Amy’s first week of school was a success! From taking the bus to selecting her classes and meeting her new classmates, it was all a wonderful week. But not without homework! She has lots of reading for her feminist art history class, and the first paper is very academic. Why is it that when papers are academic they are so often hard to understand? Why the big words to sound extra smart when actually being easily understandable is what everyone should aim for? Anyway, as you can see this author has digressed to argue and pontificate about ideas and theories that perhaps should be left to other realms, pages, and days, when really she should ideally be getting on with the main and most salient content of the twenty four hours we currently inhabit. On the plus side, for Amy’s class about Utopias and Dystopias, she is reading short stories by authors I always felt I should read but never have, so I’m taking her class vicariously and reading everything she does.
Sarah had a great week at her school too. She is eager for her jobs to start, especially since they are the same jobs she had last year so she knows what she is doing. On Friday there was a pep rally and she was so excited about it that she woke half an hour earlier than she needed to and was downstairs ready for the bus at the time she normally is finishing breakfast.
We ended the work week with a Family Day party at Carl’s work. The kids loved the bounce house and bouncy obstacle course, but Amy was otherwise mostly bored until one of her friends arrived. Then all was right with the world. Sarah’s favorite part may have been pretending to drive one of the autonomous trucks. She kept taking a turn sitting at the wheel, climbing out, and getting in line again for another turn.
I did two podcast recordings this week, both of which will come out in November. I love all of the conversations I have with different podcast hosts. While the main content may be the same, because it is about my story of parenting Sarah, the questions almost always vary. One person asked me what being intentional in my life today looks like. At the time I felt like I stumbled through an answer, and of course thought of many more things I could have or should have said after the recording was done, but I love bringing that question to the forefront of my mind. A different podcaster reflected back to me after I shared many details about my parenting journey, that it seemed like I was always living very intentionally. That surprised me because that’s not a word I would have chosen to describe myself but I got teary feeling so seen and acknowledged for my choices along this path. What I didn’t say to either but I will share with you, is that lately one way I keep myself moving forward with presence and intentionality is to remind myself repeatedly that this life is finite. Don’t get me wrong, I still choose to spend many of those precious minutes puzzling over the Spelling Bee, but I also use this tiny kick in the pants to do things that I want to do but that feel intimidating. I’m very very very slowly trying to write another book but the gremlins on my shoulder that judge every word are loud, and I need a push to ignore them and write something anyway. What helps the most is to remind myself that my goal is to write a bad draft. Do something badly? Sure! I’m your gal. Do something well? Yikes, that is too much pressure and I think I would rather scroll social media for too many minutes.
In other book-related news, I was extremely honored to receive the Readers’ Favorite silver medal for non-fiction in the parenting category. When my book came out I didn’t enter any contests at first because I kept telling myself I shouldn’t spend the money to enter when there was no way I would win. Then I changed my thinking, realizing that if I didn’t believe in my book then why should anyone else? I knew I still might not win anything, but it was an important shift in my perspective to at least consider myself worthy of entering. It was one toe stepping outside of the imposter syndrome. It has been validating and heart-warming to have my book recognized by so many different professional evaluators. It is just as heart-warming and validating to read positive reviews from readers, so I thank you thank you thank you so very much if you have written a review!! You melt the cockles of my heart and knock my socks off!
Lastly, we have a very cool refrigerator these days. Cool, as in, it works! And cool, as in, we can draw on it! The doors are glass and we can use dry-erase or washable markers to draw on the doors and then we can wipe them clean. May you have a clean door for your intentions today, and start fresh however often you need to.
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