Dear Caroline,

Today you turn 10.

When I first heard the word tween, I thought it was marketing genius but no more. A term created in order for companies to sell more products. It turns out that while my initial belief may be true, there is much more to the word than I thought at first.

As you turn 10, you are truly stuck between two worlds.

You still cry when you are scared and call to me if you hear a bump in the night. But you also close your bedroom door when you talk on the phone and agonize over which outfit to wear each day. You tell me you love me a million times a day but you won’t wave goodbye if there are people watching at school drop off. You live in a world that is full of imagination and so much creativity but you also know what is ‘cool’ and what is ‘dorky.’ Sometimes your definition of cool can make you believe that what you imagine is dorky.

As you and I navigate this new world, my greatest hope is that the teenager you will soon become will be as amazingly creative, empathetic and thoughtful as the child you are leaving behind. For now, I embrace all your tween-ness. For in it’s confusion, this time hold great beauty and great hope.

Happy Birthday to the beautiful girl who made me a mother.

I love you,

Mom

Thank you to the wonderful Lindsey of a Design So Vast for introducing me to this fun meme.

A: Attached or single?  Attached.

B: Best friend?  The wonderful guy to whom I’m attached.

C: Cake or pie? Cake if it’s chocolate. Pie if it’s blueberry.

D: Day of choice? Friday.

E: Essential item? My phone.

F: Favorite color?  Blue

G: Gummy bears of worms?  Gummy bears. But only Haribo.

H: Hometown?  Providence, RI

I: Favorite indulgence? See letter G. But actually a bit revised- I could eat Sour Patch Kids all day long.

J: January or July?  July.

K: Kids?  Yes. Caroline (almost 10, unbelievably) and Katherine (7)

L: Life isn’t complete without?  See B and K

M: Marriage date? June 30, 2001

N: Number of siblings? Zero

O: Oranges or apples?  Apples.  Cold and crisp.

P: Phobias? Throwing up.

Q: Quotes? Yes! I am always writing down favorites.

R: Reasons to smile? Rob and our girls, sunshine, a good book, the beach, hydrangeas.

S: Season of choice? Fall.

T: Tag 5 people. No tags but I’d love to read your lists. Do share!

U: Unknown fact about me. Caroline is taking a Shakespeare class at her camp this summer and I just let her in on this little secret. The only C I got in college was in Shakespeare. Hopefully, Caroline can teach me a thing or two this summer.

V: Vegetable? Roasted brocoli.

W: Worst habit? Procrastinating.

X: x-ray or ultrasound? Ultra-sound I guess. Weird question.

Y: Your favorite food? Coffee ice cream.

Z: Zodiac sign? Taurus.

I love summer for any number of reasons but most especially for the books. There is more time to read. There are more book lists to peruse. And most importantly, there are more people reading. Doesn’t it just seem like there are more readers in the summer? More people to talk to about what they are reading and more people to recommend lots of good books?

Here are my summer favorites so far… And do share yours. My ‘To Be Read’ pile can never be too big!

I am sitting on the couch, dog scratching for attention, girls still asleep. I think I am finally coming up for air. We moved on Friday and tomorrow is the last day of school. As much as I had planned and controlled, moving is an act of letting go. Most of the work we had scheduled to be done at the new house is complete. And some of it is not. This week continues to be filled with workmen to meet, errands to run and teacher thank you  notes to write. But I miss this space. So I am here. If only just for a minute.

A few years ago, I was part of an amazing group led by Lisa Garrigues, author of Writing Motherhood.

One of my favorite prompts from that group was “the things you carry” in which Lisa asked us to write about what we found in our purse. Much like my nightstand, I find my purse to be a most excellent example of life right here and now.

When I opened my purse this morning, I found…

2 Poland Spring water bottles

Wallet

Sunglasses

Soccer schedule

Paint samples

Nail polish

Crumpled receipts

Business card from tile store

Hair ties

Bag of pretzels

How about you?

In Chapter 5, Brene focuses on the phrase, “Mind the Gap.” This term originated in 1969 on the London Underground to remind passengers to pay attention when stepping between the train and the platform. While I first encountered this phrase while reading Daring Greatly, it has apparently become so popular you can find it on tee shirts, magnets and postcards. As I read on, I understood why.

In this chapter, Brene essentially reminds us to walk the walk as she guides us through understanding our gaps between our ‘aspirational values’ (what we intend to value) and our ‘practiced values’ (what we really do).

This concept gave me a lot to think about. I talk about wanting to be a writer but often spend more time reading other people’s writing than writing my own. I talk about loving to read but often find that a day full of errands and e-mails has passed before I sit down to read. I talk about wanting to give my children a life full of adventure but often find that months have gone by before we do something new.

How about you? If you were to ‘mind your gaps’ what would you find?

“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.”

-Patti Digh

*Image courtesy of Carol Hampton Rasco‘s Pinterest Board and Books and Other Geekery

The other day I was sitting on the couch trying to calm my mind in the midst of the ‘moving/end of school year’ (what were we thinking!) craziness, when Katherine walked in to the room. I asked her to come and sit with me for a big snuggle.

She replied, “How about a book snuggle instead?”

Now how do you say no to that!?

This week we closed on our new house and began a two week whirlwind of painting, electrical work, carpentry and carpet, counter, backsplash installation. For a girl who struggles a bit with change, making the gazillion decisions and answering the question after question has been challenging. I keep reminding myself that all this change is for the good. However, when I found this quote, I was able to breathe a bit more easily…

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu

Courtesy of the wonderful Maren!

Chapter 4 ~ The Vulnerability Armory