The Blog Dare: Making Memories

"Where has the year gone?" is the Blog Dare writing prompt for today, Friday, May 31st.

I think I'll tweak my musing a little bit to ask: where have all the years gone?

This [photo to the right] was me eleven years ago to the day. Now I have one son - the one in my "ball" - who is headed to middle school next year and one going into 4th grade. And I turned 40 this month. Seriously. Where do the years go?!?

Well...

It's gone to living my life to the fullest and making memories with my three boys. 

But I'll stick with the assigned prompt for five highlights for the first five months of 2013.

#5: The boys' first fencing tournament

#4: Watching the boys confidently navigate intermediate ski runs

#3: Going to the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit at the Asian Art Museum

#2: Attending TEDx Monterey with Riley and 

seeing our friend Kevin speak about his 20% project

#1: Ringing in my 40th year with a kid-free day with my Love - 

forgive the blurry photo!

There you have it. Looking forward to making more memories throughout the rest of the year.

The Blog Dare: Unexpected Changes...

"Changes I didn't expect in 2012" is the Blog Dare writing prompt for today, Friday, January 4th.

When I first became a mom, changes were de rigeur. My baby changed every single day. One day his eyes were crossed, the next he could focus on us and grin. One day he was immobile, the next he was rolling. One day he was toothless, the next pink gums were replaced with jagged, pearly white teeth. The only constant was change!

But as they left babyhood and became toddlers, visible change slowed. And the pace slowed even more when they entered school. Dramatic changes were replaced by subtle ones, almost unnoticeable unless you took the time to look. There were definite Eureka! moments when I realized that they were not the same as the day before.

One night I was tucking Dylan in and crawled under his covers as I always did to snuggle up, smell his clean hair, and read a book with him. He looked at me and said, "Mom, you know that I can read, right?!" I was stunned into silence. I know that you can read, I stammered. "But you can bring your own book in here and read next to me," he offered. "...if you want to." Okay.

Also in 2012, my 10-year-old started wearing shoes bigger than mine, exhibiting the clear signs of pre-pubescence, and developing an understated independence that brought tears to my eyes. Gone are the tantrums he used to throw when his vocabulary didn't match his thoughts. He's not defiant; he's just firm, focused, articulate and steadfast.

I suppose I should have expected these changes. But somehow they still caught me off-guard.

The Blog Dare: I Urge You to...

"I Urge You to..." so reads the Blog Dare writing prompt for today, Wednesday, December 26th. Never having participated in this venture before, I'm not even sure that I'm doing this correctly. But I really like these seeds of inspiration and decided to give it a whirl today.

I urge you to...handwrite your thank you notes this year.

Why? For me, there are a few reasons.

(1) Because I force my kids to do it. They may pace themselves (3 per day or 4 per day) until they get them all written, but they do it. I should lead by example, right? Yes.

(2) Because eThanks get buried in a glut of post-holiday sale emails. Do you get emails from every vendor you've ever ordered from, reminding you of the great sales they have going this week? I sure do - from Office Depot to Lands End. It's far too easy to accidentally select and delete an actual email that you want to read at this time of year. Whoops.

(3) Because there's something wonderful about a piece of paper in your hand from someone that you like or love. Their choice of paper and card say something about their mood or personality. Their handwriting tells you that they value you (and your gift) enough to take a few moments out of their day - longer than it takes to type out an email - to tell you so. They bought a stamp and took it to the post office - or at least lifted the flag on their mailbox. It shows determination and purpose.

So that's it: my exhortation for you to buy some pretty cards and write out your gratitude in ink. Hope your holidays were merry and bright. Dylan picked some thank you cards with a goldfish and googly eyes; Riley's have blueprints of a robot on them. Now I just need to find some cards for myself. I'm thinking about something pink and sparkly.