Dr. Lara Helix - Growth Journals

 Dr. Lara Helix Journal entry Mars Sol date 880 (2 1/2 years in the colony) 

It's hard to imagine we've been here over two years! One dome is full constructed with tiny palm trees growing and snake plants everywhere. I heard someone call them "mother's tongue" and they truly are here. They continually breathe life into a place which has none. 

Arthur is just turning one and it's amazing to think he has no idea what Earth was like. He probably never will. Sometimes we look out the tiny window of the tunnel apartment and count the rocks as they hurl by our window in the storms. It's a little frightening but we have a very solid system in place now for breaks. The first couple of times it happened and the air locks and seals went down it was terrifying, but now we've developed the new glass, plus specialized awnings it's not happening as much. We have some amazing engineers here! 

Earth contact is scarce, but it seems like none of us notice like we did in the beginning. We are more interested in when Metzger gets a new hybrid of a plant or Martin finds a new way to cook it. None of us are getting fat, but the lack of gravity has made almost all of us a little bit taller. 

Arthur loves going through the tunnels and touching the moss growing in them. We still aren't sure how it's possible because there is no actual moisture down there. It is very, very dry. Metzger says it's eating something, hopefully it's stray radiation. 

My husband wants to have another baby. I'm a little concerned about this because Arthur is my life and I hate to divide my time from him. He's doing amazing and I'm sure he's a genius, but I think everyone says that about their own kids. The other day I was reading to him, and he started pointing at the words and saying them. I think he's reading. I showed my husband and he said it's just gibberish, but I felt like I knew what he is saying. 

Also, he's become quite the daredevil. He's been climbing out of his sleeping unit and using gravity (lack thereof) to bounce up to the counter in the kitchen. He ate the entire strawberry plant on the counter. Even the unripe ones. I may have to attach a monitor to him. 

Journal Day 950

It wasn't me giving into my husband. My birth control has failed me. It seems to be a running theme here. My mailbox is full of women asking for advice on this. We really don't have a very stable or enforced government or laws and there are pills for resolving the "issue" if we need them. Most people don't though and we are all in the like mind: anything that lives on this planet is a miracle or blessing (like the moss which we discovered IS eating some kind of radiation! yay Nature!). It does give us pause for resources and population growth; our resources are only going to sustain so many people. The council has asked that I join and advise, but I'm not even sure what I want to do at this point. Arthur is growing like a weed, and a second Arther sounds like a recipe for disaster.  He's still climbing things, like the walls, and jumping around. He loves jumping and it's almost like he's discovered this planet is his own trampoline. I guess it's probably typical boy stuff. 

I started a mom group, and we meet in tunnel under the dome three construction. It is connected and sometimes we hear the construction. We meet on 4th day of the week. We bring our kids. Arthur loves a little girl named Gwedolyn. He follows her everywhere. They play with the stacking blocks mostly. Gwen was one of the first names he learned to say when we started meeting. Gwen's mom is kind of a pill. She is very particular about the snacks and the salt intake. She says eventually she thinks our bodies will regulate it differently being on this planet. I equate her to how we probably felt about Vegans back home. Now we are all Vegan, and we have new groups branching off, like the low salt crew. I'm not shocked because it seems like a very human thing to do, make groups and exclude people. 

Mars Sol Day 990

I am moving along in my pregnancy. We've discovered it's a girl and I want to name her Leslie after my sister. Arthur is constantly amazed at my belly and seems to be horrified there is a person in there. He keeps trying to listen to my belly waiting for the baby to "talk" to him. He says he hears her and she wants more Bananas. He's such an odd boy. His obsession with Gwen has finally ended and he has a new friend, Tommy. They do everything together. He wants him to come over all the time. I'm glad he's making a strong relationship and I'm also glad not to have to communicate with Gwen's mother as much. Tommy's mom is much more laid back and has two other children so having Tommy over here is a relief to her and practice for me.  

We've started designing how we want the schools to be and when I was telling everyone about my journals, they thought it would be a great idea to start "Growth journals" for the children. So, one of the defining parts of the curriculum will be growth journals reviewed by the teachers, not the parents, to ensure some privacy for the student. Of course, there will be exceptions in cases of self-harm or danger. 

Some of the construction for the school rooms is done. They converted some of the old spaceships and connected them to tunnels. These were what we first slept in when we arrived and it's nice to see them being repurposed. Mars having no atmosphere and being so dry, the exterior has stayed perfectly preserved. 

Our 1000th day is coming and so is the celebration! 

Mars Day 1000 (2 years and 274 Earth days)

We did have a celebration today in Dome 1. All of us (523 now!) gathered and Martin made snacks. It was almost like a giant wedding. Some of the council spoke. Everyone brought their children and babies. Metzger got up and talked about his new and exciting hydroponic system they are creating in Dome 3. It will save so much water and so much energy. He's just inspiring when he talks and we are all so lucky his with us. His children were also there. One of them came with him from earth. He's 10 and he seems happy considering all he left behind at such a young age.  

This brought about a discussion of the children's school. Currently we have 35 children between the ages of 5-16. This is the perfect amount for a small school. We also have 60 children under the age of 5 so our planning time is basically up. We need to get this school off the ground. We planned for classes to start in two weeks. We have 3 teachers and a bunch of moms who want to be involved. A good society has to be built on a good foundation. We have to raise these children and teach them so they can continue what we started. 

We all think dome 2 will be a good place to put the school in a year or so after all the construction is finalized and habitable. Hopefully in another 30 days, people will be able to start living in parts of it, but the ships will work great for this first school year. 

It will be nice to see the young kids who came here get to connect with one another socially. We all see each other all the time, but we don't do anything other than survive or discuss food or carbon scrubbers or where new moss is growing. It would be nice to have them talk about the science of all this and the engineering behind it.