girl”? Or maybe,

just maybe could it be genetic memory?

Now let’s consider this very carefully. I am a reasonably bright, intelligent woman with an

education and years of life experience. What is the logical way to come to a conclusion about my

reaction and response, on this particular day? Let’s take it slow and simple, (as that seems to be my true 

nature.) Now, take it from the top with our first line of reasoning.

If by popular culture: I was a hapless, helpless, simpleton, sheep only responding to a commonly

shared vision of what one should act like in a venue and predicament such as this one. 

If by motherly influences: I had fallen into a psychological trap that all of my education, 

determination and strength of mind could not over come. No matter how hard I tried, I had become my 

"Mother".

If not by word or action: I was programmed by the very D.N.A. that dictated my height, the 

blueness of my eyes or, the blondness of my hair. There by rendering me powerless to overcome my 

situation. And yet again I must accept my fate.

I pondered this over and over in my mind and could come to no clear conclusion.

So, whatever the case I have come to realize that I am so much more than merely descendant from

“Country folk”, I am one. Although, I still do strive in my own way to be a bit more cosmopolitan.

 Maighread Birdsong,, “Country girl at large.

So one of my old clients/student and friend reached out to me via Facebook messenger due to a post I’d made earlier that week about being a bit down and looking for some pleasant entertainment to cheer me up. In our text conversation I expressed how it warmed my heart that so many had responded to my post with their best wishes and lists of movies I could watch to help lighten my mood and help invigorate my prompt healing. The following are the transcripts of that exchange.

Jen: Well for me your a spiritual mama, but it would be hard for anyone to not love you. You’ve been there for so many of us along our path.

I read your experience, and although I’ve never had a spirit try to advert me from doing our work. It would make sense to me how that could happen. Trusting our intuitionI thinking in these times would be the only way we could navigate. I’m reading a book by Ishmael Perez from journey of truth it’s pretty interesting talking about our history and the soul/ bloodline of archangel Michael.

Do you think we’re all being challenged with self image and beauty?. I’ve gained some weight because of menopause and I’ve been struggling with not feeling pretty as well. Just wondering if there may be something deeper to it?

Me: I think that there surely is more to it. Society has a weird view of women as well as our historical heritage. Men get distinguished with age but women just turn into old hags. We have to overcome this and love ourselves for the complete packages we truly are. Back to the course, “The Goddess Within”, there are positive and negative things about all stages of the sacred feminine. The maiden, mother and crone. Now it’s easy to connect with the beauty and youth of the maiden but she’s often careless, ignorant and just plain stupid. Nobody likes that but it’s true and must be embraced, understood and integrated into the core personality for any true spiritual growth. So it goes for mother (being short tempered due to overwork and lack of sleep) or crone being overly judgmental due to experience within a lifetime replete with interactions, events and encounters with the course of what it is to be human.

Wow! You ask great questions. This is stuff I need to accept and honor about myself as well. Thanks!

This is what proved to me that my former student/client now dear friend has not only learned from my teaching and interactions but used them to integrate to the point of asking the right questions. This simple step of spiritual knowing can and does create a path of Teaching/Learning for everyone!

And now I need to go within and integrate what I’ve just learned into my core-self and get my surprise package of spiritual growth. Thanks Jen you’ve helped me to actualize my credo of…

To teach and be taught

To heal and be healed

To love and be loved