Roots

I haven't blogged in a few months, not because I haven't had any thoughts but because I just haven't taken time to write.  I hope that all my readers had a great holiday season and also am mindful that the holidays aren't happy for all people.  Special thanks to those who sacrifice their family time to protect our country and community on banner days and every day.

I had the best Christmas ever.  Not because the gifts were good but because the company was good and the memories were strong.  As I sat at my parent's home on Christmas Eve, I did my usual introverted thing and retreated into the recesses of my mind thinking about a lot of things.

I am blessed beyond measure.  I remember as a child wishing we could move into a different house.  Not because I didn't like my house but because I thought it was cool to move.  We didn't.  Then when I got married, I was beside myself to move to a different state and see new things.  That zeal lasted about 6 months and then reality set in that my home was in Tennessee.  We lived in Georgia for 6 years and the Lord blessed us with a job in my home town.  We moved back.  My zeal to move back was exponentially better than my zeal to move away.  I have not moved away again.  All my family lives within 5 minutes of me and I love it like that.  My children have grown up being in their grandparents homes and knowing their grandparents.  My roots are so deep in Hendersonville, Tennessee that it would take a massive effort to uproot me.


Back to Christmas, I sat around my parent's home, my childhood home, and realized how special it is that I am able to celebrate the holidays or any day in the home that I first skinned my knee.  The home where I learned multiplication at the kitchen table.  The home where I decided where I was going to college.  The home where I brought my fiance'.  The home where my aunts and uncles ate coconut cake and barbecue.   Oh the memories.  How blessed am I to be sitting in the home where I grew up, now with my grown children who grew up being in this home also.  I sat and listened to my mother play Christmas carols on the piano and my girls harmonizing.  The sound was so melodious it was that of angels.  I am so very blessed.  My mother cooked Christmas dinner.  It was perfect.  I am so blessed that she is able to cook for us.  I treasure that so.  Roots.  I realized that nowadays, that is incredibly unusual to have roots as deep as mine.  Most people move around and don't stay in the same place for one reason or another.  Not me.  My parents bought their home new and have lived there ever since.  I have spent 47 Christmases there.  Wow.  How blessed am I.

I hope your roots bring you memories as great as mine.  Happy New Year to all of you!!

Jennifer

Be a Blessing

Yesterday I spent my day flushing my head in the toilet over something most would be elated about. You see, my youngest was going to be inducted into the Honor Society at school last night. I was proud but I wasn't. I was excited but I wasn't. The "wasn't" part is what I was plagued about all day. Why was I not thrilled about this?  After much prayer I pinpointed what my feelings were. 

I was going to go sit beside the parent who pushed and punished their kid into the honor society.  The parent who grounded their kid for making a B or a C. The parent who thought they had reached the pinnacle of their existence with their child being in the honor society. 

The pinnacle of their existence is not thet their child makes great grades because all that really means is there is a letter on a paper. It isn't the gauge that measures a child's purpose or intelligence or performance. Parents reach the pinnacle of their existence when their child walks with the sad, eats lunch with the new kid, includes the underdog when others shun them. They reach the pinnacle when their child loves God first and is a blessing to everyone they meet. Not when they make A's on a card. 

I realized that my youngest was a blessing first. Every day when she comes home from school I ask her who she was a blessing to that day. My last words before she gets on the bus is "Be a Blessing". And she is. The honor society is not something I aspired for my children. I aspire for them to be humble and kind. A friend to all. I also realized that the honor society was something she desired for herself and worked hard to achieve. I realized that she knew what was important in life and she also aspired to make good grades-on her own-not because I was wanting it FOR her or making her achieve such. 

So I went to the ceremony last night and burst with pride knowing that my child is a phenomenal human first, and makes stellar grades because it's what she wants to do. Something to truly be proud of. Developing character is a life skill. No one cares what grades you made in school once you are an adult. They care how you treat other humans. 

Friends, go be a blessing today. And if along the way, you decide to be the account executive of the year, or teacher of the year, or top salesman of the year, or Sergeant in the Army, then work hard to achieve that, but be a phenomenal human first. 

When I grow up, I want to be just like my kids because they are fantastic humans first. 

Jennifer 

The Best Day of My Life

Today is the best day of my life. Not because I am getting married or having a baby or my child graduates or my first grandchild will be born or because it is my 50th wedding anniversary or I am leaving for vacation. But more because I am alive and I am finding joy in sitting by the pool in the warm sunshine and enjoying my family. 

It's funny, people who spend time with me regularly laugh when I say "This is the best day of my life." I say it every day at some point during the day. I may say it when I order my favorite ice cream or get a drink at Sonic. I may say it when I cross the finish line at a race. I may say it while I sit on my deck and hear the birds chirping. 

You see, if we wait till the big events in life to have a best day, then we spend most of our lives in mediocrity. Don't live in mediocrity, live the best day of your life every day. It's all in your perspective. Look for the good in every day. Find joy in the little things. Happiness is a decision. It's a conscious decision we make every day. We can be like a sailboat tossed to and fro by our circumstances or we can decide to be happy and give thanks in all things. 

May today be the best day of your life. I know it is the best day of mine. 

Jennifer

Able

I am disabled. I can't turn a cartwheel. Have never been able to do that so that makes me disabled. I also can't do a pull up. I don't have enough upper body strength to do one. Even several years ago when I was on a bodybuilding regimen I was unable to do a single pull up. I'm disabled. I am able to jump really high. Some people can't so they are disabled. I can run 48.6 miles in 4 races in 4 days. Most people can't so they are disabled. I can draw really well. Some people can't draw a stick figure so they are disabled. 

Today I would like to challenge your thinking by bringing to light one of my pet peeves. I despise the term "disabled". NO ONE is disabled. We are ALL differently abled. I am able to run long distances but because you can't doesn't mean you are disabled. It means your ablilities lie in different areas. Because you can do a pull up and I can't doesn't make me disabled. It makes me have ablilities that lie in a different area.

 A person in a wheelchair can do a pull-up because their upper body strength is better than mine due to lack of leg strength. Differently abled. 

A person who is deaf can communicate with their hands. Differently abled. 

A person who is mute can communicate with the use of a computer. Differently abled. 

A person who can't make eye contact with people is exceptionally smart. Differently abled. 

What if God had made us all with the same ablilities?  What would our world look like?  Who put certain people in the category of disabled?  Why aren't all the people who wear glasses labeled disabled?  Because NO ONE is disabled. We are ALL differently abled. 

Today, look around and notice all the different ablilities people have. We are all able. In different ways. 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Jennifer