a meaningfully well-lived life & the cape cod dunes

When I was a child, I spent joyous summers on Cape Cod. As an adult, I often have gone to the outer cape (along the "arm") for September vacations. My visits to the town of Wellfleet, which was also an important place for my dad, always refresh me physically and bring great calmness to my spirit. For some of us, Eudaimonia was not a well-known word or concept until becoming acquainted with it through the Summers-Knoll auction and celebration event. This year, with our auction at the beautiful and encompassing Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan, the concept became part of the reality in my life.

Two blogs that apeared around the event date helped bring alive the meaning of this Greek word. The concept is what I have tried to model for my children. I am happy when they find in their lives spaces that can be reflective for themselves and that can bring them joy. It is also what I see shared with the teaching for the children at this wonderful school.

The one article (thank you, Joanna) comes from Umair Haque, interestingly enough from the Harvard Business Review blog, Is a Well-Lived Life Worth Anything? http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/05/is_a_well_lived_live_worth_anything.html

The second is from the blog of the NPR show, On Being, an article by Jill Schneiderman, Plugged in to the Outer Cape, http://blog.onbeing.org/post/5553970578/plugged-in-to-the-outer-cape

Jill Schneiderman's words express my own experience, "...this is a soothing feeling of awe and connection. Walking in the dunes or across these mudflats puts me in touch with deep time..."

Each time I visit the sea and can feel the sand of the dunes while looking out at the expanse of the ocean, I experience the same awe and deep awareness of connection with nature and with others.

We at Summers-Knoll currently have the great privilege of planning for a move to a new building and a new space. It is most exciting to be part of a process that includes hearing the dreams and ideas and hopeful expectations on the part of the community: the board members, the teachers, the children, the parents. I admire the attentive listening on the part of the designing architects. We have not only opportunity but a true responsibility with this new stage in Summers-Knoll's history to create a space that will expand the ideas of community and sharing and creativity that currently mark the atmosphere and culture of the school.