Sometimes I Write

30 Day People Challenge – Day 13: A Beloved Child in your Life

Posted in Family, Joy in the Journey, Just for fun, Nowell Kiddos, Parenting, Writing Challenge, tagged #30peoplechallenge, 30 Day Challenge, writing challenge on November 13, 2015| 2 Comments »

It occurred to me that I should occasionally follow the rules, so though I have three beloved children and they’re all my favorites, today I’m going to choose only one to write about.

I chose Pete. He’s my youngest. My last. My baby. The one who tags along with me a lot because he’s not as social as his brother and sister. He’s my mischievous child. Just look at that face! I shot this a few minutes after I told him he couldn’t walk in the stream.

“I didn’t walk in it. I only stepped in it.”

Pete has his own sense of style and doesn’t care what people think about it. His socks NEVER match, he wears camouflage every chance he gets, and his latest fashion craze is his women’s fuzzy polka-dotted robe.See? I was serious! This kid makes me laugh with his punny jokes. He asks me astoundingly intelligent questions that are difficult to answer. He says he’ll never stop cuddling with me. Eventually that might get awkward, but at eleven years old, he can’t foresee a day in his life he won’t want to cuddle with me. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Pete is a pretty amazing kid!

Read about more amazing kids on my fellow challenger friend’s blogs:

30 Day People Challenge – Day 12: Your Neighbor

Posted in Free to be me, Humor, Joy in the Journey, Just for fun, tagged #30peoplechallenge, 30 Day Challenge, MR. Rogers, Neighbor, writing challenge on November 12, 2015| 1 Comment »

I’ve moved around a lot and lived next door to amazing, friendly people, but I’ve never had a neighbor I loved like Mr. Rogers. Like millions of other children, I grew up singing this song, going on field trips to interesting places in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, reading stories with Daniel Tiger, and learning some of life’s tougher lessons in a safe, nurturing way. Fred Rogers looked for the good in everyone he met and championed kindness and knowing who you are.

He was safe and gentle. He didn’t yell. He wasn’t sarcastic. He cared deeply for his friends. He said there’s no one else exactly like me and he likes me just the way I am. When you hear those words day after day, you begin to believe them. Mr. Rogers was a fantastic neighbor!

He gave me hope and courage, and I wanted to live in his real life neighborhood. I loved his words of wisdom that sounded a lot like words of love from someone who clearly knew how to love people. He taught me that every person has value and it’s up to me to always be a friend. He said things like,

“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

And

“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”

I’ve taken many of his lessons to heart and woven them into my life’s mission:

To love extravagantly and be a good friend.

Want to meet some of my other neighbors?

30 Day People Challenge – Day 11: Someone You Admire

Posted in Books I Love, Creativity, Free to be me, Joy in the Journey, Just for fun, tagged #30peoplechallenge, 30 Day Challenge, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller, Searching For God Knows What, Storyline Conference, writing challenge on November 11, 2015| 1 Comment »

This is Donald Miller. Several years ago a friend asked, “Hey! Have you read Blue Like Jazz yet?” They lent me their copy and I stayed up late (as I often do) finishing it in one sitting. It was deeply moving, and if you haven’t read it or any of his books, I recommend them all. My favorite is Searching For God Knows What. There were several times I paused to pull the book to my chest and whisper the word “yes” into the night. I found another kindred spirit in Don Miller!

I had the privilege of attending his Storyline Conference in Nashville in 2013. I was there alone, for about two seconds until I met Jennifer. I adopted the philosophy a long time ago that everyone I meet is a potential friend, so Jennifer, who was also attending alone, became my conference buddy. It was great to have someone to process with everyday. We were both inspired by amazing speakers like Bob Goff, Shauna Niequist, and Joshua DuBois. I sat in on a breakout session with Christian recording artist, Brandon Heath as he played a sweet song for us that wasn’t on any of his albums and graciously answered everyone’s questions about life in the spotlight and living out your faith. Don’s main sessions had me scribbling hot pink notes all over my binder. At the end of the day I said goodbye to Jennifer and went back to my beautiful condo across from the Grand Ole Opry – a timeshare gift from a generous couple in my life – and wrestled with everything I was learning. Over the course of four days, I mapped out the beginning of my new life plan, then flew home to share my conference stories with anyone who would listen.

But back to Don. As I was thinking through the weekend and going over my notes, my thoughts kept returning to him. He has a team of people who help him pull off these conferences. He has a contact list full of movers and shakers he calls friends. He has several books under his belt. He started a ministry aimed at helping the fatherless. He’s done a long list of worthy things that have earned him the admiration of thousands of people, but that’s not what stands out for me. Don himself stands out because he realized life wasn’t about him and when he embraced that, he found the happiness that had been eluding him. Like solving a puzzle he’d been working on for years, Don found his passion then found a way to use it to help me find mine.

Isn’t that one of our first wake-up calls as we mature? That we are not the center of the universe? It’s not always about us? I admire Don Miller because he’s teachable, he learns, grows, and does better, and he lends courage to others to do better. His whole Storyline franchise is about helping other people tell a better story with their lives. It’s about all of us and the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories we tell others. He had the courage to stumble through the process first.

One of my favorite lessons I’ve learned from him can be found in this post on the Storyline blog: 4 Words That Changed My Career.

I have a psychologist friend who, after hearing me speak at a conference, pulled me aside. At the conference, I talked about how I’d written 1/4 of a novel and thrown it away because it wasn’t good enough. He said, “Don, I think I know your problem. You’re being too careful. When you first started as a writer, readers loved your work because you said what you felt; you took huge risks. Now, you’re always so careful. We miss the Don who wasn’t careful.”

I am too careful.

I admire Don for going first and giving me a tool box to build a better life. Because of him, I’m learning to tell a better story. I’m learning to be less careful and take more risks. I’m growing in my ability to be my fierce self without the fear of being too much and not enough. His courage gave me courage so I could give you courage. Pass it on! ♥

I had a difficult time choosing who to write about today. With the flip of a coin, Don beat out Brene Brown. No worries, I’ll write about her before this challenge is over. 😉

Go ahead. Flip a coin to see which challenger to visit next:

30 Day People Challenge – Day 10: Someone You Wish You Could Forget

Posted in Just for fun, tagged #30peoplechallenge, 30 Day Challenge, Freddy Krueger, writing challenge on November 10, 2015| 1 Comment »

Who picked this dumb topic? Oh yeah. That would be me. I adapted this challenge list from a few others I found and I should have changed this one.This is a terrible day for this topic as I spent my afternoon at a memorial service for a good friend. It’s a day for remembering. Oh well, this will be the shortest thing I’ll post for this challenge.

I was in 7th grade when A Nightmare on Elm Street released. I don’t remember if a friend or boyfriend made me watch it with them, but if I could travel back in time, I’d punch them in the throat. I watched a few of the movies and for the life of me, I can’t remember why. They scared the crap out of me! I had nightmares for weeks! Imagine me on my knees, praying to God to protect me from a fictional character. That’s how scared I was! It sounds a bit ridiculous now, but my dreams are vivid, full-color, action adventure type dreams. Adding Freddy Krueger to them? Horrifically bad idea.

I REALLY wish I could forget Freddy Krueger. That creepy jackass killed Johnny Depp in the first movie!

My apologies for today’s topic go to: