I've had several conversations with different people lately about their lives. There seems to be a pervading similarity: they are all waiting for "something" to happen so that life can start. These somethings are part of a typical list such as the following:
*turning 16
*turning 18
*graduating from high school
*going to college
*graduating from college
*getting a job
*finding a spouse
*getting into grad school
*graduating from grad school
You get the point.
The problem with all of these somethings is that they are not an end to themselves entirely nor are they simply the means to the end. In between and during the somethings life is happening today.
When Kerry was in graduate school, we always said that we couldn't wait until he was done with school so that life would be different (better, slower, faster, etc.). What we realized at some point was that life is the life that it is today. Waiting for the next something around the corner to make life happen or be better is not worth the time spent thinking about it - because it is time wasted in the present.
What are we going to do today to make life happen? Who are we going to notice, whose life will we touch? Life happens today. I want every moment to count.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Fever 1793 by Laura Halse Anderson
If you have not happened upon the young adult lit author Laura Halse Anderson, your life is not quite as blessed. Anderson has a unique ability to write from an insightful teen mind. If one wants to understand how some teens think, this author will provide it.
A couple of Anderson's other books, such as Speak and Twisted, really get into some areas of teen life that are difficult for adults to even consider. As a mother, reading Speak was hard on me because my daughter is in 7th - only two years younger than the main character. Twisted, while enlightening to see how 17 year old boys think, was also difficult content.
Fever 1793 is unique because the teen in the novel is a historically ficticious teen. The struggles that she encounters are unlike anything that you would find in contemporary teen lives, yet seeing the tragedy in Phildephia from the teenage girl's perspective is highly engaging. It reminds me that 14 year old girls could be so much more than we are currently asking them to be. Tragedy allows this to happen.
A couple of Anderson's other books, such as Speak and Twisted, really get into some areas of teen life that are difficult for adults to even consider. As a mother, reading Speak was hard on me because my daughter is in 7th - only two years younger than the main character. Twisted, while enlightening to see how 17 year old boys think, was also difficult content.
Fever 1793 is unique because the teen in the novel is a historically ficticious teen. The struggles that she encounters are unlike anything that you would find in contemporary teen lives, yet seeing the tragedy in Phildephia from the teenage girl's perspective is highly engaging. It reminds me that 14 year old girls could be so much more than we are currently asking them to be. Tragedy allows this to happen.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Life without Children? Can't imagine it....
I have become a fan of another great blog: http://themommyrevolution.com/
I encourage everyone to check it out, especially if you are a mom or a friend of a mom. :) Two friends have paired up to write about "mom" type things. I know one of the women (Carla). They talk about a lot of things, and often they disagree. In the latest post, Caryn shared her thoughts about how being a mom for her means having lost some of her spontanaeity. That may be too brief of a summary, so I invite you to read it for yourself.
I shared some thoughts, and it really turned out to be a long bunch of thoughts that I thought I should keep a record of and share with my friends. I don't really think that this is a "grass greener" issue but rather an understanding of two roads diverging in a yellow wood (Frost).
As someone whose dreams hadn’t really even taken full form yet (except the one about marrying the best man in my life) when the honeymoon “took” and a premie child entered my life 8 months and 4 days after the wedding, I have lived in this world of wondering what it’s like without children for nearly all of my adult life. Perhaps having children right away (yes, the second one followed 12 months and 2 weeks later) was God’s way of sheltering me from KNOWING what it would be like without them. I tend to be a rather selfish person. Life is all about me, and I like it that way. The fastest cure to this deep-rooted selfishness is not marriage but motherhood...actually, pregnancy alone will do it.
Let's face it, the act of becoming pregnant is rather short-lived in comparison to the results of that act. At various points in both of my pregnancies, I was quite sure that an alien had invaded my body and desired things to eat that I didn't like previously. First came the invasions - and then the doctor surgically removed the aliens; we named the first one Elizabeth and the second one Josiah - but the invasion into my womb was just the start of things. These precious little things invaded every part of my being, and I had to consider their needs before mine. There was little time to think about what could be after them or instead of them. I had to learn rather quickly that I had to consider what I could do with them and around them.
I’ve learned that my dreams must coincide with my family’s life, but they are not necessarily defined by the family members themselves. I certainly understand that life with children must be different than life without - yet, I rarely feel cheated or jealous. I don’t think I’m an odd duck. It's a covenant relationship for us all, really. By being part of a family, we give up certain rights to our "personal" dreams so that the family unit can best be served. And that choice can be hard at times when our selfish selves kick in - when we are not communicating well with one another, or when we choose to hide our authentic selves from the rest of the family.
I don't think that we have to give up our bucket lists when we have a family. We need to ensure that the dreams of all be analyzed and followed when possible. Perhaps the cruise has to wait a few years, but the cruise can happen.
The people who my children are and who they are becoming have the likelihood to be the very people with whom I would spontaneously head to some far-off place. I don’t just love them because they are my children, I like them. They are bright and full of the desire to learn. Many times, I prefer them to some of the adults in the world who have stopped asking important questions about life and God.
My dreams take flight best with the smiling faces of my children and husband behind me. We are in this thing called life together, and that profit is worth the loss of any dream I may have concocted alone. When the two roads diverged, I chose this path - the one that included my family.
"And that has made all the difference" (Frost).
**Note: Speaking of diverging, I think that I did exactly that. Please be sure to read themommyrevolution.com to see if I even stayed anywhere close to their point.
**Second note: Please do not interpret this blog as saying that a married with children life is the preferred life (even if society has chosen to primarily view it as such) over being single. Wherever one finds oneself - make the most of that situation!
I encourage everyone to check it out, especially if you are a mom or a friend of a mom. :) Two friends have paired up to write about "mom" type things. I know one of the women (Carla). They talk about a lot of things, and often they disagree. In the latest post, Caryn shared her thoughts about how being a mom for her means having lost some of her spontanaeity. That may be too brief of a summary, so I invite you to read it for yourself.
I shared some thoughts, and it really turned out to be a long bunch of thoughts that I thought I should keep a record of and share with my friends. I don't really think that this is a "grass greener" issue but rather an understanding of two roads diverging in a yellow wood (Frost).
As someone whose dreams hadn’t really even taken full form yet (except the one about marrying the best man in my life) when the honeymoon “took” and a premie child entered my life 8 months and 4 days after the wedding, I have lived in this world of wondering what it’s like without children for nearly all of my adult life. Perhaps having children right away (yes, the second one followed 12 months and 2 weeks later) was God’s way of sheltering me from KNOWING what it would be like without them. I tend to be a rather selfish person. Life is all about me, and I like it that way. The fastest cure to this deep-rooted selfishness is not marriage but motherhood...actually, pregnancy alone will do it.
Let's face it, the act of becoming pregnant is rather short-lived in comparison to the results of that act. At various points in both of my pregnancies, I was quite sure that an alien had invaded my body and desired things to eat that I didn't like previously. First came the invasions - and then the doctor surgically removed the aliens; we named the first one Elizabeth and the second one Josiah - but the invasion into my womb was just the start of things. These precious little things invaded every part of my being, and I had to consider their needs before mine. There was little time to think about what could be after them or instead of them. I had to learn rather quickly that I had to consider what I could do with them and around them.
I’ve learned that my dreams must coincide with my family’s life, but they are not necessarily defined by the family members themselves. I certainly understand that life with children must be different than life without - yet, I rarely feel cheated or jealous. I don’t think I’m an odd duck. It's a covenant relationship for us all, really. By being part of a family, we give up certain rights to our "personal" dreams so that the family unit can best be served. And that choice can be hard at times when our selfish selves kick in - when we are not communicating well with one another, or when we choose to hide our authentic selves from the rest of the family.
I don't think that we have to give up our bucket lists when we have a family. We need to ensure that the dreams of all be analyzed and followed when possible. Perhaps the cruise has to wait a few years, but the cruise can happen.
The people who my children are and who they are becoming have the likelihood to be the very people with whom I would spontaneously head to some far-off place. I don’t just love them because they are my children, I like them. They are bright and full of the desire to learn. Many times, I prefer them to some of the adults in the world who have stopped asking important questions about life and God.
My dreams take flight best with the smiling faces of my children and husband behind me. We are in this thing called life together, and that profit is worth the loss of any dream I may have concocted alone. When the two roads diverged, I chose this path - the one that included my family.
"And that has made all the difference" (Frost).
**Note: Speaking of diverging, I think that I did exactly that. Please be sure to read themommyrevolution.com to see if I even stayed anywhere close to their point.
**Second note: Please do not interpret this blog as saying that a married with children life is the preferred life (even if society has chosen to primarily view it as such) over being single. Wherever one finds oneself - make the most of that situation!
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