If you’re either not from Milwaukee or haven’t been going to workouts recently or haven’t been keeping up with the NP MKE social page or with Facebook in general, this may come as a shock.
NP MKE clan grew overnight-time-day (don’t get that reference? This’ll help) when 50 penguin egg ornament children were birthed/hatched/named at a Wednesday workout. Those present became parents with a partner (spouse) of their choice, and embarked on this special journey we call raising a child.
Here’s how it went:
Partners were chosen at the beginning of the workout (specifically, during the bounce, when a quick game of Hi-Knee-Tap was played. Say Hi-Knee-Tap quickly if you don’t understand). Next, these partners were given a penguin egg, hot off the press (aka DG’s basement, most of us are unsure how long they’ve been there but incubation may take years. We’ll never know. If you’re an ornament convict looking for a place to hide out, I’d recommend the Graham residence, no one will find you there. Lay low for a while. Think Alaska). Names were chosen, and the rules were set: break your child, suffer shame for the rest of the workout. Keep your child intact, and one parent earns the opportunity (read: responsibility) to take it home, nurture it, feed it, tuck it into bed, give it a goodnight kiss, change its diaper, you get the picture. Bring it back to the next workout, and it’s now the spouses turn to cover parenting duties for the next few days.
Fool proof.
Then came the social media boom that accompanied the penguin adoptions. Parents posted pictures (if you scroll to the bottom, many examples can be seen) of their little ones participating in ADLs. Ornaments (penguin eggs) were seen playing in the snow, drinking beer (!), cooking, being licked by children and dogs, meeting grandparents, and working out. Personally, it was so much fun to see all of the tribeschildren in action. They were having more fun than I was! And the bonds between parents were being strengthened.
The next workout (Friday), parents showed up with their children in tow, ready for the workout and ready to pass them off. Parenting is hard, especially if you have such an active prodigy as some of these parents do. Some babies were left behind in the snow, to be adopted by other parents (Olive); some were passed on without complication. But in general, the Great Ornament Experiment was a success, and brought tribespeople together in a beautiful, and symbolic, way.
Milwaukee is no stranger to babies – the Grahams, in addition to keeping a bunch of ornaments hostage for years, have been keeping little Penelope (pronounced Pen-e-LOPE, like antelope; don’t listen to DG if he says it’s the standard Pen-e-low-pee) alive for a while and she is so darn adorable.
But in a sense, and I’ve used this metaphor before, Milwaukee, and anyone who loves NP, is no stranger to raising a hypothetical child.
November Project is your child. You first meet him/her/it, and boy is it exciting, and new, and lively. And you nurture it; you help it grow. You put your heart into it, every day, every week – you show up for it and try to make it better. You introduce it to your friends and loved ones, telling them “this is the greatest thing imaginable! Just wait, you’ll see.” Time will pass, you’ll go through difficult patches together, and you’ll enjoy the happy times together.
After weeks, months, and years, there will come a day when you look at little NoProjie (the nickname you’ve given your beautiful little baby) who’s not so little anymore, and you’ll turn to your spouse or fellow tribesperson (and these two may actually be the same person, if you’re lucky), and you’ll say “Wow. Look what we helped build. Look how amazing it’s become. It started off so small, and fragile, and now it’s so strong and grown up and powerful. We should be so proud.”
Be proud, tribesperson. You’re a part of the parenting team. #npisyourchild
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