Once Upon a Time...

 

January marks the time of year that I select one little word…a word I use as a 365-day-motivational tool …the word becomes the tiny string wrapped tightly around my pinky finger to remind me…a word that helps me focus and prioritize my actions, thoughts, and feelings on a daily basis for an entire year. Past words of mine have included JOY (2010), FAITH (2011), and LETTING GO (2012)…all three were meaningful and significant, and I can honestly say that each word taught me a new little tid-bit about myself that I never knew before.

My word for 2013 is “STORY”… usually, my one little word for the year picks me months in advance, before the new year’s eve ball drops, or for those in Hemet, before the first gun shots are fired off into the starlit sky. But, this word was very different in that it actually came three days late and had some crazy competition from two very worthy words, “gratitude” and “play” –which would have had some awesome potential for 2013. In the end, though, I opted for a word that gives me space to create, memorialize, capture, document, reminisce, write, photograph, be present, honor and celebrate the tiny everyday stories that make up my life, the life with my husband, and the lives of our precious boys…the good, bad, ugly, beautiful, mundane and magical collection of moments that collectively create my {our} amazing BOOK.

Now, I haven’t watched it in ages, but the movie (book), “The Notebook” actually made me start thinking about this word of mine. Never mind the serious eye candy in the movie…but the fact that this couple created a notebook as a way to help Allie remember {their} story is a beautiful tribute to a lifetime of memories. It also got me thinking…I probably have the worst memory of anyone I know…sure I am freaking amazing with short term memorization (halleluiah for that because I would have never passed any of my English finals at UCLA!)  but my long-term memory just plain sucks and is so similar to Dory in Finding Nemo that it. is.very.scary. And by very scary, I mean, holy heck when I’m 50, 60, 70, I won’t remember a damn thing and I’ll probably need my boys to wear name tags each time I see them or I’ll start calling them by my dogs’ names.

 In all seriousness, I want to focus this year on capturing (on a more regular basis) the day-to-day “stuff”. It’s so easy to do when we have a vacation and I can highlight our little adventure. But I am realizing that I am craving more than a few snippets about a trip…I want real details of what I am doing at this exact moment in time, specifics about what my boys say, do, see, think and learn. I’m so afraid that if I don’t start capturing this “stuff” now…I won’t remember any of it and that breaks my heart because this “stuff” although so seemingly little right now will be a goldmine  later when a few highlights of color won’t be enough to cover up the gray!   

So if you see me, smile and say cheese cuz’ I’ll be capturing {our} stories left and right with my eyes, mind, heart and camera!

Here are some of the first few paragraphs of our 2013 STORY:

Once upon a time…on a crisp, warm winter's day...in a land far, far away…there lived two tiny princes...

The princes loved wearing monster jackets with crazy eyes and jagged white teeth on the jacket's hood.

The sun was bright so they used their crazy hoodies to keep the sun out of their eyes...these were brilliant princes!

And on this day they had an impromptu picnic lunch at the park on the hill...  

 

 

 ...their lunches were made of only the finest ingredients, peanut butter, jelly, bread, string cheese, grapes and goldfish crackers. They drank the best apple juice in all the land.
 

 Of course after drinking all of the apple juice, one of the princes started dancing around peculiarly...and with no bathroom for miles and miles...one of the princes decided that it was better to water the park's foilage than stop playing and have to go back to his castle. Being a prince, he was of course very discreet (not!)

 And after the watering incident they played on this special playground... special because this park on the hill has some very unique features...SAND and CLIMBING OBSTACLES!

 

 It's a good thing that the princes came with their caretaker because one of the princes got stuck multiple times on this contraption of death...

After the park the two princes drove back to their castle, driven by their caretaker, to enjoy a little cupcake dessert before their mid-day slumber.  Oh the lives of these two little princes...