My it's been a long time since we've been here, hasn't it? I just got swept away in the tidal wave that is every day living in our somewhat crazyish household, but just because I haven't been writing to you doesn't mean you're not on my mind practically every micro-second of the day.
You've begun recently issuing the frequent exclamation "oh yeah" like a tiny tater-tot version of Macho Man Randy Savage who you have no reason to remember since he was eons before your time, but it's very funny to your ancient mom and pop. My goodness it sounds so odd so say "your time". You've already taken your place up in the timeline of life, haven't you? And it's divided into "your time", and "our time". Soon we'll be telling you stories in rickety voices about the hardships of slogging to school 50 miles in deep piles of snow. Of course you should know it's all hogwash. I doubt in the entire history of Florida enough snow could be amassed to be considered a decent molehill, let alone a mountain, but I think you get the drift. It's just odd noting that you are now part of the slipstream of life and time and that one day, the currents will carry you away into an independent existence. I hope we give you a good sending off.
Speaking of which, as part of that sending off (which I qualify as everything from conception till you finally fly the coop), I wanted to share with you something today that I think is very important in life; kindness, kindness for yourself and others.
It's hard to be kind to others when you're feeling grimy yourself so the most important kindness you can show the world is taking good care of yourself as if you were your most precious love. That kind of self-love will give you the strong foundation to blossom and allow others to bask in the glow of your inner light. You are a beautiful child. It's not just your appearance, it's your laugh and your courage and your compassion for others.
For example, we have a chorus line of froggies that greet us every night when we come home by peeping at us from the top of the front door. We love our froggy friends and we are very careful to close the door gently so we don't squish any tender toes, but every night you admonish your daddy "don't hurt them" in very anxious tones. If someone is crying, you are the first to offer comfort. These qualities are what make you genuinely beautiful and I hope they only grow and deepen as you age.
People are drawn to the beautiful in life because it casts a gentle glow out into the shadowy world and kindness is a rare and precious beauty. In order to be able to offer kindness to others, you first have to give it to yourself by doing the following:
- Go easy on your mistakes and your short-comings. Learn from them, but don't dwell on them.
- Realize that sarcasm, especially when directed to others can embarrass or hurt feelings and often is rooted in unexpressed anger/frustration of some kind (your mama is frequently guilty of this)
- Remember that without rain storms, there would be no rainbows or roses (or corn for that matter, but that kind of ruins the alliterative flow, so we'll just push that to the side for now)
- Root out bitterness in yourself, in whatever form it takes. It's just rocks in your pocket and will only weigh you down; even if it seems justified, reasonable, called for, whatever; toss it out. You will fly faster and further with forgiveness than by clinging to old grudges. (We seem to be on an alliterative kick today. I LIKE it!)
- Buzzlebees. Means absolutely nothing, but I'm fresh out of maternal wisdom and I like groupings of 5 so I just made it up to round things out
I made a little digital collage this afternoon that I'd like to share with you here. I hope you like it. I think about you all the time when I'm trying to be my best person. I primarily try so hard because I don't want to let you down by not being the kind of person/mama I aspire to be.
I love you sweetness and I hope all your days are just as beautiful as you.
All my love,
Mama
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