A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. July's Theme: "Beyond the Horizon"
Volume 6 Issue 5 ISSN# 1708-3265

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Illuminations Aleesha Stephenson About the Cover Julita Wolanska I Am What I Am, Until I Am Not Dj Brown Eye-level Alegria Imperial Trust: Beyond Your Horizons Rev. Cheryl Jewett Beyond… David Reber Standing on the Edge Marlene Buffa A Rainbow in the Mist Tira Brandon Evans Is it Really a Sacrifice to Protect the Environment? David Suzuki PhD Psychic Powers Phil Kotofskie An Unintentional week of Unschooling Tamiko Charllton Being Mindful Janet Alston Jackson Pet-sense Jean Hofve DVM Get On Track! Lucy Brandt Lifetalks Dawn Baumann Brunke Walk Your Talk Aleesha Stephenson Wiccan Voices Crystal Blanton, HPs Meditate a Moment Featuring: Aleesha Stephenson Shapeshifting with Our Animal Companions Dawn Baumann Brunke Animal Voices Telepathic Communication in the Web of Life Dawn Baumann Brunke Animal Voices, Animal Guides Dawn Baumann Brunke Archived Reviews All of T.S.M.'s Reviews

Beyond… by David Reber And when I die… And when I'm gone… There'll be one child born in this world To carry on…          -Blood Sweat Tears I arrive at the bus stop early and it is one of those dreary days that passes for spring in the northern latitudes. With a heavy sigh I settle in to wait for my son's school bus. Not long there after my thoughts float to this particular article and its subject of "Beyond Horizons." This time the subject is set more towards someone I used to be, someone a lot more adventurous. You see, I am reaching middle age and I am embracing it. I see it coming with its many "mid-life crisis" moments and have arms happily flung wide. I'm settling down. I'm married now and a father. I go on vacation to the same spot every year and fish with the same captain. More than that actually, I have added more floor space onto my house, more than was orginally there. The place is now more akin to my castle than my home. It sits back in the woods and the great-room sports an entertainment system that makes stoic men weep. I even have a bar in the basement that is completely outfitted with my fishing trophies and pictures; a place where I can quietly sit to tie flies, write, read, whatever I want to do in solitude. It is my castle in the very old sense as it is my fortress of solitude, my protection from the hottentots on the outside. To give a very real sense of how badly I hate to leave this spot I am looking into grocery delivery services. I've worked very hard to build my nest, square my boundaries, fix my horizons, how would I write about going "beyond"? Then all of a sudden the answer slides into place in the form of a scruffy, big-headed kid jumping off the bus only to deliver a purple-nurple before sprinting toward the safety of our truck. In that one instant it all comes together, at that one moment I suddenly see my castle in a very new sense. My boy is growing up with my horizons already in place. He is beginning at the place I'm only now reaching… he has only beyond my horizons to go. My horizons are his starting point, his spring board. We have an ongoing joke in our family where we tell our little guy that when he's eighteen he "doesn't have to go to college, he just has to go…" See, the joke here lies in the irony that out of all of us, he is definitely the brains of the outfit. He is techinically in the sixth grade, but we enrolled him in a Montessori program specifically to challenge and add accountability. Because of this he is actually doing eighth grade work. That's right kids, my boy skipped two grades! He is smarter than his mom and I put together. So the joke above is not just that he will likely go to college, but how many degrees will he end up with? So how can my self-imposed limitations be the spring board for a kid with knowledge and informational skills well beyond my own already? The boy and I take off down the road and I ask, "You ever thought about what you want to be when you grow up?" He replies easily and fast enough that I know he's already worked on it, "I think I want to be a brain surgeon… and then a cook on the weekends." Interesting combination eh? Of course I say as much and he goes on still quite easily, "I figure if the brain surgeon thing doesn't work out, at least I'll still eat." Told ya he was a thinker! He's not only been considering the question already, he's come up with possible downfalls to his lofty goals and worked them out. So, how am I, as the nesting dad, going to help him spring off? How does a moderate intellect stimulate and stimulate a major one? Well thank you Aleesha for coming up with this topic because my next several days were spent intensely watching the boy. He gets home from school and goes out back with his bow. I admire as he hits the bullseye as often as not from a healthy distance. I admire more when he learns from his misses and compensates. Then it occurs to me I got him that bow, I taught him to shoot it. A little later he comes in and suggests we play our favourite video game. The game we play gives us complete control - not just in how our characters look - but what super powers we want to mess with. It also lets us be the authors of our own adventures. We like it because we create these adventures together and sound off each other as equals. We often do this well into the morning on the weekends. Just based on that outlet giving me a chance to see the kinds of things he is creating, I am here to say he has an excellent imagination to go with that sharp reasoning. I see him every once in awhile writing stories and drawing out his thoughts as well. He is searching his own outlets and to that end we also have him in guitar lessons. Often from there our creative sessions get intense enough we have to work off a bit of steam. So there, in the middle of the night, we get out the fencing sabers, the practice sticks, or padded gloves, whatever and we spar. I try to teach him some of the things from back when I taught martial arts, but for the most part I try to let him have his head and work on what he's in the mood for. Lately in some of our late night sessions I have been very pleased to see he is not merely sending back the combinations I've worked with him on, but entirely new ones. You see, he's leaping ahead, taking my basics and recombining them, even adding his own bits to try. This shows not just consideration, but a focus, and even time practiced with the heavy bag before introducing what he's worked on. I watch as he starts inquiring into things we've not actually gone out of our way to do with him, in particular cooking. Several months ago he wanted to learn how to make tacos. Since then however, just from the basics of browning and seasoning meat, he's gone on to several other things. We've even gotten to the point of occasionally having him consult the cookbooks as he is responsible for one family meal a week. I told my wife later that weekend that we are raising quite the Renaissance man. Of course she asks, "How so?" and I go on to explain he's becoming a man of many skills, a man comfortable in all settings. With that boy's looks and gentle charisma there is no doubt he will get girls. But how many of you out there are raising a boy who can invite the girl home while he properly prepares a several course meal, serves the proper wine, and even observes the proper etiquette in the bottle opening? A few of you? All right, how many of you out there are raising a boy who can play music for his date while she sips the wine he may probably have fermented himself? A couple of you left? Fair enough, but I may have you on the next part. The boy I am raising quite likely stalked and brought down the main course of the meal! So after the last couple days I can honestly say I am quite happy with the boy and quite proud. I also feel a lot better that my agoraphobia has actually given the boy a safe place to prepare for his journey beyond my horizons. I am giving him a very good base and a wide variety of experiences as well, some of those are even good! After all, who do you think taught him the purple-nurple? He also has developed quite the artistry over "mooning" and has gone on to create his own masterpiece, the "Pressed Ham Under Glass." Hello, I'm David Reber. Currently I'm trying very hard to live a simple, uncomplicated life. I really enjoy tying flies or writing bad fiction in some quiet corner near where my beautiful wife is working on one of her hobbies. I also enjoy long walks with her when the weather is nice and we can take our two Siberian Husky puppies, Annie and Chloey with us - or when the huskies take us for a run would be the proper description. Then of course there is the time we spend trying to keep the refrigerator stocked ahead of "Big J", our active son and his tape worm.

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