Peanut Butter in my Hair- Stories of Life, Love and Loss

As Seen from the Pier

2012-06-01T08:35:00.002-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

Colors so vibrant they catch your breathA painting only He could createA reminder as each day closesThe promise of a beautiful new tomorrow

As Seen from the Children's Museum {Bigger Picture Moments}

2012-05-31T09:12:00.002-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

Sometimes the weather doesn't agree with your plans

Cold winds

Gray Skies

In a small building in the North Woods we found a pleasant surprise

Color and Fun

Toys that teach

A day not wasted

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Live

Simply not wasting a moment, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours

Capture

Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.

Share

Link up yours at Jade's! this week.

Encourage

Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.

As Seen from the Waters Edge

2012-05-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

Life lessons learned on the shore

Nourish yourself with your environment

Bend with the wind, don't fight it

Stick together, friends can get you farther then you can go alone

Let the hard times polish you and make you shine

Allow yourself to be carried away

As seen from Little Hands

2012-05-29T09:03:00.001-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

Fear nothing different

Slime

Wings

Squiggles or wiggles

You never know where you will find your next friend

As Seen from the Forest Floor

2012-05-28T08:40:00.000-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

Bloom where your planted

Whether wild and free
Rocky and hard
Surrounded by decay
Sandy and dry

Bloom
Flourish
Grow

Ignore what is typical
Move beyond expectation
Be unexpected beauty

As Seen from the Roadside

2012-05-27T08:33:00.000-05:00

Blatantly stealing the idea from my friend Jade, journaling our summer adventures.

A rainy send off

Sun breaking through

Time spent together

On the road

Traveling forward in distance

Traveling backwards in time

Family History

Slower pace

A life lived fully

Serenity Sought {Bigger Picture Moments}

2012-05-25T14:44:00.001-05:00

Serenity sought
Peace brought through the quiet lapping waters
The gentle breeze
Time spent together

Family
Mind
Love
Thoughts

Serenity and peace
Understanding that surpasses all explanation

As much as I love the city
the hustle and bustle
the noise and movement

My soul craves, neigh needs,
the sand in my toys
the breeze in my hair
water lapping on little toes
and flowers blooming right into my heart.

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Live

Simply seeking serenity, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours

Capture

Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.

Share

Link up yours at Hyacynth's! this week.

Encourage

Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.

Wednesday Words of Wisdom

2012-05-23T09:01:00.001-05:00

Fly Away {Just Write}

2012-05-22T10:30:00.001-05:00

The butterflies are circling all around the tree. They are like tiny little moons orbiting around their large purple planet. Stopping only at the most beautiful spots, flowers in bloom, wings wide open as they eat. Their world is a purple orb of beauty and aromatic smells.

In contrast I stand at my window watching their beauty surrounded by the debris of life. Toys, clothes, books orbit around me less in the patterned cycle of a moon and more like the chaotic moving mass of asteroids. My world appears to be anything but this beautiful purple orb of life I watch outside my window. For a minute I dream about flying away, like those beautiful insects. Fluttering all over the world only stopping to see the most beautiful and tasty things.

Then I hear it. The clop clop clop running of a toddler in new shoes. She pulls at my leg until I lean down to her height. Once their in the squat position that reminds me of my age and lack of fitness she wraps her chubby arms around my neck. She squeezes tight, like her life and mine depend on this hug, she kisses my cheek and runs back off. Clop. Clop. Clop.

I creakily stand up and look around at my smelly little world and suddenly it seems as vibrant and beautiful as that purple orb out my window. The beauty of the world is all right here, I just needed a squeeze to restore my vision.

Let’s Go Ride a Bike!

2012-05-21T07:07:00.001-05:00

When I was younger we rode bikes all the time. We lived in a condo complex that had this great figure eight sidewalk in the courtyard. In the summer we would ride for hours, racing and playing games. In high school I frequently would bike to school and work.

When I became an adult though, I stopped biking.

The big reason was that we lived in the city and I didn’t have the space to store a bike or the desire to carry the bike up and down the stairs. Three years ago when we moved to the suburbs one of the top things on our list was to get bikes. We have great trails around here and I dreamed of riding bikes as a family. This is the summer it will finally happen!

I am so excited to let you know that I am one of Huffy’s Moms on Bikes Ambassador! My family is ready to get out and ride! May is Bike Month, and while we have spent most of the month being busy with birthdays and end of school year stuff we have spent the last two weekends getting ready for summer! The bikes have been built.

Helmets bought

and one kid (PBboy) has mastered the two wheeler. Now with only four days left of school we are looking towards summer and all the fun we’re going to have. Our first planned adventure? A bike to the ice cream shop to celebrate the end of school!

Do you bike as a family, what’s your favorite place to ride?

The sticky: I am a Huffy Mom's on Bikes Ambassador. I have been compensated for my time in producing posts on biking for the 2012. My family also received bikes and safety equipment. As always all opinions and views expressed are my own.

Pinterest for Dummies {Review and Giveaway}

2012-05-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

I am a very visual person. I love pictures, art, photography. I am one of those people that would hold on to magazines forever in case I needed an idea or recipe. I had an entire collection of Martha Stewart Weddings that I kept and I would loan out to friends getting married for over seven years!

But, magazines and clippings take up a lot of space, and I’m trying to loose 500 pounds and live a more streamlined life. So last year when friends started tweeting links to something called Pinterest I fell head over heels in love, I mean, really in love, 53 boards and over two thousand pins love:

I love Pinterest something fierce. I have even started going through old saved posts in my reader and in my bookmarks folders and re-saving them as pins. Many times if I am looking for something crafty, DIY, or a recipe I go to Pinterest before Google. So when the opportunity arrived to preview Kelby Carr’s new Pinterest for Dummies Book I was excited.

My husband is a techie and has used and read many of the dummy books. I have honestly only ever looked at one when at the last minute I decided to take the GRE. We were both really interested in how a technical (printed) book on a new and evolving social media site could be relevant.

Now I consider myself a pretty advance Pinterest user. I have been using Pinterest long enough that I knew most of the technical stuff in the book. If however you have never even logged on to Pinterest and are a bit intimidated? This is the book for you. Carr gives simple and easy to understand instructions on getting started and setting up your Pinterest account with step by step instructions and lots of visuals.

For more advance users she has technical tidbbits scattered throughout and helpful advice on how to take your pinning to the next level and drive traffic to your site and gain followers.

Now for the question of how relevant a printed book can be on a new and emerging technology? Well I was pretty impressed. I only found two instances where it was clearly already out dated. Integrating it with Facebook, since Facebook now has a Pinterest ap that shares your pins on your timeline and in regards to spam. Sadly, as with all new technologies, the spammers have found Pinterest and are using it so it’s important to look at the site that the pin says it’s from before clicking over to it (or re-pinning it!).

The most useful chapters were the ones on copyright and etiquette, it really should be required reading for all users. There has been lots of fear about copyright infringement with Pinterest and the book gives real simple guidelines on how to make sure you are pinning respectfully of the artist who created the content. I could do a whole post on this topic alone!

The book closes out with a listing of companies that are using Pinterest well and power users. Which was a fun way to find some new boards to follow!

{Giveaway}
Want a book of your own? I have one copy of the book to give away, and I'm keeping it simple, answer the following question in a comment:

What do you use (or want to use) Pinterest for?

Good luck and Happy Pinning!

The Sticky: Giveaway open to residents of US and Canada 18 and over. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Entry is in the form on one comment and commentor must have a linked email address visible or include it in the comment. Giveaway will close on Friday May 25 and the winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email and claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for review purposes only. No other compensation was received and all opinions expressed are my own.

Capturing {Bigger Picture Moments}

2012-05-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

I’m still working through my 366 project. I know I only have pictures up through 115 but I’m taking them...like everything else I need to catch up on the editing and posting.

As I grabbed my camera to snap a few shots before bed last night I realized that I had changed the way I take pictures.

No longer do I even attempt to set up the “perfect” shot. There is no posing, mostly, no line up over here. I just pick up the camera and click click click.

I have always loved classic black and white photo journalism. We choose our wedding photography based on that. She managed to get gorgeous pictures of every single guest at our wedding without making us do the standard stand around the table shot. I cherish them.

What I am learning is that the story of our life is told through these small moments. Small moments captured and remembered. They imprint on our heart and makes us take stock in whats important.

I may forget to take out my camera and get a picture with a friend from out of town while we’re all dressed up. I do though have snapshots from the night, the dinner we ate, the walk tot he theater, the ride in the car.

I’ll remember the big moments. Her siting in the audience encouraging us through a practice. Our minds our trained to remember those. These smaller moments if not documented just fade into the recesses of our brain. When I was younger I remember always making sure me and my friends got pictures together everyone. Breakfast out, picture! Mini Golf, picture! Formal event, picture! So many group shots, from events and a life that is faded. Maybe we focus so much on getting those shots because we know that moment, that time is temporary.

I realized, just now as I got to this point that I have written very similar words before. Sometimes I need multiple reminders that something is good. I was kicking myself last night for not getting a shot, a posed shot, of the kids this month for Four on Four. We we’re at a wedding and there was a lot going on that weekend. When this came to me.

I may not have gotten “the picture I wanted, but I got the smaller, more important moments. The baby holding grandma’s hand over the pew, sisters sharing a snack, a son listening to the readings intently.

I needed the reminder that it’s the small moments that make up the bigger picture, even if the bigger picture is a missed shot.

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Live

Simply documenting small moments, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours

Capture

Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.

Share

Link up yours at Alita's! this week.

Encourage

Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.

Wednesday Words of Wisdom

2012-05-16T06:21:00.000-05:00

Failure to Thrive {Just Write}

2012-05-14T21:53:00.001-05:00

Failing.

I feel like I am failing, we as a family are failing. May (the month) is failing.

We came barreling into the month out of the shotgun of busy. Birthdays, and parties, and so much celebrating.. There was weddings and shows and misery and heartache and it all came to a crashing halt. Suddenly we weren’t busy the calendar was empty but our life was disaster.

The busy it threw us off.

The loss, through me off. I didn’t really have time to let it all sink in until it well over and I sat in the finally quiet of the non busy house and I wept. I had no word I have no words. I have piles. Piles of dishes, of laundry, of school projects, more coming home everyday.

Instead of dealing with them I retreated. My body continued to fail me this time with illness. Six days now and I am just starting to find words, lift my head, assess the damage.

I don’t know where to go from here. I look up and I count the days. 8 more days of school, a few more celebrations and then retreat. Retreat to the lake, and family and hopefully peace. Peace and quiet to process and understand, find hope and move forward.

Wednesday Words of Wisdom

2012-05-09T06:16:00.000-05:00

Again {Just Write}

2012-05-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Again.

The word I never wanted to type again.

The story I never wanted to have to tell.

Last Thursday I miscarried, again. A second baby lost. Thursday afternoon April 29 there was a flicker of a heartbeat on an ultrasound. By Friday morning the intense pain and amount of blood and tissue made it clear there was no more.

It was a busy week with school stuff every night, ending in a wedding and then Listen to Your Mother. I feel like know I am just finally coming up for air, am just now having the time to process it all.

I’m angry.

Wasn’t once enough? Wasn’t a second trimester lost after I had seen and felt the baby enough pain? I can’t comprehend the flicker on the screen one minute and then the flushing of the toilet a few hours later.

I was eight and a half weeks. Only a small handful of people knew, not even family yet. I want to keep it all to myself, pretend it didn’t happen and let the pain be my secret.

At the same time though I want to scream it at everyone I meet. Give me a break I’m shedding the cells of my dead baby! I would think in my head as people gave me the once over with my frazzled hair and sweatpants. Or as I apologized for something not getting done.

This was not the story I wanted to tell.

This was not the path I wanted to walk.

I feel like Jonah, yelling and pleading, But I don’t want to go to Nineveh! I went into my follow up appointment and ultrasound expecting a miracle. Hoping beyond hope that my doctor was wrong. Maybe it was a twin, maybe it was just some freak bleeding and we would see that little flicker.

That was not the path I was chosen to walk.

Despite my pleading and screaming that I did not want to go to Nineveh, God has decided this painful path is mine to walk.

So I type these words and I tell you my story because I grasp to find reason. I cling to the hope that there is a greater purpose and that my lost babies are leading me there.

In the meantime I cry, I scream, I mourn, and go through the everyday wondering how we got to this place and if we can ever go back to where we came.

Story Wings

2012-05-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

We came together back on that beautiful day in March in a crowded back room of an Italian restaurant. Together gathered around a table we were mostly strangers. As we sat together and learned about each other, we gave our words voices. Our stories started to come alive.

Over the last eight weeks those voices have joined together to form a loud and joyous chorus being sung from the life our stories had become together. Joined and entwined into one magnificent being. Last night those stories, our stories, sprouted wings and we set them free.

Our stories, our voices, became their stories. The audience laughed with us, cried with us, and we all left better.

Standing taller.

Loving genuinely.

Touched.

We’ve grown from the shared experience of motherhood.

Katy from the Northwest Indiana Show (which you should totally buy tickets and go to) said. “I don’t have children, but motherhood is still a part of my life” … “ Motherhood is more than raising a child to adulthood. It’s being supportive and loving to those around you and choosing to sacrifice your own dreams in favor of helping someone else achieve theirs” Everyone, everywhere is touched by mothers in some way.

Last night on a stage in Chicago we reminded the world that mothers are not just the maker of meal, the cleaner of houses, and the wiper of butts.

We are the keepers of stories.

Our stories.

Your stories.

The stories of life, love, loss and all the moments in between.

What’s your story?

Will you be brave and give it a voice and wings? We will all be better if you do.

A very special Thank you to Ann Imig and the National sponsors Blogher and Snapfish for making it possible to give mothers all over the country the stage that they need to share their stories. I am honored to have been a part of this most amazing experience.

Thank you also to Melisa and Tracy for taking a chance on two crazy bloggers who wanted to preform together. You put together an amazing cast ladies and our lives will forever be touched and changed because of you. Thank you.

You can see more pictures of the journey from audition to stage at the Peanut Butter in my Hair Facebook page.

Spelling Lessons {Bigger picture Moments}

2012-05-03T06:24:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Bigger Picture Moments! Taking time to revel in the simple moments that make up the bigger picture of our life!

The linky is open at the end!
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I’m prety smart. I’m well educated and did very well in school. Only, I really could of done better.

My husband is very smart, he did okay in school. He could have done much better and he is a great self learner.

Like most parents we want better for our kids. I want them to be smart and work to their potential.

When my son started school this year (first grade) I was a little nervous. There was going to be homework and tests. I wasn't concerned that his performance this year would set him up for a life of failure, or that he would never get in college or get a job. I was worried about parenting him and how to set him in the right direction for successful schooling for years to come.

See while smart I don’t know how to study and I am a procrastinator (says the blogger who is posting this hours late). I want to teach my son to be better then this so when he is a writing his senior ethics paper in college he won’t be up all night paying news sites for access to archives.

As we approach the end of the school year I just want to say.

I got this.

I may not be a great student, but I am raising one. I am a terrible speller. Like to the point that many times spell check doesn't know what I’m trying to say. My son? He is an A+ speller. We have worked on it together and fallen into a great routine. Wednesday morning’s are one of my favorite drives to school as we go over words and help him learn and remember them.

It’s not that I like all of a sudden like spelling or am good at it. It’s that as a parent there is a lot of actions where you don’t get a reward or feedback. You don’t know how your kids will turn out. You don’t know if you are raising them right or ruining them. We spend a lot of time in our head agonizing over everything we do for the baby and we will never truly know the results.

With spelling, I get results. I can see within a few days that our method, the things we are doing are working. For the first time, in a long time, I don’t feel like I am failing as a parent. I can see with those red marks every week that as a teacher, we are doing great.

Sometimes its just that little bit of confidence that you need to remind you that you got this in other areas too, even if you can’t see them .

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Live

Simply realizing I got this, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours

Capture

Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.

Share

Link up yours at Here! this week.

Encourage

Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.

Giving Motherhood a Megaphone {Listen to Your Mother - Chicago}

2012-05-02T07:04:00.001-05:00

Mother’s were not meant to mother in isolation.

Mother’s, women, were meant to commune over the stories of survival and heart ache. To share our stories and gain strength from the knowledge that you are not the first to walk this path.

Ann has given us a megaphone and said don’t just whisper your stories to your closest friends, stand up and shout them. Tell the world the strength of mothers.

Listen to Your Mother Chicago is this weekend. I’m still a little in awe that I will be standing on that stage. A few weeks ago we got together in the shadow of the the greatest city on earth and rehearsed.

I put on my heels so that I could stand tall, and confidently behind that podium.

We all came together to tweak the arrangement and practice telling our stories.

We shared laughs and tears.

We were transported to other lands. We felt the pain of loss, the fear of sickness and the joy and delight in our children.

We left that night all walking a little taller. We had given our stories a voice and we had grown from hearing other women’s (and men's) stories.

I said goodbye to my beloved city and I went home full of excitement. I can’t wait for Sunday when we gives these stories a megaphone and add to the crescendo-ing symphony that is the music of motherhood.

Thank you Ann, Melissa and Tracy for the opportunity.

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The first annual presentation of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER Chicago will take place on
Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.

The Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
2433 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614

The Show is SOLD OUT! I will be sure to post video as soon as I have it.

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I have been documenting my journey from audition to stage through photos, you can see more of those photos at the Peanut Butter in my Hair Facebook Page.

Gray {Just Write}

2012-05-01T06:59:00.001-05:00

Gray clouds settle over the landscape blocking out the sun and bringing a dark dampness to everything. It turns the world around her from the vibrant technicolor of spring to an old black and white movie with varied shades of black and gray and the crackling static sounds of an old recording.

Like a old thick quilt the gray covers her. Familiar, warm, and heavy it blankets her soul and muffles the outside noises. It weighs her down and causes her to draw in, curl under it’s weight and warmth. She’s thankful for the gray out the window, allowing her this time to curl under her own cloud and just retreat for awhile. She knows once the sun comes out and spring returns she will be forced to emerge. Forced to deal with the damage from the gray that can only be seen in the sun.

For now she embraces it. Pulls the blanket around her for comfort and retreats, falling into a soft slumber, comforted by the familiar feeling of the soft gray blanket.

Healing Hearts {March for Babies}

2012-04-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

February 5, 2010.

Just tying that date out brings tears to my eye, catches my breathe and makes my heart start to race. I can feel the tension and anxiety creeping in and the sadness clouding over me. I will never again be the same since the day I lost my son at 18 weeks. It has forever changed me, my life and my marriage.

I honestly got through the first 24 hours because of Beth.

Beth’s willingness to write so honestly about loosing her boys James and Jake at about as far along as I was when I lost my son validated all I was feeling. It made me feel normal and not crazy, and showed me I wasn’t alone. It encouraged me to share my story, which in turn has helped others (I hope) get through their trying times.

Beth is a really amazing lady, her family has been walking in the March of Dimes March for Babies for 5 years and have raised over $35,000! That’s $35,000 to help other mother’s not have to suffer the pain and heart ached of loss.

This is Beth last year for Team James and Jake. I read her words on what it feels like and I cried and nodded through the whole thing. I get it. I get the need to both never forgot but to also move on and keep living our full and blessed lives.

Beth has an amazing goal to finish this last year out strong. It would mean so much to me if you would consider supporting their team, in whatever way you can. She also has just a few signs left in her June Afternoons shop, $30 from each sign goes to the March of Dimes and you get a piece of art made by Beth to adorn your home.

We can heal aching hearts together just by digging in and giving a little. Together we can honor Beth’s and My boys and help other mothers. I hope you will consider helping.

Donate Now

All photos credit to Beth Fletcher, photographer extraordinaire. If you're in Chicagoland or Northwest Indiana call and book her today.

Listening {6 Words 5 for 5}

2012-04-28T14:34:00.000-05:00

Take time to stop and listen.

Turn down the static and breathe

This is the symphony of life

Your life. How does it sound?

My symphony is made of the

Crescendos of little girls giggling together.

Squeaks, squawk's, squeals, of a happy baby

Questions and more questions from a curious boy

The hum of life in a busy house

If you listen carefully, you can hear more

Under the symphony of happy blessings

is the staccato rhythm of sadness

The drumming beat of sorrows tears

The quiet undertone to the happy symphony

Bright and light music played over quiet drumming

Listen carefully, what do you hear?

Do you hear only what your eyes see

Or can you hear what lies beneath?

Pictures {5 for 5}

2012-04-27T08:29:00.001-05:00

I have a terrible memory of small details (unless your my husband reading this and then? My memory is rock solid and yes I am sure YOU are the one that is mistaken).

I can remember the big things, the life changing moments. I can remember when my kids reached certain big milestones, like walking, but details they're fuzzy. Everyday things, the are gone as soon as they happen, yesterday...I kind of remember, Monday...now that’s going to take some work.

It’s one of the reasons I write, and its the main reason I take pictures. I’ve been working on a 365 project this year and I joined Project Develop as a way to help me get through it, as I failed last year. I was inspired by her photos from last year and her description “the gift of the ordinary day”

It’s the ordinary I want pictures of.

The kids jumping on cushions.

Pizza Dinners.

Movie nights.

Coloring.

Making music.

Those small little bits of our life that may not seem like much now but hopefully will allow our children to see who we were someday. I’ve dabbled in family history and compiling pictures and stories of our family (hard to do with a family who doesn’t talk). What is amazing to me is that even though I always remember someone having a camera all the time, those ordinary moments are missing. All I have of my grandparents are posed pictures. Nothing that tells me who they really were, how they lived their life.

Our story is more then standing in front of a new car or house. Our story is more then a picture of us opening a gift or cutting a cake. Out story is told in specialness of everyday moments. Everyday things that may not ever be captured or remembered if it weren’t for my camera always being at hand.

Age {Bigger Picture Moments / 5 for 5}

2012-04-26T09:06:00.000-05:00

This week, we’re joining the party at Momalom, where they are hosting a 5 for 5 party. Five topics, for five days. The prompt for today is AGE. So please feel free to set your ruminations this week on “age,” link up your Bigger Picture Moment at Jade's Tasting Grace, and then link up at 5 for 5!

How many days until my birthday now mama?

Is it my birthday now mama?

She reveled in her birthday, in the becoming of a new age. It was the best day ever because it was all hers.

Do you remember that?

Unbridled joy and excitement for the turning of a year older? When the march forward was exciting and new instead of tiring?

I want to live my life intentionally, like my children do naturally. Taking delight in everything around me. But the years of pain, neglect, and busy make that a monumental task. It means ignoring the natural inclinations of a body and mind that just want to go through the motions and get it done.

I may not have been jumping for joy at the number on my cake but I should have. Every birthday I have is another year that I get be here and watch these amazing little people grow and delight in their surroundings.

My grandpa used to joke that he read the obits everyday “so he could make sure he wasn’t in them”, always said with a deep belly laugh and a grin. He was often meet with the rolling of eyes and a soft snort, silly old man.

I’m the silly one though, not him, not my daughter.

As I fret the passing of another year, the sagging skin, the wrinkles and the grays they were enjoying every minute of their life. Grandpa wasn’t worried about the few wisps of hair left on his head, he just wanted a hot cup of coffee and a nap in a recliner. My daughter doesn’t fret that her pants are too tight, she just jumps with joy at the thought of a new skirt.

The saying is "age is just a number it’s how you feel that matters". I’m hoping to be able to live that fully before I’m a grandma myself.

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Live

Enjoying age, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours

Capture

Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.

Share

Link up yours at Tasting Grace and Momalom this week.

Encourage

Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.

Words { Just Write 5for5}

2012-04-24T11:30:00.001-05:00

Words.

When I birthed my children I also birthed a writer.

With each pregnancy and birth more and more words seem to have filled my mind and soul. They spill from me all day long.

Often they are lost into the ether of the air around me. Words shouted as tasks, get on your shoes! Where’s your home work! Go! Do! Be!

They swirl around in my brain constantly. Rhythmically narrating the story of my life throughout my day.

Ideas
Stories
Narratives
Poems

Words of all kinds bouncing around my body, some lucky enough to find their way to my hands and out to the keys or a pen. Clear and readable. Other stay blurred in the fog of my mind, sometimes only partially coming into focus.

Words like fairies that seem both magical and silly. Part fantasy part reality as sometimes I am sure I can see their elusive sparkle just out of sight. More often then not it’s more like fairy dust, I reach and grab and they disappear just out of the grasp of my tired mind and weary hands.

I dream in stories.

Words written and told. Sitting at a desk looking over a lake basking in the morning sun coffee steaming.

For now I grasp the fairy words as the fly by, sometimes I get their essence right. Sometimes I get just a little bit of dust that will one day bloom into something magical.