Its my birthday. I'm not too proud to say that I am turning 34.
A few days ago I found myself checking out Josh's FB page and found the following quote from Mark Twain...
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
In the past, I tended to allow fear to direct me toward certain decisions. As my birthday present to myself I'm going to try to "Sail away from the safe harbor."
I should expand on that to say, I don't put much stock in regrets. Your actions were your actions- beating yourself up over them doesn't really make a difference. Learn from your mistakes, apologize to anyone you may have hurt and move on. It appears that Twain also promoted moving forward without regret so maybe I'll give the rest of what he says a shot. I am sure that there is plenty to "Explore [and] Discover" in G'Ville.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Lent...
Yesterday, while we were in the car driving home, I realized that Lent started on Wednesday. I think it was because someone mentioned Mardi Gras, which really makes me sound like a bad Catholic. I anticipate that the man upstairs will give me a pass since last Wednesday we were pretty consumed with the news of Josh's death.
Every year at this time, like millions of other Catholics, I give up something but in the light of recent events I am seriously considering shirking tradition. Don't get me wrong; I completely believe that it is important to use the 40 day period of Lent for introspection and contemplation. I am just questioning how giving up something seemingly meaningless like chocolate would be substantive.
And, here's the thing, I just don't want to do it. I would much rather find a way to make a positive impact over the course of the next 30 something days than to waste time with a futile exercise. Instead, I propose to do something positive everyday. Whether it is biting my tongue and not yelling at the pharmacist who made a mistake with filling E's asthma prescription (if you know me then you know that this is a MUCH bigger effort than giving up chocolate!) or finally sorting through my closet to donate clothes to Goodwill. I suspect that positive actions like these will be a more meritorious use of my time.
I promise to let you know how it goes...
Every year at this time, like millions of other Catholics, I give up something but in the light of recent events I am seriously considering shirking tradition. Don't get me wrong; I completely believe that it is important to use the 40 day period of Lent for introspection and contemplation. I am just questioning how giving up something seemingly meaningless like chocolate would be substantive.
And, here's the thing, I just don't want to do it. I would much rather find a way to make a positive impact over the course of the next 30 something days than to waste time with a futile exercise. Instead, I propose to do something positive everyday. Whether it is biting my tongue and not yelling at the pharmacist who made a mistake with filling E's asthma prescription (if you know me then you know that this is a MUCH bigger effort than giving up chocolate!) or finally sorting through my closet to donate clothes to Goodwill. I suspect that positive actions like these will be a more meritorious use of my time.
I promise to let you know how it goes...
Can I Have a Do Over?
Ok, so not an excellent start to my 365 promise... its been two weeks since my last post. I think I have a pretty decent excuse. I have been very busy. In an effort to "put myself out there" I decided to Chair my daughter's preschool book fair. There are two pretty remarkable things that you need to know in order to put this in perspective. First and foremost, I have never seen a book fair. I don't ever remember my grammar school doing a book fair as a child. Since this is E's first real school experience, we have never attended anything like this before. Second, since I don't have as many friends here yet, I did not have as many resources to draw upon for help with the Fair. It made things an interesting challenge.
I was very nervous and started out the week questioning whether or not I had enough volunteers. However, at the end of the week, when I had to leave South Carolina for an emergency, everyone jumped at the chance to be able to help. I had volunteers coming out of the woodwork and rushing to help in any way that they could. It really was a testament to how wonderful of a community we have moved into. I still don't know the outcome of the Book Fair and won't know our totals until I return to South Carolina. In light of everything else, it seems really inconsequential.
In order to explain, I think you need a little bit of background information. My husband doesn't have an abundance of family. Don't get me wrong; the family that he does have is wonderful and loving. It's just that because I come from a large family its very different to me. I guess somewhat in response to his lack of an extensive family, when he was in college, Mike made his own family. He is lucky enough to have a pretty amazing group of friends who I am proud that we can consider our other family. We have spent several holidays in the company of one or more of his brothers and their families. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together. Its a bond that they have held for somewhere around 15 years which makes it even more uncommon.
Unfortunately, earlier this week we received the devastating news that one of his brothers had passed on. There was no question, no hesitation, we immediately made the arrangements to drive 12 hours from Greenville, SC to Jamestown, NY...in the middle of a snow storm...through the mountains...with a 4 year old. ( I have to say-James and Sandy had it double rough- they made the same drive, but with a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Talk about troupers!) I am not going to lie. It was a yucky drive, but that's what you do for your family.
I don't have the words to describe how sad this week has been. Josh was a brilliant man with a huge heart of gold. He will be very sorely missed. I can't even begin to imagine how distraught his twin brother, Jason, must feel. I do know that the rest of his brothers will do everything possible to be sure they help to ease his burden in any way that they can. The bond between this group of guys is completely amazing and hasn't waned no matter how far apart or close together we all live or how frequently or infrequently they speak. It's a bond that they have passed along to their spouses. Several of us have become very close friends.
I can only hope that our daughter will fondly remember her Uncle Josh and, through the stories she hears and the pictures she sees, will know what a wonderful addition he was to our family.
Rest in Peace, Josh.
XO
I was very nervous and started out the week questioning whether or not I had enough volunteers. However, at the end of the week, when I had to leave South Carolina for an emergency, everyone jumped at the chance to be able to help. I had volunteers coming out of the woodwork and rushing to help in any way that they could. It really was a testament to how wonderful of a community we have moved into. I still don't know the outcome of the Book Fair and won't know our totals until I return to South Carolina. In light of everything else, it seems really inconsequential.
In order to explain, I think you need a little bit of background information. My husband doesn't have an abundance of family. Don't get me wrong; the family that he does have is wonderful and loving. It's just that because I come from a large family its very different to me. I guess somewhat in response to his lack of an extensive family, when he was in college, Mike made his own family. He is lucky enough to have a pretty amazing group of friends who I am proud that we can consider our other family. We have spent several holidays in the company of one or more of his brothers and their families. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together. Its a bond that they have held for somewhere around 15 years which makes it even more uncommon.
Unfortunately, earlier this week we received the devastating news that one of his brothers had passed on. There was no question, no hesitation, we immediately made the arrangements to drive 12 hours from Greenville, SC to Jamestown, NY...in the middle of a snow storm...through the mountains...with a 4 year old. ( I have to say-James and Sandy had it double rough- they made the same drive, but with a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Talk about troupers!) I am not going to lie. It was a yucky drive, but that's what you do for your family.
I don't have the words to describe how sad this week has been. Josh was a brilliant man with a huge heart of gold. He will be very sorely missed. I can't even begin to imagine how distraught his twin brother, Jason, must feel. I do know that the rest of his brothers will do everything possible to be sure they help to ease his burden in any way that they can. The bond between this group of guys is completely amazing and hasn't waned no matter how far apart or close together we all live or how frequently or infrequently they speak. It's a bond that they have passed along to their spouses. Several of us have become very close friends.
I can only hope that our daughter will fondly remember her Uncle Josh and, through the stories she hears and the pictures she sees, will know what a wonderful addition he was to our family.
Rest in Peace, Josh.
XO
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A Brief Introduction and Beginning
Allow me to take this opportunity to introduce myself...I'm Jennifer, a wife and a stay-at-home mom to a 4 year old princess. Before I had those titles, I was a New Yorker- a title I always thought would apply to me. But like most things, when you think you have things figured out- life throws you a curve ball.
A year ago, the company that my husband works for relocated our family from New York City to Greenville, South Carolina. I'm going to let you all in on a little secret that I never thought I would say...I LOVE it here. It is a more laid back way of life. People are kind and friendly. More importantly, we have more time together as a family to...well, be a family. That makes it a much better way of life for my little girl. And don't get me started on the weather...it was 65 and sunny today! Not exactly typical weather for NY in February.
I have spent that past year getting to know the area and trying to start our life down here, but part of me has really just acted like we were "visiting". Don't get me wrong- we are completely unpacked and have been since two weeks after the move. But, I have only just started to make new friends and to actively pursue things which I think reflect permanency- like outside of the home activities and interests and finally getting our house organized and decorated so that it feels like home.
And that brings me to this blog. There are quite a few blogs that I subscribe to and read on a daily (almost daily) basis...MaxxSilly is one of them. In reading MaxxSilly, I was introduced to reading New Dress a Day which was started by a young lady out in Cali. This girl decided that she was going to make a new outfit for herself everyday without spending more than $365...That's a dollar a day! It was pretty fun to check in to see what she was coming up with. I am not really great with a sewing machine, but I liked her concept of working 365 days toward a goal. And I figured, hey, I can do that. So I'll be spending the next 365 turning Greenville from somewhere I act like I am visiting to where I am proud to live.
I hope you'll keep me company.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)