Family Tradition

A picture is worth a thousand words......

E created this her first week of school.  I was not surprised.  Her little brother had chomped down on her arm in a two year old psycho rage just days before school started.  The imprint of his bite was visible for days.  She was a little upset.  

Approximately 31 years ago, my sister experienced the same exact rage from her little firecracker of a sister......me.  Even back then I was a perfectionist and over achiever; I bit her upper arm so hard my bite imprint is still visible today.  The apple never falls far from the tree.

Totally Dorking Out!!!

I am so lucky that I continually get to add people to my "personal heroes list" all the time.  I am fortunate to come into contact with so many who have positively impacted my life.

A recent personal hero is someone I have never met, Dr. Brene Brown.  She is a stud.  I went to her latest book reading at Book People and was one of a few hundred to show up and listen.  Her books, including her latest, Daring Greatly, have impacted my life in such positive ways I would need to start a whole new blog to name them all.  Bottom line: don't be afraid to be vulnerable, we must confront shame to feel joy, NO ONE is perfect- NO ONE so get over yourself and start living life.  She also quotes White Snake in her latest book.... what is not to love?

Background:
When I started this blog I was scared to death.  There was not and still is not anything scarier in my life than putting my writing out there for all to read.  I mean, my family always loved my writings but c'mon they also never told me I needed a style makeover in high school.  (Think poodle dog perms...need I say more).  The day another personal hero and dear friend, Ms. Alma Lehman, passed away I decided it was time to put myself out there.  Maybe it was my way of staying connected to her through the airwaves that may reach to the Heavens--you never know-- whatever, I wanted to publish.

Tonight I was bold and sent BRENE BROWN, PhD (who read my blog) a link to this page.  She is a busy woman on a book tour, dealing with kids at home, probably working on her next book by now but I thought maybe she would have some downtime at an airport and maybe, just maybe, she would check Twitter.  She did!!  She read my blog and also made my day.

Here is the lesson, be bold in your life, be brave.  I want to bottle the feelings I have right now but I cannot so instead I will have to do something more daring tomorrow.  I will be Daring Greatly.

Thank you, Brene.  If you ever want to catch up when you visit Austin you know where to find me.  :)

Be Brave

My daughter is sensitive.  And by sensitive I mean that she trotted off the basketball court DURING a game and ask that I not yell out her name because, "it upsets me," she said.  For the record, I was yelling something along the lines of "Get your hands up E.  Defense!!!"  I told her I understood and sent her back on the court.  I kept my mouth shut and she blocked a shot.  Lesson learned.

Seriously, E is more sensitive than most and it has opened up a world I never knew existed.  There are millions of feelings in this world and E feels every single one.  The tone of your voice can ruin her day.  We are working on her listening to the words people say and not how they say them.  I am hoping this will keep her in sports.  She comes home twice a week thinking her gymnastics coach is mad at her.  It does not enter her mind that one may need to yell with 25 girls running around in a gymnastics class.

A month into the school year she told me she did not like the saying, "have a good day".  That was a shocker because that is what I said every morning as I gave her a kiss and sent her on her way.  E thought there was too much pressure on her if she "had" to have a good day everyday.  Her exact words were along the line of, "but mom everyday is not going to be a good day.  Some days are better than others and I don't want to let you down".  She is six.  Six years old and I swear that came out of her mouth.

So I took a few days off from sending her off with any saying.  Then one day it came to me.  Be Brave.  I told her to "be brave" and asked her to remember that I loved her.  For someone as sensitive as Ella it is hard to take chances.  Heck, it is hard for anyone to take chances.  Some of us just wear the fear of taking a chance more on our sleeve than others.  Be Brave.

Bravery will enable her to ask a new friend to play.  Bravery will get her through having to read in front of the class.  And bravery will help her finish out the day when she gets homesick.  I am taking my own advice and trying to be brave in my own life.   I wish the same for everyone I love.  Imagine if we all stopped living in fear and did one courageous thing.  Odds are if you do one courageous thing it will lead to another.....  Be Brave!