#quartercentury | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘#quartercentury’

To My Grade One Doppelganger

Posted in The Kids, tagged #birthdaygirl, #doppelgangerdaughter, #oneness, #quartercentury, #tomygradeonedoppelganger, #youaremineandiamyours on April 5, 2022| 4 Comments »

To my grade one doppelganger (except, you’re not, because we are biologically related).

From day one of your life, I felt as though I was simply your carrier, the one who bore and delivered you into this life. For, from my first glance of your squirmy body, you looked like your daddy. Your copper-colored hair, your squinty bright blue eyes, your face shape, your skin tone … all of it. And I loved every bit, for a mother does not love a child for what she knows, but simply because the child is hers.

Then, when you were not ever two, we moved and the receptionist and nurse and our new doctor’s office were in awe at how much we looked alike. Though I doubted what they said, it did warm my momma heart that we might share something more than just DNA.

A few years later, I picked up photos from the drug store (because that was the way it was done back in the stone ages). As I flipped through the images of our growing kids I was immediately halted when I came to the photo of you at a birthday (above). The same squinty eyes, the same smile, and face shape, and eyebrows, and even the hint of similar freckles was looking back at me … not at the 30-something momma of three, but the grade one me. Heck, you even tilted your head like me … just in the opposite direction.

I don’t know why exactly seeing that we were similar was so comforting to me. Maybe there is something primal about it …

maybe I simply longed to see,
not me in you,
but you in me?

The perfect unity of I am in you and you are in me. Oneness, perhaps, was my heart’s desire.

Today is your birthday. A quarter century of the gift of life. A gift that comes with little foretaste of what will come your way … the tough decisions to be made, the struggles (with relationships, with health, etc.). Sometimes it can feel that it is too hard … but, hard is accompanied by other things … the better things (relationships, art, beauty in nature, successes at work, good food … cats) and these things are the things that bring a twinkle to our eyes … our squinty eyes.

I wish you a new year of things that make you smile, sunshine that brings out your freckles, squinty-eyed smiles and oneness.

I love you, my baby girl. I am so glad that you are mine … and I am yours.

Read Full Post »

Wise Words for Your Birthday

Posted in FAMILY, GOD, life, WONDER, tagged #, #authenticity, #empowerment, #growingup, #hotmess, #livingwithintention, #quartercentury, #quotestoencourage, #stealingyourhashtags, #vulnerability, #wisewordsforyourbirthday on October 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Happy Birthday tomorrow …

To my Jane Austen loving, swim coaching, stationary-loving, legging-wearing, justice-seeking, change-resisting, verbal-processing, feminism-spouting, recovery house working, Naloxone-carrying, self-advocating, gluten and dairy and soy avoiding, blog writing, sibling nurturing, “dark and twistie” tackling, ever-evolving oldest daughter …

There is so much I could say to you, but I am choosing to speak to you through the lips of some of the women who speak to you.

Change; we don’t like it, we fear it, but we can’t stop it from coming. We either adapt to change, or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn’t is lying. But here’s the truth: Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is… everything.

Meredith Grey

You and your addiction to Grey’s Anatomy (sorry, but without Derek …). You and your struggle with change. But you are not alone, for we all struggle with the realities of the shifting sands in our life. And change can be difficult, but change is not always a bad thing, and often it is the catalyst to the greatest growth.

Giving you quotes just wouldn’t be complete without Ms. Brown! It is hard to be one who struggles to be perfect and vulnerable at the same time. You have a light within that begs to be released … be vulnerable and turn those lights on full!

As if on cue … (you’d think I had planned to insert Emily Ley now). It’s all grace!

Peace-begins-with-a-smile-Mother-Teresa-vinyl-wall-design

Sometimes it’s the simplest actions that can make the biggest difference to others … and you. Sometimes the authenticity of a smile comes after, not before it appears on ones face.

19145762_1664158723633102_8543712483768464598_n

Hey, it’s true! And it makes you smile!

Believe in the miraculous … life itself is miraculous! Seek the wonderful, the wonder-filled. Believe in the unbelievable.

The moments of your life are for which you have been created … good and bad, simple and struggle, blessing and curse. The example of Esther is the wisdom of knowing when to speak, when to be silent, the wisdom of being brave, the wisdom of knowing you have nothing of value that you can truly lose when you trust in the God of your people.

Ok, so maybe Ann Voskamp speaks more to me than to you … If I can use her words to share a truth that life has taught me, then the words above speak truth. Life is hard … and then it gets harder. We humans are not guaranteed anything different (“in this world you will have troubles, struggles, difficulties, heartbreaks …” John 16:33). But we are guaranteed that we will never be left alone in it …

“Be strong and courageous (aka brave). Do not be afraid or terrified … for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Read Full Post »