His nose has been running for days, a niggling cough at bedtime, unwarranted tears at times he would normally laugh. Her temper is short, though not as short as my own. Between the three of us we’ve been sick off and on — mostly on — since mid-December.
With restless sleep and countless wake-ups and chasing down bad food choices to find some elusive combination of sugar and caffeine to falsely counter exhaustion, I haven’t had much time to do more than just meet some deadlines and not be completely buried by the growing laundry.
Our Just.Be.Enough. team each chose three words at the beginning of the year, words to help guide us through the next twelve months, words to motivate and bolster and inspire.
progress… light… dream…
I think of them as I soap my hair in the shower, grasping to wrap my head around goal-setting right now. When I realized it was time for our monthly check-in, I felt exactly the opposite of light, maybe my favorite word of the three.
Goals, when you’re making progress, are shiny and exciting, but at other times they can feel oppressive, a weight to carry when it seems like the only goal that will be met on a particular day is getting everyone into bed with the minimum amount of tears.
progress… light… dream…
I think of them as I pen in details for our upcoming week, watching white squares fill with color. For a moment, the words press air from my lungs.
But I think of the countless times over the last year I’ve expressed my desire to be a writer, the countless ways I’ve been thankful for the opportunities I’ve had the last six months. I could have considered reentering a classroom or exploring other options, but I want to be a writer. I have always dreamed about writing. I am a writer.
My lungs expand, my goals once again balloons bobbing about my head instead of rocks holding me to some sort of unrealistic set of expectations.
progress… light… dream…
trying to get all-the-way better
Do you have a word for the year? You can link up about your progress with Just.Be.Enough. this week.
I’m also linking up with Greta for #iPPP because I haven’t in a few weeks and don’t think she’ll mind the combining of the links.
We’ve watched Tinker Bell: The Secret of the Wings 874 times since Christmas morning. Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but the kids ask to watch it almost every day. During the time of the plague, when two sick kids napped fitfully on the couch and one barely-recovered mama alternated between disinfecting and laundry and resting and…
BioLatest Posts Angela Welcome to Tread Softly! My name is Angela Amman, and I’m a freelance writer, lifestyle blogger and managing editor of an on-line writing community. I run for fun, write short stories and write non-fiction looking at the world through the lens of a mother to young children. Latest posts by Angela (see…
Strains of Tchaikovsky filled the living room, and I watched Abbey perform an ad libbed dance to “real ballet music”. Dylan turned and spun and fell, growing bored and fading into the dining room to pursue other adventures. Seamlessly the tracks moved from one to the next, and I reflected on our week while soaking…
linking up with Alison and Galit for June’s Memories Captured BioLatest Posts Angela Welcome to Tread Softly! My name is Angela Amman, and I’m a freelance writer, lifestyle blogger and managing editor of an on-line writing community. I run for fun, write short stories and write non-fiction looking at the world through the lens of…
It still slips out sometimes. Can you grab Baby Dylan’s coat? A nickname bestowed by Abbey, retired long ago. Is the baby sleeping? Ryan reminds me he’s not a baby anymore. Even with his feet swinging so far above the ground, jeans age him before my eyes. He could wear this ensemble as a ten year old…
My thumb sought the button on the steering wheel to nudge the volume louder. Alone in my car with the windows down, I can press the small rectangle one, two, three times more than usual. It’s rare that I’m not worrying about little ears riding along with me. My fingers easily found the slim, silver tube of Black…
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I’m not currently training for a race, which means I have to trick myself a little not to fall into an exercise rut. Intervals burn a few more calories than a steady pace, so hello intervals. Intervals can improve speed, endurance, and overall fitness by raising your aerobic threshold, helping to develop fast twitch muscle…
I hear birds chirping peacefully through my open kitchen window. Calmly, I manuever my galley kitchen, using my counter space effectively, kids playing quietly in the other room. That’s fantasy dinnertime. The reality generally involves at least one child clinging to my leg. Every piece of tupperware we own is scattered on the floor at…
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