Dear Reader:

George Bernard Shaw made the observation that ” Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

It has taken me a lifetime to understand this comment… because the popular jargon is always about people finding themselves… like perhaps a special place or event will show us the magic mirror that defines us… but now I realize that we have to take God’s creation in us and keep creating… with His continual guidance!

What prompted this neuron of thought was a contest to break a record of sorts putting Mrs Potato Head back together again on a talk show… creating a popular figure.

I then started remembering the benchmarks in my lifetime… sometimes in the form of a person, a mentor, sometimes an event or circumstance that forced me to see myself and the world differently than before…

And now at the age I am … all my prayers for the type of life I wanted to live are still coming true… I finally have the precious time to contemplate life and react accordingly. When I look in the mirror today… I see a contented woman … no longer scurrying through life but instead filled with wonder, curiosity, and gratitude!

One benchmark I remember was funny but accurate. Many years ago…Tommy started feeling bad at school… my school… so I told the school nurse just to send him to my classroom for the last few minutes of the day… when I could then take him home.

Tommy was in sixth grade and I taught eighth so I found him an empty desk and went on with the lesson. On the way home… Tommy declared candidly… you’re nicer as a teacher! I started laughing because he was right.

Poor teachers’ kids get their teacher-moms back at the end of a long day … after maintaining discipline and patience… so by the time I was running my kids to all their afternoon activities…my patience registered zero on the mother-scale. It had all been used up by any unruly students.

Typical scenario… one or more children had forgotten once again to put their baseball shoes and socks in the car or football cleats or t-shirts… I would start into my tirade because now everyone would be late once again for practice.

But I do remember Tommy’s comment showing me that I had created a certain teacher personae that didn’t carry over into other facets of my life. It was just one creation of me but not all of me… that takes a lifetime!!!

So until tomorrow… Thank you God for Your constant revelations …molding us into the original Creation You intended!

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh

Kaitlyn updated me that both she and Tommy are feeling okay… Tommy always has a harder time if a bug or virus settles in his lungs/ chests but overall doing well… she told me there is a lighthouse path around Dingle Town that she has walked that is just beautiful… I am sending mother’s prayers to both Kaitlyn and Tommy that they improve quickly and can still enjoy the beauty around them.