Everything is awesome
Let me set the scene:
As I write this, I'm trying to shake this cough/cold/sneezing thing that has its grip on me, and Dillon and Blake are in the other room singing the Lego movie theme song:
"Everything is awesooommme!"
That song is so annoying, and so ridiculously catchy. I dare you to listen to it and try to get it out of your head.
Last week was one event after the other—Cate turned two, school was canceled twice, Valentine's Day was NOT canceled, and Dillon turned eight.
I forgot that Cate needed Valentines for her Mother's Morning Out class, so we sent her to school with Minecraft cards—complete with the Creeper on the front—just like the ones her older brothers handed out to their friends. My husband was like, "She's two. She can't read," and he walked into the toddler classroom with those Valentines and owned it. Still, we were semi-concerned that the cards weren't age appropriate, so we chose the ones that read "You are more precious than diamonds" and not the ones that said, "Are you a block of dirt? Because I dig you."
So the point is, lately, I'm improvising, managing my expectations and singing everything is awesoommmme while hopped up on cold meds.
The other night I was lying on the couch waiting for the NyQuil to kick in, and I found the Today show interview with Kelly Corrigan I'd recorded on the DVR. Corrigan is one of my favorite authors and she's on a publicity tour for her new memoir, Glitter and Glue. Listening to her talk about the book was a late night treat before I passed out, snoring and breathing through my mouth.
I'm on Corrigan's mailing list and in a recent email she wrote this:
22 years ago i started writing a book about a family i lived with in australia and how that radically upended many opinions i held of my mother. i sent the pages to my friends tracy tuttle and steve marshall and my old professor from u of richmond. the marked up pages went back and forth across the country through something called the us mail for many months until i just gave up. it seemed ludicrous that anything would ever come of the work. who did i think i was anyway?
that book i started in 1992 comes out tomorrow.
I'm halfway through the book, and when I'm not reading it, it sits on my desk all red and bright, like a reminder... a symbol. Corrigan's voice resonates with me, and stories like hers keep me connected to my own writing journey.
There's so much coming at us these days. Social media can flood us if we let it. We're constantly absorbing other people's thoughts and ideas and successes, and it can make it tough to stay focused on our own objectives and visions, especially when circumstances out of our control (like severe weather and illnesses) disturb our daily rhythms.
So, I'm keeping my radar tuned to what lights me up. And when I discover those things, I'm trying to pause and pay attention. I want to keep my energy moving in that direction, even when it feels so incredibly difficult. So if you sense an extra dose of everything is awesome around here, it's on purpose.
What lights you up these days?
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New in a Year in Pictures: What I gave my husband for Valentine's Day.
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There are a few auditions spots left for the Charleston production of Listen To Your Mother. Auditions will be held on March 1, 2 and 3. Visit listentoyourmothershow.com/charleston to learn more and reserve your time.
