The Weight of Scars

kwanza Anybody worth their salt has got some great scars. Not bruises. Not welts. Not black eyes and broken noses. Great scars.

pili Nobody's scars weigh more than anybody else's scars. The pain that we have all gone through - the pain that has shaped the directions we have taken and things we have survived  - be it rapes, deceased children or murdered kittens - all weigh exactly the same in the end. This is subjective and not up for debate.

tatu The commonalities that make us family don't define us. We get to have huge disagreements on very fundamental things with people who we love and need. The people who are the most important to us, and will REMAIN the most important to us, are the ones who we CAN disagree with, find forgiveness in and love unconditionally.

copyright 2010 moemasters

Silent Kindness, Door Openers and Reading

gyntaf If you choose a life that includes philanthropy and random acts of kindness, do not brag about it. By telling the world about the wonderful and selflessness of you, you completely undo whatever good you did. Do good, always - talk about it never. Encourage other people to do good things too, but do not make them feel like lesser humans if they haven't been given the resources you have to help in the ways you have chosen. We all can help in different ways, and they won't always include throwing money.

ail Open the door for people if and when you can. It doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl or if they are younger or older - just open the door for people when you can. BONUS ADD-ON: If you are a boy then you should open the passenger side of your car for a girl before you get in.

trydydd Learn to read out loud to someone you care about. Learn to love it when they read out loud to you. Slow down, relax - being read out loud to can be one of the finest things around.

copyright 2010 moemasters

Play an instrument, type a letter and snuggle up

pierwszy Learn how to play an instrument if you have any chance to do so. (Because I'm optimistic that your parents will come here first, I'm thinking they will sign you up before you are too big to wrestle.)
I know I always say this, but trust me: Do your lessons - sing your scales. Pay attention to your posture and put your hands where they are supposed to be. Practice for at least half an hour every day.

drugi Learn how to type. Fast. Learn it fast, and then type fast. I doubt you kids will still call it "typing" by the time you're old enough to read. Whatever. You can pound out some serious text on this machine, really turbo-fast - if you just apply yourself. This may be a moot point by the time you are old enough to read, but if not: Wood Shed on this one. Get good.

trzeci Snuggle up with someone, anytime you have the chance. Snuggling makes you feel better. Nuzzle and snuggle whenever possible.

copyright 2010 thesethreethings

Just These Three. Unless There's More.

I've had enough time thinking and too many hours listening, so I'm not going to make you listen to me tell you this stuff. If I have loved you, or were going to love you – I would want you to come armed with this.

I'm all about making the most of our time together.

I'm not going to waste it listening to me talk.

Know these three things today:

ONE

Perhaps this above all else: You are funny and brave and strong and smart. Your beauty shines from within and will always enter a room right before you. Your mother and father are like this too. This is an asset that you have gained simply by being born. Never think less. Have a back bone about it. Don’t sell yourself short or compromise your integrity.

Not everybody gets this Super-Power, guard it and use it wisely. Never take it for granted and be sure to notice it occasionally, as it gets better with age.

TWO

Everybody and every (little) thang has a job to do. The bats have to eat mosquitoes day after day, bears probably keep the wolf population in check (or some other equally important deal) and every person you meet is going to have survived some harsh and heinous stuff.

They’re doing the best they can, day after day. They never put their pants on in the morning and go, “y’know... I think I’ll crush some souls today.”

Life happens. We are evolved humans. We all have limitations and thumbs. It’s a crazy old world out here and those are the givens.

THREE

Cope. Don’t yell and scream and stomp your feet and get all litigious and indignant about the injustice of it all. Almost nobody who hurts you MEANT to hurt you. It’s just life. For real. Get all the way over it. We all have a job to do. Breathe. Relax. It really is all good.

If you’re doing your job right, there will come days when you are so heart-broke and sick and crippled by the weight of life you will wish you were done. You will lay down and look up at the heavens and beg the only God you ever believed in, to spare you....

Suck it up.

There will come days that pass into weeks where you are so blissed-out you will forget to eat. You will have crazy, uncontrollable cartoon tears of joy and you will laugh so hard it hurts for days. If you are doing your job right - there will be more bliss than sorrow.

More good rug burns, less broken noses.

It really IS all good. It balances out. 

Do what you’re here to do and do it with passion. If you pay attention, you’ll know what you’re here for long before you know that you’re old enough to even know it. 

Just trust your instincts. 

If you’re supposed to be something that you think you’re not – figure it out and turn it around. Life is too short.

Some family is choice and some is blood.

We will always be related.

COPYRIGHT APRIL 2010: TheseThreeThings