November is National Adoption Awareness Month!
Each year there are ceremonies and events held in November to celebrate the joys of adoption. My son is adopted and he is my heart and soul.
Everyday we have a choice to be happy. Look at this little boy and you can see the joy in his face. The joy of childhood and pure love. This is certainly one of my favorite photos of my son.
Today, I allowed myself to get mired down in the negativity of another person. They have chosen to be negative and unkind. After being a part of their experience, I decided to step back. I purposely went to my photo collection to get back into my own Happy Day.
I wrote a poem to express what it is that I have in mind for my life. Enjoy.
Life
a flicker
a flame
so fleeting
this game
the time that is wasted
never again tasted
less bitter and anger
best spent on sweeter
riper
and wondrous things
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Creamsicle and the Rebound
As a child, I have vivid memories of things. Often of little significance and yet they have stayed with me. Growing up in Florida included a lot of hot days. We were usually in our bare feet running around, playing in the sprinkler to stay cool and if we were lucky the ice cream truck would come around.
We would scamper to the truck and carefully review all the choices, only to pick the same thing everytime. Mine, a creamsicle. It is like a popsicle, but is made with orange and vanilla ice cream. The joy of the creamsicle!! No matter what deviations I may have taken at certain points, there was always the rebound- the creamsicle.
Life is like that in some ways.
We are happily living our lives and then something exciting happens. We scamper about and rush to see what is offered. More of something we love and less of things we do not want. At times we deviate from what we know we love and try something entirely new. It is lovely and we are happy, for a time.
But, when that truck of life changes comes again, we will most often go back to our original choices. Creamsicle and the Rebound. It is what we know.
Not Vanilla or plain Chocolate for me, thanks. I prefer the perfect imbalance of the creamsicle.
We would scamper to the truck and carefully review all the choices, only to pick the same thing everytime. Mine, a creamsicle. It is like a popsicle, but is made with orange and vanilla ice cream. The joy of the creamsicle!! No matter what deviations I may have taken at certain points, there was always the rebound- the creamsicle.
Life is like that in some ways.
We are happily living our lives and then something exciting happens. We scamper about and rush to see what is offered. More of something we love and less of things we do not want. At times we deviate from what we know we love and try something entirely new. It is lovely and we are happy, for a time.
But, when that truck of life changes comes again, we will most often go back to our original choices. Creamsicle and the Rebound. It is what we know.
Not Vanilla or plain Chocolate for me, thanks. I prefer the perfect imbalance of the creamsicle.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunnyside Up and Pistachio
Recently, I was challenged to describe myself using a word starting with each letter in the alphabet. Today, I wrote my weekly column for the newspaper on the topic and challenged my readers to do the same. It sounds easy when you first think about it, but actually using one word to describe yourself is not. We are a weaved fabric of descriptive words and actions.
My first thought for myself was the word Adaptive. All my life, I have been faced with the realities of adapting to many things; we all have. Mine include family experiences, moving, marriage, losing a baby during pregnancy, financial issues, infertility, adoption, career changes, divorce, losing everything, and starting over. You get the point. Being adaptive is a way to change with less pain or more joy. Being adaptive is a coping mechanism that keeps us going.
Since making a decision on a one word descriptive was so hard for me, I enlisted two of my dearest and oldest friends.
Vicki, a friend since high school is the friend who gives me the softer side of things. She is very thoughtful, not answering on her first instinct, but rather probing her mind for the right word that is the complete answer. She is hysterically funny, is a sunny side up egg in life. Her way of looking at the world is how good it is and what the next great adventure will be. My new nickname for her is Sunnyside Up.
Kristi has been my friend since college, whether attending school or on sabbatical, which was a normal in our world at the time. She is raw, edgy, has a bawdy laugh that fills the room, can hang with the boys or enjoy a girls weekend of pampering. Kristi is nearly 5 ft tall with shoes on, yet her roar is fierce and can move most anything. For me, she is the down and dirty provider. She says what she means and says it without a second thought. I call her Ouizer Boudreaux from Steel Magnolias. Today she earned a new nickname, Pistachio. She is a tiny little thing that holds so much uniqueness. She is indeed one of a kind.
Imagine the words they used to describe me using the letter A. Seriously, I laughed so hard I ached. If I am anything it is a chameleon. Their descriptives were opposites and yet both captured who I am. There was not one word, but a string of many. I cannot use some due their off color nature, but suffice to say, there may be a new word in the dictionary with the definition- See Nancy.
Again, I start. I apologize for not writing as much as I had in the past. I am adapting to my new life. Again.
My first thought for myself was the word Adaptive. All my life, I have been faced with the realities of adapting to many things; we all have. Mine include family experiences, moving, marriage, losing a baby during pregnancy, financial issues, infertility, adoption, career changes, divorce, losing everything, and starting over. You get the point. Being adaptive is a way to change with less pain or more joy. Being adaptive is a coping mechanism that keeps us going.
Since making a decision on a one word descriptive was so hard for me, I enlisted two of my dearest and oldest friends.
Vicki, a friend since high school is the friend who gives me the softer side of things. She is very thoughtful, not answering on her first instinct, but rather probing her mind for the right word that is the complete answer. She is hysterically funny, is a sunny side up egg in life. Her way of looking at the world is how good it is and what the next great adventure will be. My new nickname for her is Sunnyside Up.
Kristi has been my friend since college, whether attending school or on sabbatical, which was a normal in our world at the time. She is raw, edgy, has a bawdy laugh that fills the room, can hang with the boys or enjoy a girls weekend of pampering. Kristi is nearly 5 ft tall with shoes on, yet her roar is fierce and can move most anything. For me, she is the down and dirty provider. She says what she means and says it without a second thought. I call her Ouizer Boudreaux from Steel Magnolias. Today she earned a new nickname, Pistachio. She is a tiny little thing that holds so much uniqueness. She is indeed one of a kind.
Imagine the words they used to describe me using the letter A. Seriously, I laughed so hard I ached. If I am anything it is a chameleon. Their descriptives were opposites and yet both captured who I am. There was not one word, but a string of many. I cannot use some due their off color nature, but suffice to say, there may be a new word in the dictionary with the definition- See Nancy.
Again, I start. I apologize for not writing as much as I had in the past. I am adapting to my new life. Again.
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