A random shot one sunny afternoon – A picture that later went in their wedding invitations.
A random shot one sunny afternoon – A picture that later went in their wedding invitations.
I had so much fun looking over this recap last year, that I decided to do it again this year.
January:
Parkers dad got married. We went to our cousin, Trinas, funeral. And from the looks of it, hung out with tweety bird.
February:
We went on a road trip with a friend.
March:
We began making preparations and left for England!!
April:
We spent there!
May:
We spent there and eventually said good-bye and returned home.
June:
Was full of Summer-y fun. I may have had a slight obsession with dandelions. We had many birthdays – and way too much cake. June was a very full month.
July:
Started out good, we went to Juneau, but July ended on a very VERY tragic note.
August:
Was spent reflecting.
September:
Was the blog-a-thon. And we left on our road trip to pick David up. Tweety bird sadly, died.
October:
Was full of storms. And time well spent getting to know David.
November:
Was a chaotic month. David purposed. We said good bye to David. We rode bikes to town quite a bit this month, crazy…I know!
December:
We finished all things Christmas up, and wrapped the year up.
Happy New Year!
I really wanted to participate in this. I hope I understood it right. Pick a word…a goal, even, for 2011 – then photograph your progress each week while attempting to reach said goal. Sounds simple enough. But first I had to get a word. A word for 2011. And nothing came. I thought and thought. And nothing. I was going to go with “Courage” but that didnt seem right, didnt fit, and I didnt like the way it sounded.
“Gumption”
Popped into my head. To be honest, I had not the slightest clue what it meant. Ok maybe I had a fuzzy idea on how to use it in a sentence, but not what it actually MEANT.
The first definition I found sold me:
Courage to act: The courage to take what action is needed.
Common Sense: Practical common sense, and presence of mind.
They both sounded like they held good meanings, and something that would be good for 2011. With everything that happened last year, and everything that is happening this year, gumption seemed to be something I am really going to need. Plus the word courage was in there, and since I was already thinking about that word, it pretty much sealed the deal. But I decided to look a little further (read: Search the word on google) and I was sold.
Googles definition is pretty much the same, with a twist. And what is life without a little bit of humor too?
And I laughed. Literally, out loud.
Gumption: “Common sense: sound practical judgment; “Common sense is not so common”; “he hasn’t got the sense God gave little green apples.”
Some things you just cant explain. And today might just be one of those days.
I mean, how am I suppose to explain that this morning we had to take our dog to the vet because she ripped her toenail off? And on our way out the door there was a duck. Who stayed in our bathroom when we went to the vet. And on the way there, the car slid and we slammed into a guard rail? And this morning was filled with odd smells – like duck droppings, and cat messes because mom has a stray cat shes been trying to get in and now that shes in we cant get it out. And we have guests coming in a few weeks – and Amanda is getting married in…21 days (no pressure on the camera front) and its snowing, and cold and we just got our heater fixed and I am so tired.
But I have hundreds of things to do, and paper work to file, and phone calls to make and emails to fire, and I am still trying to squeeze in photography, and writing, and trying to remember my lesson from a five year old who apparently never had to file taxes at the end of the year!!!
I mean, who has ever had a dog that ripped their toe nail out? Just…ripped it out! Chewed it out. Pulled it off. And how many times do you run out the door and see a DUCK??
(and just as a side funny note: We took the cat to the vet, the dog to the vet and Im trying to get a hold of the vet for dad. No not THAT vet! The veterans. 🙂 )
But we are all, surprisingly, knock on wood, in good spirits today.
Now HOW am I suppose to explain all that?
Happy New Year, everyone.
{Duck was, thankfully, happily reunited with his owner – who thought he was dead, having been hauled off by dogs yesterday.}
I have been busy with nonsense lately. Too busy to do this. Too busy to do that. Busy with this. Busy with that. Things to do, things to get done. Christmas, wedding, paper work, end of the year taxes and things to file. Busy all the way around…
And it hit me today.
What am I so busy for? So busy to do? What am I doing? Why? What?
Parker came in yesterday. A hyper, excited, five year old with more than enough energy for himself and a whole flock of five year olds. “Play with me. Push me. Pull me. Play. Play. Play!!” and for a little while yesterday I let myself go and release some energy with him. And I only succeeded in wearing myself out. He was still loaded with energy. Maybe it had something to do with me pulling/pushing him in the wagon, and him just riding around demanding things. We threw snowballs. I spun him around in circles. He laughed. And then started to cough, and inside we went.
Today he came back…put his arm around me and said “Come play with me.”
I smiled down at him. He smiled up at me. “I cant” I told him. His smile dropped. “But why not?” and I told him it was because. Because I was busy. Too busy. Paper work that needed done.
So he divided his time between playing with “Goo”, drawing pictures on the paper I was working on, putting stickers on the same paper, drawing on the “Goo”, and when nothing would get my attention, he dumped the “Goo” on my arm. When I told him I was a little too busy to help him search for tow truck pictures, he asked me to type it in, and proceeded to figure out how to click the pictures himself. Then he looked up, tugging on my arm and asked “Can you please go push me in the wagon?” To which I told him “Maybe tomorrow” and he sort of gasped. “But…why cant you do it when you are done”
The concept of time doesn’t exist to him. To him five minutes and three hours are the same. To be that young again.
And I can count on tomorrow, he will bust in, and ask me to again “Please push me in the wagon” and I probably will.
I thought a lot of things when telling him no. I remembered back to being his age, and asking someone to do something with me, and they would say no. I remembered the feeling. But I also thought to him needing to know that he cant always have what he gets. I wondered what kind of line I was drawing, what difference would it make if I finished paper work then or later. Why couldn’t I spent 20 minutes (who am I kidding, it would have been atleast an hour) outside sloshing through the snow? Am I really becoming that old?
I wondered what would happen, if tomorrow Parker didn’t come in. If something happened. That we arent guaranteed tomorrow. Or even today.
****
After he left, I walked home. Thinking these things still. Wondering what was becoming of me and my “Oh so busy” life. I am NOT that busy. And if I am, I need to MAKE the darn time to do these things.
Things that I have let slide. Things. Like taking pictures.
I havent taken any pictures, except to mess around with my new lens. So Ive set myself a new goal.
I don’t do “New years Resolutions.” I can set myself up to fail without those, thank you. But I want to get back into photography, and I want to start taking more pictures.
So this next year I hope to participate, every week, in my favorite photo link ups. Which means, that I will have to get out every week – make time – to get pictures.
What is it about little kids that make you realize these things? And why didn’t I learn them when I was his age?
{And I finally figured out how to use my new aperture kit *beams*}
Tangled Thoughts 