The Signs Right in Front of us

We should have first suspected something when Maddie asked for a life-size doll on her Christmas list. Our radars definitely should have bleeped when she starting taking said life-size doll around with her. Everywhere. Dressed every morning. Nightgowned every evening. Belted into the car. Sitting at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Participating in all our fun “we are on break” moments. But I am a mom. My mind is busy, filled with all sorts of stuff. Then we went back to school and my mind imploded with work. So you’ll have to pardon my complete disregard for the moment that was destined to come out of all of this.

“Mommy, we are going to name the baby Millie,” she says to me as she flies past with life-size Elsa to the basement.

ummmm…okay. Ramblings of an imaginative five-year old. Okeedokee.

“Daddy, we’re going to have a baby and we are going to name her Millie. She is going to be a sister so she needs a girl’s name.” (interestingly enough, I have never seen a face as pale as his or a mouth as wide open)

This cues a lovely sit down conversation with both of us trying to keep up with her excitement as she insists that I am going to have a baby (I am not) it is going to be a girl (it is not…no baby) and we are going to name her Millie (we will not) complete with illustrations and one hell of a convincing argument that has nothing to do with my cookie expanded waistline, thank you very much.

So after I excuse myself to commence a new 5,000 crunches a day discipline, we manage to convince her that I am not having a baby and that someday maybe we will and that when that day comes, if it is indeed a girl, we may consider naming her Millie. We didn’t have the heart to crush her naming dreams just yet.

“Okay, mommy and daddy.”

We take a deep breath of relief, move on with our lives minus the 5,000 crunches, and part ways completely confident that this matter has been taken care of. All participants have been briefed and updated to current situations. Or lack thereof.

And then as all good kindergarteners do, during a read aloud in class, my lovely daughter raises her hand to tell her teacher (whom I work with) and her 27 classmates (who all know me as Maddie’s mom AND the Reading teacher) the most exciting news that has nothing at all to do with the book that is being read.

“My mommy is going to have a baby and we are going to name it Millie!”

I think I see a conversation in my very near future. I best prepare my own drawings and illustrations and quite possibly start those crunches….

One Little Word 2015

When thinking about my One Little Word for 2015 I knew one thing for certain. I needed to really feel it. I guess I didn’t really feel that word of 2014, because I had to look it up a few weeks ago when someone asked. So I thought I could just cheat and reuse that word. I haven’t owned it yet, right?!

It could be though, that the word I chose, was not a word for me. Yeah, I could focus on a million words. Goodness knows I have a lot of things I could work on. But I wanted to take in a word that made me think of all the different ways I could incorporate it in my life. To make it count. To make it ME and make me IT.

Shine

When I first saw what is now my word for 2015, it sparkled and twinkled at me. Then I ran across it again on one of my pinning sprees and it was shimmering and gleaming off the screen. Now, it may have caught my attention because of all that glitter and polish. That’s the thing about shine. It catches your attention, it makes you smile.

Then I thought to myself, I can’t possibly have SHINE as my OLW could I? It seems a bit self-serving, that word there. So I made myself sit and really think about shine and what it means to me.

I want to shine in this new position of mine while many of my heart-strings are tied to the old. I want to shine as a mom and wife and daughter and friend.  I want to be good riding all the waves that are my life. So how can one person make themselves shine? I can certainly polish the me that is me. And while I’m shiny, how does that change me? How does that make me a better coach, better mom, better wife, daughter and friend?

Then I thought about why that word caught my eye and made me smile. Because I saw it on the screen, I saw it on the sign, I heard it in a commercial (albeit it was about polishing furniture). In all those instances it was not myself that was shining, it was what I was beholding. So I need not only to shine.

Aha!

I need to also help others find the shine in themselves. I need the teachers I work with to know how tremendously awesome they are. I need my daughter to know how her shine lights up the world. I need my husband to know that he is an amazing father and partner. I need my friends to know that their shine is in the laughter and diehard loyalty they provide. I need my mom to know that she is my best friend and one heck of a force of nature that ties our family together.

Acknowledging the shine that I see, the glimmers that gleam all around me, is what my one little word is all about.

And as with all things that sparkle, it cannot be contained. So, a little side of shine for me.