wow~ i was just browsing through this year's pictures attempting to choose what's going out on our Christmas cards and as i look back i'm struck with what an amazing year it's been!
our life here at home - our daily "humdrum" if you will, is extraordinary ... we're home with our kids, we're volunteering in their schools and driving field trips and golfing and dancing in the kitchen and we're assisting others in creating the life they want for themselves. fabulous!
my little walk down memory lane reminded me of a huge distinction i got in cancun, mexico with my daughter this past march.
we'd been conferencing with 1,000 of our closest friends and afterwards Riley (now 10 years old) and i had a "girl's date" at Xel-Ha, a nature preserve/marine animal water park south of playa del carmen.
Xel-Ha is federally protected because of its unique eco-system ... a lagoon where an underground river meets the ocean. The snorkeling is fantastic and the wildlife on the paths around the lagoon ... well, let's just say I didn't know iguanas grew that large!
we floated down a river, rope-swinged into freezing cold cenotes fed by underground springs, went shelling on an iron-shore shoreline where the beach used to be prior to Hurricane Wilma ... and learned a little something about life along the way.
you see, where this underground river emerges from the rock and flows into the lagoon there are cliffs that form a small canyon. one of these cliffs is called the "Cliff of Courage" as, you guessed it, they've built a bridge and a pathway up so you can jump off into the river.
so, naturally, Riley and i jumped. now, i don't possess a natural love of heights but with a fearless 9 year old I get to do a lot of "high" things these days. the "Cliff of Courage" is one of those phenomena that, from the river or even the other side, doesn't look THAT high ... in reality it's probably 20 to 25 feet above the water.
but when you're actually up there with your toes hanging off the edge it can be daunting. because it "looks" a lot easier from afar, there were a lot of people milling around up around the ledge with us ... young kids, teenagers, older men ... i was one of the few mom-types up there ... and I noticed something very interesting while observing all this anxiety and activity:
less than half the people up there on the "Cliff of Courage" with us actually jumped.
who were they? there was absolutely NO demographic ... no age, no physical fitness level, no gender ... the people that jumped simply did it. you could see in their eyes they were resolute in their choice to jump. they walked up to the edge, checked out the drop, backed up a step or two (if you're 9 years old this is when you back up 10 feet and take a running start) and flung themselves into the air.
those that didn't jump? they were all standing back ... thinking about it ... mulling it over ... peering over the edge ... commisserating with all the others who were "trying" to jump ... feeding each other's fear ... the longer they stood there in their in-action the greater the probability was they would find themselves walking back down.
and i really got "it" in that moment ... the power of CHOICE. You see, when you CHOOSE to do something, you have two options: follow-through on your word/commitment to yourself or violate your own integrity.
i climbed up there having made the CHOICE to join my daughter in a leap off the "Cliff of Courage". i could relate to those who were hanging back out of fear ... again, heights don't thrill me. but because i'd made a CHOICE to do it i had NO FEAR because the end-result was already determined. not jumping was NOT an option.
so i just did it.
and then i wound up doing it about five more times before the day was over because at that point my daughter had one of the coolest moms in all of Xel-Ha that day.
as for those who were "trying to jump" ... as i see it "trying" to do anything is meaningless. standing on the edge of a cliff isn't "trying to jump" ... it's NOT jumping. i guess "trying to jump" would be leaving the edge and somehow floating in mid-air and failing to fall. not likely to happen.
"Trying" to do anything is a middle ground reserved for mediocrity ... it's an excuse for not achieving something extraordinary in life.
don't TRY to do anything. CHOOSE what you want to do and then Just Do It! (maybe those guys at Nike were on to something!).
CHOOSE to be extraordinary and COURAGEOUS and before you know it you'll be INSPIRED and then you'll discover more areas in your life that deserve to be extraordinary and you'll find yourself being courageous again and that inspiration will ... ahhh, you get the picture!
here's to your extraordinary life!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Gratitude AGAIN!
i just received the most beautiful email from a friend of mine ... just a simple email to his mastermind group running through a litany of things he has to be grateful for.
but my heart is lifted and my spirit is rejuvenated because i stopped in that moment - in the midst of a morning filled with cheerios and carpools and intense negotiations with my three year old's strongly held fashion choices for the day (ALL red shorts and tank top - we have snow in the forecast today - but, oh my does he ever feel HANDSOME today!) - to BE grateful for my life as it is RIGHT NOW.
i find the biggest roadblock to that place of gratitude is the "little voice" in my head that chatters away with a running dialogue of all my missteps, miscalculations and mistakes and generally reminds me what morons we all can be.
that "little voice" is completely disempowering.
i have a new tool for shutting up that "little voice" ... okay, maybe not shutting her up completely but at the very least putting her in time-out for a very long time.
"LOVE, ABUNDANCE, GRATITUDE"
when i stop the destructive monkey chatter and replace it with those three words i FEEL the difference in my body as well as my mind.
"LOVE, ABUNDANCE, GRATITUDE" ... now THAT's empowering!
thank you, mike, for reminding me how much i have to be grateful for and for giving me cause to stop and reflect on it this morning. YOU made a difference in my day and for that i thank you my friend!
P.S. - my friend mike is up to BIG things ... as a member of our armed forces mike has a passion and a vision for assisting soldiers returning from combat zones as they reintegrate in to a non-combat lifestyle.
P.S.S. - if you've got friends or family in the military keep checking back for an update on mike ... what he's working on has the potential to absolutely transform the life of the men and women who have given up so much to protect our freedom!
but my heart is lifted and my spirit is rejuvenated because i stopped in that moment - in the midst of a morning filled with cheerios and carpools and intense negotiations with my three year old's strongly held fashion choices for the day (ALL red shorts and tank top - we have snow in the forecast today - but, oh my does he ever feel HANDSOME today!) - to BE grateful for my life as it is RIGHT NOW.
i find the biggest roadblock to that place of gratitude is the "little voice" in my head that chatters away with a running dialogue of all my missteps, miscalculations and mistakes and generally reminds me what morons we all can be.
that "little voice" is completely disempowering.
i have a new tool for shutting up that "little voice" ... okay, maybe not shutting her up completely but at the very least putting her in time-out for a very long time.
"LOVE, ABUNDANCE, GRATITUDE"
when i stop the destructive monkey chatter and replace it with those three words i FEEL the difference in my body as well as my mind.
"LOVE, ABUNDANCE, GRATITUDE" ... now THAT's empowering!
thank you, mike, for reminding me how much i have to be grateful for and for giving me cause to stop and reflect on it this morning. YOU made a difference in my day and for that i thank you my friend!
P.S. - my friend mike is up to BIG things ... as a member of our armed forces mike has a passion and a vision for assisting soldiers returning from combat zones as they reintegrate in to a non-combat lifestyle.
P.S.S. - if you've got friends or family in the military keep checking back for an update on mike ... what he's working on has the potential to absolutely transform the life of the men and women who have given up so much to protect our freedom!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Gratitude & Puffer Fish
i had a flat tire this morning. not at home tucked nicely in to my warm garage, but out on the interstate. and you know what? i couldn't have had a better start to my day!
how, you ask? well, i immediately recognized that there was a LOT to be thankful for. and when i realized that gratitude was my very first response, i got to be a little bit proud of myself. i've come a long, long way in a couple of short years.
so this is how my morning went down ...
my navigator has a nifty little "low tire pressure" light on my dash, which is sometimes set off when it's really cold, as it was this morning thanks to the first snowfall of the season!
but this morning i got the "really, really low tire pressure" warning so i pulled off the interstate and swung by my drycleaners to check it out. drycleaning in hand, i could hear the rear left tire hissing.
across the street from the drycleaner is a brand new tire store i hadn't really noticed before - it still has the "Grand Opening" sign hanging from the roof - so i drove the car across the street and was met at the curb by a technician who immediately told me "that's a BIG leak, i don't know if we can fix it."
they couldn't, thanks to a razor blade that i picked up along the road somewhere, so sometime this afternoon we'll have a brand new tire.
you know a flat tire is generally not a planned event. it disrupts your day. it usually costs money. it can involve getting dirty. but you know what? flat tires happen.
i chose the flat tire, and all the opportunities for gratitude it presented me:
1. my kids were already safely dropped off at their respective schools. i was alone with my egg mcmuffin (minus the icky canadian bacon).
2. i have a warning light on my truck. i knew something was out of wack. i got off the interstate before it went completely flat, thereby sparing myself the pleasure of enduring icy, wet splashback from a heavily traveled slushy road while waiting for AAA or my husband to come rescue me.
3. there was a brand new tire store in the perfect location to solve my problem.
4. they can get the right tire for me by this afternoon. i get my car back today.
5. i didn't ever have to get out my car and pretend i knew how to change my tire, much less knew where my spare's located. (i do now). my hands never got dirty!
6. $250 is now put in circulation via the tire store, which will pay its employees, who will spend their paycheck and keep that money in circulation ... it's all about the flow, baby!
and speaking of flow and gratitude ... (here comes the quick topic change back to Hawaii) ...
well, i'm obviously very thankful we departed the Big Island of Hawaii a week before the earthquake, whose epicenter was just off our hotel's beach in waikaloa. experiencing an earthquake is NOT on my list of things to do before i die!
i'm thankful that, in spite of significant structural in infrastructre damage, there were relatively minor injuries and no fatalities!
i'm thankful the nice people who served us during our stay there are safe.
and i'm grateful for puffer fish ... one in particular, who assisted me in truly experiencing relaxing and getting in to the flow.
the hilton waikoloa is built around a lagoon that opens right up in to the ocean. i snorkeled in this lagoon nearly every day and on our last day i went out for a final snorkel with the intention of seeing the elusive eel i kept hearing about and swimming alongside a massive sea turtle again.
i started early, knowing that the lagoon gets a little murky in the afternoons. but i didn't see a darn thing except a bunch of puffer fish. curious thing about puffer fish - they're way more interesting if they're puffed, but puffing them means they're frightened or spooked so the intentional puffing of a puffer fish feels rather cruel to me.
i never saw a puffer fish in full puff.
but in a moment of clarity, i simply let go of my snorkeling agenda and decided to just hang with the puffers. so i picked the handsomest fella i could find and just followed him around at his speed, zig zagging around the lagoon.
and before i knew it i'd seen not one, but four eels. two were a nifty blue color, one was neon green, and one poor gray fella.
i stopped and thanked my puffer guide. then reminded him that a turtle would be nice too.
we swam back to the mouth of the lagoon and who did we meet swimming in?
mr. giant sea turtle. head to feet he was longer than i am tall. and he was beautfiul and graceful and peaceful. i swam above the turtle for half an hour totally thrilled that this is what my life looks like!
i can't tell you for certain that i wouldn't have seen these sea creatures anyway, but when i stopped and made a conscious shift in my way of being in that moment - from frustration to gratitude - well, that's when miracles happen.
here's to gratitude and miracles every day!
how, you ask? well, i immediately recognized that there was a LOT to be thankful for. and when i realized that gratitude was my very first response, i got to be a little bit proud of myself. i've come a long, long way in a couple of short years.
so this is how my morning went down ...
my navigator has a nifty little "low tire pressure" light on my dash, which is sometimes set off when it's really cold, as it was this morning thanks to the first snowfall of the season!
but this morning i got the "really, really low tire pressure" warning so i pulled off the interstate and swung by my drycleaners to check it out. drycleaning in hand, i could hear the rear left tire hissing.
across the street from the drycleaner is a brand new tire store i hadn't really noticed before - it still has the "Grand Opening" sign hanging from the roof - so i drove the car across the street and was met at the curb by a technician who immediately told me "that's a BIG leak, i don't know if we can fix it."
they couldn't, thanks to a razor blade that i picked up along the road somewhere, so sometime this afternoon we'll have a brand new tire.
you know a flat tire is generally not a planned event. it disrupts your day. it usually costs money. it can involve getting dirty. but you know what? flat tires happen.
i chose the flat tire, and all the opportunities for gratitude it presented me:
1. my kids were already safely dropped off at their respective schools. i was alone with my egg mcmuffin (minus the icky canadian bacon).
2. i have a warning light on my truck. i knew something was out of wack. i got off the interstate before it went completely flat, thereby sparing myself the pleasure of enduring icy, wet splashback from a heavily traveled slushy road while waiting for AAA or my husband to come rescue me.
3. there was a brand new tire store in the perfect location to solve my problem.
4. they can get the right tire for me by this afternoon. i get my car back today.
5. i didn't ever have to get out my car and pretend i knew how to change my tire, much less knew where my spare's located. (i do now). my hands never got dirty!
6. $250 is now put in circulation via the tire store, which will pay its employees, who will spend their paycheck and keep that money in circulation ... it's all about the flow, baby!
and speaking of flow and gratitude ... (here comes the quick topic change back to Hawaii) ...
well, i'm obviously very thankful we departed the Big Island of Hawaii a week before the earthquake, whose epicenter was just off our hotel's beach in waikaloa. experiencing an earthquake is NOT on my list of things to do before i die!
i'm thankful that, in spite of significant structural in infrastructre damage, there were relatively minor injuries and no fatalities!
i'm thankful the nice people who served us during our stay there are safe.
and i'm grateful for puffer fish ... one in particular, who assisted me in truly experiencing relaxing and getting in to the flow.
the hilton waikoloa is built around a lagoon that opens right up in to the ocean. i snorkeled in this lagoon nearly every day and on our last day i went out for a final snorkel with the intention of seeing the elusive eel i kept hearing about and swimming alongside a massive sea turtle again.
i started early, knowing that the lagoon gets a little murky in the afternoons. but i didn't see a darn thing except a bunch of puffer fish. curious thing about puffer fish - they're way more interesting if they're puffed, but puffing them means they're frightened or spooked so the intentional puffing of a puffer fish feels rather cruel to me.
i never saw a puffer fish in full puff.
but in a moment of clarity, i simply let go of my snorkeling agenda and decided to just hang with the puffers. so i picked the handsomest fella i could find and just followed him around at his speed, zig zagging around the lagoon.
and before i knew it i'd seen not one, but four eels. two were a nifty blue color, one was neon green, and one poor gray fella.
i stopped and thanked my puffer guide. then reminded him that a turtle would be nice too.
we swam back to the mouth of the lagoon and who did we meet swimming in?
mr. giant sea turtle. head to feet he was longer than i am tall. and he was beautfiul and graceful and peaceful. i swam above the turtle for half an hour totally thrilled that this is what my life looks like!
i can't tell you for certain that i wouldn't have seen these sea creatures anyway, but when i stopped and made a conscious shift in my way of being in that moment - from frustration to gratitude - well, that's when miracles happen.
here's to gratitude and miracles every day!
Monday, October 09, 2006
Yes You Can!
we arrived safely back on the mainland yesterday afternoon after spending an amazing week on the Big Island of Hawaii.
my intention at the beginning of the week, as evidenced by my diligent blogging from the US Airways lounge in the Phoenix airport on the way to the island, was to blog daily.
didn’t happen.
i could beat myself up over it but the truth of the matter is i was rarely in my room ... i was out living life, enjoying spending time with friends, listening to amazing speakers, and masterminding about life in general with people whose opinions i value greatly.
so, rather than turning this blog entry into the equivalent of a vacation travelogue slideshow on my living room wall, i thought i’d focus today on the most inspiring moment of the trip ... don’t worry, you’ll most likely be regaled later with stories of turtles and puffer fish and drum circles and helicopters and volcanoes, etc.
but today is dedicated to the time we spent with Rick and Dick Hoyt, a father-son racing team who are already on the island in preparation for the Ironman Triathlon coming up on october 21. if you haven’t heard of the hoyts, you deserve to. check them out at www.teamhoyt.com.
even better, tune in to the Ironman coverage to see team hoyt in action.
together they’ve competed in over 206 triathlons and over 64 marathons, including 24 straight Boston Marathons, as well as hundreds of other road races. they also bicycled across the United States in 45 consecutive days.
a phenomenal record of achievement, especially when you consider that rick is confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy as a result of a complication during his birth 44 years ago.
during these races, rick rides in a custom boat, bicycle seat and a wheelchair while his dad, dick, powers through the race. in dick’s words, “i’m the muscle, rick is the heart”.
they got started racing by chance, when a 15 year old rick wanted to participate in a local fundraiser. after the race, he looked at his dad and told him it was the first time he didn’t feel disabled. and that was the day “Yes You Can” was born.
they now race around the world and champion the cause of the disabled. but their story reaches so far beyond the disabled in body, they inspire the disabled in spirit.
what a powerful message: “Yes You Can”.
my friend aaron observed, “imagine what the world would be like if every dad was this dedicated”.
imagine.
so, join me on october 21 in cheering on these amazing men who are living testament to their stand for limitless human potential.
even better, join me in honoring them by embracing a “Yes You Can” mindset and carrying the torch out in to the world!
my intention at the beginning of the week, as evidenced by my diligent blogging from the US Airways lounge in the Phoenix airport on the way to the island, was to blog daily.
didn’t happen.
i could beat myself up over it but the truth of the matter is i was rarely in my room ... i was out living life, enjoying spending time with friends, listening to amazing speakers, and masterminding about life in general with people whose opinions i value greatly.
so, rather than turning this blog entry into the equivalent of a vacation travelogue slideshow on my living room wall, i thought i’d focus today on the most inspiring moment of the trip ... don’t worry, you’ll most likely be regaled later with stories of turtles and puffer fish and drum circles and helicopters and volcanoes, etc.
but today is dedicated to the time we spent with Rick and Dick Hoyt, a father-son racing team who are already on the island in preparation for the Ironman Triathlon coming up on october 21. if you haven’t heard of the hoyts, you deserve to. check them out at www.teamhoyt.com.
even better, tune in to the Ironman coverage to see team hoyt in action.
together they’ve competed in over 206 triathlons and over 64 marathons, including 24 straight Boston Marathons, as well as hundreds of other road races. they also bicycled across the United States in 45 consecutive days.
a phenomenal record of achievement, especially when you consider that rick is confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy as a result of a complication during his birth 44 years ago.
during these races, rick rides in a custom boat, bicycle seat and a wheelchair while his dad, dick, powers through the race. in dick’s words, “i’m the muscle, rick is the heart”.
they got started racing by chance, when a 15 year old rick wanted to participate in a local fundraiser. after the race, he looked at his dad and told him it was the first time he didn’t feel disabled. and that was the day “Yes You Can” was born.
they now race around the world and champion the cause of the disabled. but their story reaches so far beyond the disabled in body, they inspire the disabled in spirit.
what a powerful message: “Yes You Can”.
my friend aaron observed, “imagine what the world would be like if every dad was this dedicated”.
imagine.
so, join me on october 21 in cheering on these amazing men who are living testament to their stand for limitless human potential.
even better, join me in honoring them by embracing a “Yes You Can” mindset and carrying the torch out in to the world!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
My Hat Goes To Hawaii
me and my hat are presently wiling away a few hours in the phoenix airport, awaiting our connection to KONA, HAWAII. we're straddling a little round coffee table in the US Airways lounge under the strict supervision of tracey at the front desk, whose primary job responsibility today is to ensure we understand, without question, the "no feet on the furniture" policy.
in spite of the fact i've lived in colorado for 17 years she must be able to still smell the "oklahoma" on me ... i don't hear her warning anyone else of the "NO FEET ON THE FURNITURE" rule, which she announced to us the minute we sidled up to her desk.
now john's reclining, using his carry-on bag as an ottoman, but occasionally tracey will glance over here to confirm his giant peds aren't actually touching the coffee table.
i just smile and wave and keep on clipping his toenails.
okay, i'm not really clipping john's toenails in the phoenix airport ... that would be CRAZY seeing as you can't even say the words "toenail clippers" in an airport anymore. much less pack them on your person. but i'd really, really like to see tracey's face if she were to catch me mid-clip ... with toenail shards bouncing off the upholestery right and left.
but today i'm going to hawaii so tracey's furniture fetish isn't bothering me. not even the intimate frisk i received from the security screeners in the denver airport, thanks to my underwire bra, could take the bloom off this day's rose.
toenail clippers and bras aside, i'm wearing my hat today and feeling good about it for two reasons:
first, i bought this cute little straw hat with the black band about 15 years ago. it was expensive. made in italy. and it looks pretty darn cute on me if i do say so myself. but i've never worn it outside of my house. might sweat on the sweatband or ruin it or something.
i was in my closet the other day, surveying my hawaiian atire options, when i noticed the hat glaring at me. it never leaves my closet. it wanted to go to hawaii. i said yes. after all, what's the point of having nice, expensive stuff if i'm not going to wear it or use it today?
my decision to take my hat to the steamy tropics was liberating. i found myself pouring orange juice in to our fancy-schmancy-wedding-gift-wine-glasses that have never been used ... our harmonica, the "nice" one (i guess you really can't take the oklahoma out of the girl!), has now been broken in by wyatt ... it's sticky and covered in cheerio juice and making sweet, sweet music these days ...
use it or lose it. that's my new philosophy. if i'm not gonna use it or wear it, i'm giving it away. if i'm "waiting" for the right moment ... well, the correct answer there is "THIS is the right moment."
hat lesson #2 ... i'm a little self-conscious in my hat. i couldn't pack it, being that it was an expensive hat and all, so it's riding in the main cabin with us. on my head.
i wore it in the denver airport. i'm now wearing it in the phoenix airport. people look. not for any reason other than i'm an aberration in the airport landscape. for a while i took it off and then i realized i wasn't wearing MY hat out of concern for what other people were thinking.
"looking good. looking bad."
it owns us and drives us unless we really get how ridiculous it is.
so i proudly put my hat back on. smushing down my hair until the hawaiian humidity kicks it up a notch. and i feel great.
why?
well, in about 7 hours i'm going to be wearing my first lei (thank you tony, our driver, who kindly pointed out that as this was not "fantasy island" he would not be waiting with fresh flowers unless we were willing to pay for them in advance. we did.)
so i've got the whole lei thing going for me today ... but i also can now tuck the "i don't CARE what other people think" thing in my backpocket. i felt it. i saw it. i honored myself. i put my hat back on.
QOD: what would your life look like if you never considered how you "looked" to other people???
aloha!
in spite of the fact i've lived in colorado for 17 years she must be able to still smell the "oklahoma" on me ... i don't hear her warning anyone else of the "NO FEET ON THE FURNITURE" rule, which she announced to us the minute we sidled up to her desk.
now john's reclining, using his carry-on bag as an ottoman, but occasionally tracey will glance over here to confirm his giant peds aren't actually touching the coffee table.
i just smile and wave and keep on clipping his toenails.
okay, i'm not really clipping john's toenails in the phoenix airport ... that would be CRAZY seeing as you can't even say the words "toenail clippers" in an airport anymore. much less pack them on your person. but i'd really, really like to see tracey's face if she were to catch me mid-clip ... with toenail shards bouncing off the upholestery right and left.
but today i'm going to hawaii so tracey's furniture fetish isn't bothering me. not even the intimate frisk i received from the security screeners in the denver airport, thanks to my underwire bra, could take the bloom off this day's rose.
toenail clippers and bras aside, i'm wearing my hat today and feeling good about it for two reasons:
first, i bought this cute little straw hat with the black band about 15 years ago. it was expensive. made in italy. and it looks pretty darn cute on me if i do say so myself. but i've never worn it outside of my house. might sweat on the sweatband or ruin it or something.
i was in my closet the other day, surveying my hawaiian atire options, when i noticed the hat glaring at me. it never leaves my closet. it wanted to go to hawaii. i said yes. after all, what's the point of having nice, expensive stuff if i'm not going to wear it or use it today?
my decision to take my hat to the steamy tropics was liberating. i found myself pouring orange juice in to our fancy-schmancy-wedding-gift-wine-glasses that have never been used ... our harmonica, the "nice" one (i guess you really can't take the oklahoma out of the girl!), has now been broken in by wyatt ... it's sticky and covered in cheerio juice and making sweet, sweet music these days ...
use it or lose it. that's my new philosophy. if i'm not gonna use it or wear it, i'm giving it away. if i'm "waiting" for the right moment ... well, the correct answer there is "THIS is the right moment."
hat lesson #2 ... i'm a little self-conscious in my hat. i couldn't pack it, being that it was an expensive hat and all, so it's riding in the main cabin with us. on my head.
i wore it in the denver airport. i'm now wearing it in the phoenix airport. people look. not for any reason other than i'm an aberration in the airport landscape. for a while i took it off and then i realized i wasn't wearing MY hat out of concern for what other people were thinking.
"looking good. looking bad."
it owns us and drives us unless we really get how ridiculous it is.
so i proudly put my hat back on. smushing down my hair until the hawaiian humidity kicks it up a notch. and i feel great.
why?
well, in about 7 hours i'm going to be wearing my first lei (thank you tony, our driver, who kindly pointed out that as this was not "fantasy island" he would not be waiting with fresh flowers unless we were willing to pay for them in advance. we did.)
so i've got the whole lei thing going for me today ... but i also can now tuck the "i don't CARE what other people think" thing in my backpocket. i felt it. i saw it. i honored myself. i put my hat back on.
QOD: what would your life look like if you never considered how you "looked" to other people???
aloha!
Kristy and the Spiderman
today i'm celebrating wins ... and the friends who help us spot them when we're too wrapped up in life to see them on our own!
i take my job as "parent" seriously. the way i look at it, i chose to bring two children in to my life and this world (with more than a little divine inspiration!). my vision of parenting is much more than simply "good health, good manners, good grades" ... i'm really striving to raise two humans who will make a difference in this world.
as such, i'm constantly on the lookout for areas where i've engaged in "unintentional" parenting ... in other words, where i've said or done something without examining how that will impact two very impressionable young people.
if you are a parent, you most likely have experienced the "telephone magnet syndrome", a unique afflication occuring in many 3 year olds causing them to morph in to high demand monsters the moment they sense you're on the telephone. wyatt is unique in that he doesn't necessarily want MY attention. he wants the attention of whomever is on the other end of the line.
the other day i was speaking with a new friend/business associate and wyatt was clamoring at my feet to talk too. i wasn't comfortable yet thrusting this individual in to a conversation with my son so i ever so sweetly told my precious 3 year old that this individual "probably has much better things to do than talk to you right now."
ouch.
there goes my mother-of-the-year award.
i immediately cleaned that up with wyatt and you know what? he got it. i've decided the art of forgiveness can best be learned by watching a child.
my friend kristy is a really good sport when it comes to chatting up my little guy on the phone. must be something in the water out there in rhode island. nice folks.
kristy and i were talking the other day, just catching up, and she could hear wyatt doing his thing in the background ... suffice it to say there were capes and spiderman underwear involved - he was in full-out imaginative play - and she asked if he wanted to talk to her.
assuming the answer would be "YES" and that he would tear off his cape in order to take the call, i handed the phone over and asked him, rhetorically, "do you want to talk to kristy?"
"nope"
hmmmm ... unusual ... not what i expected ... possibly rude as the phone was already dangling in his face ...
but in the moment i chose to let it go. in the past i might have attempted to force it ... i might have pointed out how rude that was ... i might have apologized all over myself for his actions.
but that day i just let it be.
kristy's response? "it doesn't get any more authentic than that does it?"
and you know what? she's right.
say what you mean and mean what you say.
"wanna talk?"
"no."
end of conversation.
so today i'm celebrating that i honored wyatt's authenticity rather than pushing him in to doing or saying something just to make me look good.
i'm celebrating his being a "say what you mean and mean what you say" kinda guy.
i can already hear his future spouse thanking me ... assuming he's given up the superhero "man panties" (as he calls them)!
i take my job as "parent" seriously. the way i look at it, i chose to bring two children in to my life and this world (with more than a little divine inspiration!). my vision of parenting is much more than simply "good health, good manners, good grades" ... i'm really striving to raise two humans who will make a difference in this world.
as such, i'm constantly on the lookout for areas where i've engaged in "unintentional" parenting ... in other words, where i've said or done something without examining how that will impact two very impressionable young people.
if you are a parent, you most likely have experienced the "telephone magnet syndrome", a unique afflication occuring in many 3 year olds causing them to morph in to high demand monsters the moment they sense you're on the telephone. wyatt is unique in that he doesn't necessarily want MY attention. he wants the attention of whomever is on the other end of the line.
the other day i was speaking with a new friend/business associate and wyatt was clamoring at my feet to talk too. i wasn't comfortable yet thrusting this individual in to a conversation with my son so i ever so sweetly told my precious 3 year old that this individual "probably has much better things to do than talk to you right now."
ouch.
there goes my mother-of-the-year award.
i immediately cleaned that up with wyatt and you know what? he got it. i've decided the art of forgiveness can best be learned by watching a child.
my friend kristy is a really good sport when it comes to chatting up my little guy on the phone. must be something in the water out there in rhode island. nice folks.
kristy and i were talking the other day, just catching up, and she could hear wyatt doing his thing in the background ... suffice it to say there were capes and spiderman underwear involved - he was in full-out imaginative play - and she asked if he wanted to talk to her.
assuming the answer would be "YES" and that he would tear off his cape in order to take the call, i handed the phone over and asked him, rhetorically, "do you want to talk to kristy?"
"nope"
hmmmm ... unusual ... not what i expected ... possibly rude as the phone was already dangling in his face ...
but in the moment i chose to let it go. in the past i might have attempted to force it ... i might have pointed out how rude that was ... i might have apologized all over myself for his actions.
but that day i just let it be.
kristy's response? "it doesn't get any more authentic than that does it?"
and you know what? she's right.
say what you mean and mean what you say.
"wanna talk?"
"no."
end of conversation.
so today i'm celebrating that i honored wyatt's authenticity rather than pushing him in to doing or saying something just to make me look good.
i'm celebrating his being a "say what you mean and mean what you say" kinda guy.
i can already hear his future spouse thanking me ... assuming he's given up the superhero "man panties" (as he calls them)!
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