A Week in the Life...

Right after my mom died I had to look for things to do--to stay busy... if I wasn't busy, I was crying. 

Sometimes I was busy and crying, but still somehow the busyness helped. 

It's was the cleanest my house has EVER been!

Anyway, my friend Samantha told me about this:

 "A week in your life" idea. 

It was one of the ways I kept myself busy!

For one week you take pictures of your everyday life. Sometimes we take pictures of birthdays and Christmas and forget the everyday important stuff. 

I am not suggesting that for the rest of your life you take a gazillion pictures of dishes and laundry. 

That would be exhausting and let's face it--ridiculous.

But for one week--I AM. 

Because to journal about your everyday life and have a photo journal to back it up can be kind of amazing.

For your kids to be able to look back and remember that you drove them to soccer practice--EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

That you were the one helping them with homework or saying yes go build that blanket fort in my nice living room. 

Those every day things add up to a lot. 

And sometimes as parents--as people we forget that. And we forget how awesome we really are because of them. :)

So this is my challenge--

RECORD A WEEK IN YOUR LIFE!

On FB, on your blog, through regular ol' school scrapbooking. 

But record it somewhere! 

You can take one picture a day or you can take ten. It's whatever you want. But the key is to keep it real. Don't go crazy with kid activities if that isn't what you normally do.

This is your life. Your real, everyday life.

And I'm hoping I'll get to see a few of your weeks!

Who's with me? :)

I'm going to start Sunday June 29, 2014. 

What Children Remember

I was thinking about things kids remember today. 

It started with Memorial Day. See, I have my kiddos make a band for our flower pots every year. They pick a grandma or a grandpa and they write a letter, draw a picture... something for our loved one who has passed.

We make 6. One for my momma, my grandparents on both sides. The hubby's one set of grandparents and his one grandfather. And then my nephew. 

I love it. It involves them and we talk about our loved ones. 

L kept asking me questions about my grandparents--which was awesome. Sadly, I had little to tell him though. Grandpa B died when I was 2 months old and Grandpa B when I was 7. 

I don't remember much. So I opted for stories I'd heard my mom tell.

Still, it got me thinking--what will my children remember?

One thing that broke my heart when my mom died was that I knew from personal experience my children would not remember much about a woman they absolutely adored.

Thinking back on my own life I came to this conclusion:

Children remember things that were repetitious and dramatic events.

Take Grandma B for instance... here I am with here... it's not the prettiest picture...

She was a sweetheart--despite this lousy picture of the two of us, there aren't many. My favorite is one of us hugging, both in perm curlers, but I don't know what's happened to it. 

I don't remember much about Grandma B. I remember she hugged-- a lot (repetition). 

And I remember when she died. 

Like I said, I was 7. 

I remember my oldest sister telling us we needed to clean the house for mom so she had nothing to worry about. 

I did not want to clean. 

I was grouchy about it. 

I remember mom and dad getting home and everyone crying in the living room. Well, almost everyone. There are 4 of us kids. The two oldest, mom and dad were crowded in a group hug. I was in a doorway, unsure what to do. I could see most of my family hugging in the living room and then my sister next in age to me in the kitchen, washing dishes and crying.

Drama.

This is Grandma Bessie. 

Another attractive picture, eh?

I was older when she passed and I have several memories. 

This one doesn't showcase my best moment. 

I was turning 10 and I had to share my birthday with Grandma Bes. 

You can see on my face how thrilled I was about it.

I would sort of like to reach through the picture and spank myself.

I just thought as long as I was blogging lousy grandma + Jen pictures, I might as well add this one and tell you all what a bum I was.

Anyhoo--I sure hope my sweet children will have plenty of good repetitions to remember. And I hope I'm a loving support during those dramatic times.

Memories are priceless and irreplaceable.

They can't burn in a  fire or drown in a flood.

I hope and pray I can make some pretty fabulous ones for my littles.

Conversations in my Head

Does anyone else do this??

--Have a whole conversation inside your mind?

I do.

Maybe it's because I'm crazy.

(that could totally be the case...)

Or is it because I write women's fiction?

I am constantly thinking about what people would say. How they would react to certain situations. How I would react to certain situations. Or what would happen if they responded in the complete opposite?

Women tend to worry more about reactions then men...

At least I think we do. 

Still...

It's a little loco.

When I am anxious about something in my life, I will play out the scenario and what happens a dozen times in my head. 

Honestly it's exhausting. But I can't seem to stop it.

"Be Ready"

My publisher emailed me the other day.

....yes, I really did just use the words {my + publisher}... whoo!

She told me that she had put me in her best editor's queue and to "be ready" for when she contacted me.

"Be ready."

I freaked out a tiny bit.

"Be ready."

I'm certain she meant: Be ready to work, Be ready to learn, Be ready to get your editing pants on!

But my mind whirled for a bit.

"Be ready."

Yikes!

And I thought: I hope I can do this. Please let me be smart enough, strong enough, to somehow have enough time in the day to do everything I need to + edit! How can I make myself more ready??

Run a marathon!!-- err, being immobile probably wouldn't help me to "be ready".

Finally... after a day or two or four...

I realized, to "be ready" all I can do, is keep doing what I have been doing.

And I think that's true for every aspect of life.

 

On a more serious note, I had a dear friend lose her 36 year old husband less than a week ago.

How can you "be ready" for something like that?

You can't.

All you can do is live your life, the best you can.

Day by day.

Good things. Bad things. They're all gonna come and go. The only way to "be ready" for them, I think, is to do your best each and every day. And when you know better, do better. --I heard that last line from Dr. Phil... I can't take credit for it. But I like it, a lot.

Do your best.

And when you know better do better.

And then...

You'll be ready.

It's easy to forget the world is overpopulated when...

you live in BIG wonderful Wyoming.

Just Be Nice

Why is it so hard to just be nice in this world today??

So, this is just my opinion... of course it is, my blog, my opinion. ;)

But I don't really think it's any more difficult than it used to be, yet today there seems to be a lot less forgiveness, integrity, and kindness.

Honestly, I think it's easy to lose your temper. Easy to be mean. Easy to hold that grudge.

And sadly today, people often choose easy.

But easy doesn't equal HAPPY.

I know when I don't yell at the truck that just cut me off, when I keep my cool with my tantruming littles, when I don't let those thoughtless words leave my mouth, I am so much happier.

Now, I just need to remember that.

Be happy friends! Be nice! :)