On this Father’s Day, June 18, 2023, I wanted to write a few stories about my wonderful son and my time as a father.
I just wasn’t ready to be a father. I just was not ready to have children until later in life, and even then limiting it to maybe one or two children. But we got to the point where my wife looked me in the eye and said, “We are having children! I am getting older and now is the time!”
Then along came our first and only child: Jonathan Jared Twining. He was supposed to be called Jared, but once he started school and no one else was going by their middle name, that ended in a hurry … at least in public.
I loved this kid from the first time I saw him. Even when he peed in my face the first time I tried to change his diaper. But I remember bringing him home from the hospital, and then looking at my wife and saying, “Now what do we do?”.
Soon thereafter, we bought a house, with my mother and father having an in-law apartment in the basement. They would take care of Jared (that’s right, I said it) during the day. As a former school teacher, my mother would work with him all day teaching him about numbers, letters, and reading. And then my wife and I would work with him in the evenings. He learned to read very early and maintained an advanced reading level throughout his school years. One of my favorite early memories of him was having him tucked up in my arms in the rocking chair while we read “Butterflies Fly”. Oh how he loved that book. When he got a little older, he moved on to a book about a strawberry dart frog from a place in Costa Rica called La Selva. Little did I know that years later I would end up at La Selva on several occasions, where I saw and heard those little frogs frequently.
The Introduction to Nature
There was a book written awhile back by Richard Louv called “Last Child In The Woods”; it was about what he described as “Nature Deficit Disorder” – that fact that children are not spending enough time outside, learning about nature and their connection to it, and instead are tied to their electronic devices. I decided early on that this was not going to be my kid (how wrong that turned out to be). At the age of four, when he was steady enough to walk on a trail, we began going on nature hikes through places like the Powder Mill Ledges Audubon Sanctuary in our town. I started a leaf collection and taught him the names of the trees from which the leaves came. Then there was the day that he tripped while we were hiking and hit his head on a rock (we can still show you where that rock is today). He was bleeding all over the place and my wife, being a nurse, was frantically trying to stop the bleeding without a first aid kit available. But once he calmed down, he walked right out of that forest and was ready to go again in a few days time.
I also began teaching him about basic ecological principles, including that death was a part of life and that all things have to die so the earth can recycle all their parts and other life could use those parts. I wanted my son to know from an early age about his connection to the planet and all the life forms that live here.
Then came the reptile shows. At a friend’s birthday party, an outfit by the name of Regal Reptiles put on a live animal presentation to introduce the kids to some of my favorites: snakes, lizards, frogs, and even tarantulas. Jonathan loved it, and it was a pivotal moment for me too, because it birthed in me the idea of having an Animal Caretakers Team at Eastern Nazarene College. After that party, my son and I paid visits to the Regal Reptiles facility in Providence, and on one occasion, we even had our picture taken with a 10-foot-long boa constrictor. Our love affair with the creepy crawlers had begun.
Hawaii
When Jonathan was 6 years old, I went on my first January term travel course with Dr. Phil McLaren. The trip was split into two parts, with the first part being 10 days in New Zealand, and the second part being 10 days in Hawaii. Julie and I decided that this was an opportunity for Jonathan to get his feet wet with travel … literally. So they met us in Hawaii for the second half of the trip. Now, this was challenging, because I was just learning how to teach this travel course, but I also had to keep an eye on my son. But some of the students took Jonathan under their wings and helped us through the experience.
I remember the day we were snorkeling at Two-Step Beach. It was too deep for him in the main part, but he was determined to get out there, so he and Julie stuck to a small quiet embayment. We had given him some swimming lessons so he knew the basics, but still had to swim with a life preserver. And of course he had his cute little mask and snorkel and fins. Julie was helping him when they came across a green sea turtle that was just getting back in the water. Jonathan was off like a rocket. He basically learned how to swim by chasing that sea turtle all over the lagoon.
Change for Chimps
While he was in Kindergarten at Stork’s Nest, the class was challenged to raise money for a cause of their choice. Jonathan decided that he wanted to raise money for Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees, so we thought of a plan, and he began telling people about the chimps and why money was needed. He called the project “Change for Chimps”. Low and behold, he ended up raising $500 for the cause. When we visited Washington DC a few weeks later, we emailed the Jane Goodall Foundation about what Jonathan had done, and they asked us to come for a visit. They were pretty impressed with Jonathan, and gave us free tickets to an event in New York City where we would actually meet Jane Goodall in person. What a thrill!!!!!
Theater
Jonathan began going to a summer camp at Stadium Theater in Woonsocket when he was around 10 years old. It was his first exposure to being on stage. But he really got into theater with the roles he earned in school plays during middle school. In sixth grade, he was awarded the role of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. In seventh grade, he was Shrek, and in eighth grade, he earned the role of Jafar in Aladdin. He also got involved in some theater productions with J-DAPA, a kids theater program in Johnston, RI.
At about this time, he also started going to the Young Actors Summer Institute (YASI) sponsored by Trinity Repertory Theater. He attended three different times. This was his first introduction to Theater for Social Justice. I remember have feelings of trepidation when I went to see his performance because he had told me about some of the difficult themes that would be addressed. His performances were very good, but I left with my mind whirring and just a little bit scared that my son might be going in the wrong direction. Was I ever wrong!
He was cast as MacBeth during his second summer there, and many were saying he was the breakout actor of the event. And as a proud father, I can say he was REALLY GOOD (perhaps his finest performance). In his last theater camp, he was cast as Polixenes in A Winter’s Tale.
At another performance with J-DAPA, he was the voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. And this was perhaps his second finest performance. And he also starred in high school performances of Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, and another breakout performance as King Triton in The Little Mermaid.
College and the Big Decision
When it was time to start thinking about college, Jonathan decided to go to Eastern Nazarene College to work on a dual degree of Theater for Social Justice and Chemistry. Then COVID came, and threw everything into a nightmare. He would go to campus to live, but he had to get tested frequently, and if exposed to someone with COVID, he had to get out of his room and live on the isolation floor. Thankfully this only happened once. But COVID made getting to know anyone in his freshman year very difficult, and these are often formative bonds that last a lifetime. The worst part for me was that we were separated for several months before he was even allowed to come home. I was required to teach online, and not allowed on campus.
Despite all this, he was selected to work in a radio adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, where he starred as Dr. Watson. He made the Dean’s List several times, and did well in most of his courses. But alas, things were about to change.
A New Beginning
As of the writing of this post, Jonathan intends to finish his degree in wildlife management and conservation at the University of Rhode Island. He decided to transfer for several reasons. Two of his most influential professors moved on from ENC and this left him with choices to make about his major. All along he was interested in environmental topics, so he decided to become an environmental science major with me as his advisor (it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it). Then I had a major health crisis in the Fall of 2022 after he became my student and my teaching future became uncertain. Having already lost two professors, and now with the possibility of losing me, he decided to take a semester off to collect his head and work, and then transfer to URI. He has also spent a great deal of time helping his father because I am temporarily unable to drive due to my condition.
The story continues … can you tell I’m a proud father?
Tending To the Garden 
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