Today's pattern is more about our family and the connectivity we have and that I hope to expand. This pattern would be a multi-colored zigzag as I add more about us and how our lives run parallel but definitely not is a straight line.
My husband has 2 sisters who each have 2 daughters. His sister Silky (nickname for many years) has retired to Florida to be closer to youngest daughter, Rebecca (husband Ryan & daughter Skyla). The Means family have just launched a new business, Remote Footprints, (http://remotefootprints.org/) which grew from their love for adventure and their passion for the environment. Rebecca has a blog called Traveling Trail Mix (http://remotefootprints.org/travelingtrailmix/), and in her latest post she gave the GET OUTSIDE challenge to encourage us to spend 30 outside for a week and to post our responses. I encourage you to visit their websites to see what they are planning. It is exciting to see their dreams take shape
Oh yes, I am taking the GET OUTSIDE challenge. Here is what I posted for Day 1:
I am in total agreement that being outside has so many benefits for your body, mind, and spirit. After a long career in the education field (librarian and special ed teacher) which is almost exclusively done inside a building, I found myself longing for the outside since I have retired. I have spent many hours in my special chair on my special patio. Sometimes I have a project (I find a way to do almost any task there), and sometimes I just sit and soak in the ambiance of nature. I look at the sky, the leaves and bark of the trees, and I look at and listen to the birds and squirrels. So I accept your GET OUTSIDE challenge. I spent yesterday having lunch with a friend at our local park by the sound enjoying the scenery along with our conservation. Then at home, I moved my projects outside and spent about 2 hours there. Today I will find another way to receive some more of the natural energy from my outside world.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
After starting the morning with my mediation time--centering prayer, devotional books, my prayer lists--I moved to my "to-do" list & started checking things off and adding things on. This is the beginning pattern of my day since I retired in 2006.
My "to-dos" vary but there are some constants. I would call this pattern "gingham" since I like to CHECK things off of my list and feel a sense of completion to a task. My list is long this week as I work to bring closure to some volunteer projects, bring order to the chaos of my home, and bring planning to preparation for a special trip.
Next week I travel to San Diego to meet the newest member of our family--Emma Lee. She was born on January 19 and has a 16 month old brother--Charlie. Her parents are Stephanie & Scott, my son. Her birth adds another design to our family's pattern but what it looks like will develop as she grows into herself.
The design of our immediate family also includes my granddaughter Elizabeth Kate, who is 14 years old and lives in Statesville, NC with her parents, John and Cindy, my daughter. There is also Pete, my husband and their father & grandfather.
Each of our family's members has their own design & each of these designs weaves together as we build our lives together.
Sometimes the pattern is clear and sometimes it is cloudy, but always it is unique.
Sometime it is happy and sometimes it is sad, but always it is unique.
I am grateful for the chance to be a part of this pattern, and I look forward to watching the design develop.
I am not sure of a name for this pattern as it changes as we all grow & change. Maybe its name will evolve in time, and maybe it won't.
My "to-dos" vary but there are some constants. I would call this pattern "gingham" since I like to CHECK things off of my list and feel a sense of completion to a task. My list is long this week as I work to bring closure to some volunteer projects, bring order to the chaos of my home, and bring planning to preparation for a special trip.
Next week I travel to San Diego to meet the newest member of our family--Emma Lee. She was born on January 19 and has a 16 month old brother--Charlie. Her parents are Stephanie & Scott, my son. Her birth adds another design to our family's pattern but what it looks like will develop as she grows into herself.
The design of our immediate family also includes my granddaughter Elizabeth Kate, who is 14 years old and lives in Statesville, NC with her parents, John and Cindy, my daughter. There is also Pete, my husband and their father & grandfather.
Each of our family's members has their own design & each of these designs weaves together as we build our lives together.
Sometimes the pattern is clear and sometimes it is cloudy, but always it is unique.
Sometime it is happy and sometimes it is sad, but always it is unique.
I am grateful for the chance to be a part of this pattern, and I look forward to watching the design develop.
I am not sure of a name for this pattern as it changes as we all grow & change. Maybe its name will evolve in time, and maybe it won't.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A Year Later
Well, it's a year later and I have not written another blog! I make no excuses and offer no reasons (real or otherwise) for this. I make no resolutions to do better and make no promises of profound wisdom if and when I do write something. However, today I do feel led to make a post. So, here it is!
The title of my blog pATTERNs is a reflection of what I feel that life is. One of the dictionary's definitions which fits this blog is: a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies that form a consistent or characteristic arrangement. My plan is to share with you some of the pATTERNs in my life.
My profile picture is the most recent one made of my family's four generations--my mother, my self, my daughter, and my granddaughter. We have had many such pictures made over the past 14 years since EKW was born. For me this is symbolic of one of life's major pATTERNs--the connectivity of the generations and the importance of family. I have been blessed to be a part of this group and have shared with them in many ways and in many times.
I think that I instinctively realized there are pATTERNs in our lives however, this was truly made clear to me when I helped my daughter, my son-in-law , and my granddaughter move into their new home about 800 miles away from me. The following is an excerpt from something I wrote that week in 1999. I share it with you now.
"I will miss my child and her child but the bond is made and it cannot be broken. The 3 of us (4 if we count my mother) will build on that bond and make it stronger. This is all part of the circle of life that has been ordained from the beginning of the earth. There is a special bond between mothers and daughters. Often we fight it & try to deny it & sometimes a small or large rebellion takes place. If only we can take the best of our mothers and incorporate that into ourselves what an accomplishment that would be. I have felt a lot like my mother this week...feeling is strange, funny, sad--not sure what--it's just there. I think it should be a feeling of comfort that the life cycle goes on. Each generation picks up the tasks of the one before it and hands them to the one to come. I think it is important not to fight it but to welcome it, as it is part of the plan God has for us. Each generation adds its uniqueness and special gifts but each one also carries within it some seeds of those who came before them. Since this momentous move we have all have worked to keep those bonds strong and growing....Our relationships are not perfect, but we keep working on them and making memories."
The title of my blog pATTERNs is a reflection of what I feel that life is. One of the dictionary's definitions which fits this blog is: a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies that form a consistent or characteristic arrangement. My plan is to share with you some of the pATTERNs in my life.
My profile picture is the most recent one made of my family's four generations--my mother, my self, my daughter, and my granddaughter. We have had many such pictures made over the past 14 years since EKW was born. For me this is symbolic of one of life's major pATTERNs--the connectivity of the generations and the importance of family. I have been blessed to be a part of this group and have shared with them in many ways and in many times.
I think that I instinctively realized there are pATTERNs in our lives however, this was truly made clear to me when I helped my daughter, my son-in-law , and my granddaughter move into their new home about 800 miles away from me. The following is an excerpt from something I wrote that week in 1999. I share it with you now.
"I will miss my child and her child but the bond is made and it cannot be broken. The 3 of us (4 if we count my mother) will build on that bond and make it stronger. This is all part of the circle of life that has been ordained from the beginning of the earth. There is a special bond between mothers and daughters. Often we fight it & try to deny it & sometimes a small or large rebellion takes place. If only we can take the best of our mothers and incorporate that into ourselves what an accomplishment that would be. I have felt a lot like my mother this week...feeling is strange, funny, sad--not sure what--it's just there. I think it should be a feeling of comfort that the life cycle goes on. Each generation picks up the tasks of the one before it and hands them to the one to come. I think it is important not to fight it but to welcome it, as it is part of the plan God has for us. Each generation adds its uniqueness and special gifts but each one also carries within it some seeds of those who came before them. Since this momentous move we have all have worked to keep those bonds strong and growing....Our relationships are not perfect, but we keep working on them and making memories."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
After much postponing and procrastination, I am writing my first public piece. For these first days of 2010 I have been cleaning clutter from my closets, cobwebs from my home, and confusion from my mind. There is more of all three of these to work on, but the process has begun. All of these will come come back again but for now, they are under control.
Some of my confusion was in deciding what to write for this blog. I have been making notes and collecting articles of interest for years. The idea of writing something has been planted in my head for years also. I have ideas floating around both in my head and on paper. The challenge was to choose the "right" one.
Today my cleaning chore was the drawer with my writing stuff. There were notebooks (some with blank pages & some with words) ; scraps of paper with ideas or impressions; folders of materials from writing workshops. I have kept some, tossed some, combined some, separated some. Now all are reorganized in a special rainbow-striped box. So here goes--official start--January 28, 2010.
pATTERNs is the name--small p and s denote my initials & are very often my signature.
So I invite you to join my journey in 2010 as I write about pATTERNs in my life!
Some of my confusion was in deciding what to write for this blog. I have been making notes and collecting articles of interest for years. The idea of writing something has been planted in my head for years also. I have ideas floating around both in my head and on paper. The challenge was to choose the "right" one.
Today my cleaning chore was the drawer with my writing stuff. There were notebooks (some with blank pages & some with words) ; scraps of paper with ideas or impressions; folders of materials from writing workshops. I have kept some, tossed some, combined some, separated some. Now all are reorganized in a special rainbow-striped box. So here goes--official start--January 28, 2010.
pATTERNs is the name--small p and s denote my initials & are very often my signature.
So I invite you to join my journey in 2010 as I write about pATTERNs in my life!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Finally
I finally did it! I have started my blog! After years of procrastination I am ready to send my words and my thoughts out to the world. I will learn and grow from this experience! I will stretch and expand my horizons. I look forward to new experiences and new friends. Here I go!
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