Penelope

I feel super blessed to be at a place in my own healing and learning to share it with others, and one way I'm doing that these days is by starting a group at my daughter's middle school. The group is called Space for Peace, and our goal is to offer students who are sometimes disruptive and off-task in the classroom what they need: peace, acceptance, self-regulation skills, exhaling and all that good stuff.

I shared with them that I know how it is to live in a home where you always vigilant -- it is hard if not impossible to relax -- and that I know firsthand that when you come from a traumatic background, the path to peace has to come through body, because that's where the trauma is stored. One of our group members gave me a hug after the first week and said "I'm sorry you had a hard childhood."

"That's ok," I replied. "It helps me understand how to help other people better with theirs."

Today I had the good fortune of getting to see a fantastic documentary (called Paper Tigers) about an alternative high school that gets incredible results by implementing trauma-informed care practices.

One of the activities the teachers do with students is get together and play music - and this is one of the songs they played:

Oh Penelope

Are you filled with air

Swallowed oxygen

That makes you float up?

Is it Dropsy?

Will your lungs swell?

It's depressing me

To see you struggle

Oh Penelope

Are you filled with air

Swallowed oxygen

That makes you float up?

Is it Dropsy?

Will your lungs swell?

It's depressing me

To see you struggle

I'm treading water with my oars

Glass galleons anchored, ocean floors

I'm diving down with all my gear

In search of treasure, para me corazon

Take you to the forest

Let you feel the raindrops falling down

Seeping through your redscales

Eliminate the faucet

Eliminate the need for water

Replace it with a safe shell

Don't wanna see you floating upside down

On the top of the bowl when I

Come around to visit you

Don't wanna see you floating upside down

No girl

Need you there, Need you there, Need you there

Ooh Release that air

(I'm treading water with my oars 

Glass galeons anchored, ocean floors

I'm diving down with all my gear

In search of treasure, para me corazon)

Take you to the forest

Let you feel the raindrops falling down

Seeping through your redscales

Eliminate the faucet

Eliminate the need for water

Replace it with a safe shell

If they summon the rains now,

Are you gonna rise?

If they summon the rains now,

Are you gonna rise?

Beautiful song. Beautiful movie. Tough subject -- but the teachers deal with it beautifully. At one point the science teacher shares with the kids the ACE criteria (Adverse Childhood Experiences), and some of them have had (or are having) 7 adverse childhood experiences. This puts them at much higher risk for alcoholism, depression, joblessness, prison -- but there are interventions that work -- like having an adult who offers you unconditional love and support.

It is my hope that I can be that adult for some kids in need...