Posted by Nicole on January 10, 2014
Linking up again with Five Minute Friday at the lovely Lisa-Jo Baker‘s.
The rules: write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. Hop over to her place to find out the full scoop behind FMF, and to visit other posts that were freely written in just five minutes.
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This week’s prompt: SEE – a Five Minute Friday Post
You are not invisible.
When you clean Barbie hair out of the sink after her impromptu trip to the kitchen scissor salon.
When you search over an hour for the missing toy, place it proudly on your son’s pillow, and he barely flinches – despite throwing a full-on fit about it that morning.
When you collect all the pink cups for a special-request tea party, that your kids play for exactly 3 minutes before running to another room.
When you clear off the dining room table, again.
When, on January 10th, you remove and wrap up the Christmas ornaments by yourself.
When you are sick and make your own tea but don’t drink it because you’re needed in the living room to find that one episode of that one show that we love and can’t find, but nothing else will do.
When you clean all afternoon and it looks the same.
When the cat pukes and you Clorox the floor and no one ever knows.
You are not invisible. As long as all of us, working all day long to make the lives of our families just that little bit better, remember and SEE each other,
we are not invisible.
While I do dishes, I remember you are too.
While I clean up cat puke, I remember you are doing gross things too.
While I clean off the table AGAIN, I remember you are too.
While I search high and low for the “lucky shirt”, I remember you are too.
While I read through every episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates so we can find the current favorite, I remember you are too.
We may each be serving different little families, but we are all serving the same big Family.
More About Family: HERE and HERE and HERE
Posted in Honest Home | Tagged: faith, family, Five Minute Friday, invisible, kids, Love | 5 Comments »
Posted by Nicole on January 3, 2014
FIGHT
There comes a moment when you realize YOU’RE the one who has been blind. You’re the one living out of old stories about how men and women should act. {OMG I’m the patriarchy.}
Women, we have sat on the sidelines and watched men fight, struggle, sweat, and bleed. We cheer. We supply water and first aid. We nurture and we caress tired backs with our soft hands.
But it’s time to get in the game ourselves. It’s time to step into the arena and fight.
We will help each other side-by-side.
I don’t know your sport or your call but I know what it looks like when we avoid the invitation to play: We offer to hold the jackets. We sit alone on the sideline and watch others try and fail and fall and laugh and get back up. We walk back home together and our pants have no grass stains.
The men and the children play and the women watch.
Not all the women do this, but I was doing this. I knew I was choosing rest over adventure. I was playing it safe. I was the safe zone for others. “Mom’s not playing! Mom’s safe!” I cherish being the safe zone, at times. I’ve loved wearing my cozy sweater and drinking coffee. But my life is floating by me. I have opted out too many times. I can feel my muscles growing weak and my desire to be saved growing strong. I don’t know about you, but I want to feel strong. I want to speak up. I want to run as fast as I can. I want to volunteer for the adventure.
Like all the best things, this epiphany started as a seed in me {here} and then with lots of fertilizing words and experiences, it has grown from a beautiful thought into a call to action.
Three parts Story Sessions, One part Lean In, Two parts Brene Brown, a good swig of Scandal, and a dash of Frozen
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Climb out of the tower yourself, grab a sword, and fight, Sister.
Find the inspiration you need and Fight, Sister. Women were not made to wrap themselves in ruffles and watch the action. Humans are made to fight. We are heroes. We are gladiators. Get in the game. Fight.
“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” ― Brené Brown
If you are a {writer {blogger {lonely {free for five minutes on Fridays… I recommend Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday link up. It’s a really great way to meet other people online who are kind and intelligent. Come and see that we are not all snarky and mean when we type.
Posted in Honest Home, How Can I Help | Tagged: arena, Brene Brown, fight, Five Minute Friday, Lean In, play | 3 Comments »