Through the eyes of a child

My perfectionist self is in a tizzy that I skipped two posts this weekend. I remembered that I was supposed to write and I chose not to. The first night I was enjoying the company of my sweet husband who is in town and couldn’t tear myself away. Evening number two was full of laughing and IMovie bloopers while G and I tried our best to learn how to edit and set his video to music. The part of me having a fit is screeching “look what you did!!!! It’s ruined! It’s write31 not write29! Might as well just stop.”  I’m not going to let myself do that. After some thinking I’ve decided that I’m going to really work on showing myself some grace. I don’t want this challenge to turn into one more thing I make an exercise in perfection and guilt. This for me is just as much about recognizing the joy among the harshness as it is stretching as a writer. Missing a day here and there does not make this endeavor a failure. Grace, grace, grace...

My kids know I’m writing about finding joy. It’s led to some interesting conversations about what exactly joy is and how important it is to make sure you look for the joy in your life.  I was curious what they had been taking away from these talks so I asked them to take a picture of something that brought them joy. My only stipulation was that it couldn’t be a video game. 

Here’s what brings W joy: 

His Bass

Here’s what brings G joy:

His guitar

Here’s what brings O joy:

When I saw this I laughed and asked “dead bugs?”. He sighed and said “No, mom! Beautiful things in nature!”.  I was properly put in my place. 

Here’s what brings L joy:

Getting the eggs with Rhodes

Here’s what brings R joy:

Ummmm... ok... well, that little face certainly brings me joy. ❤️

I have to admit I was a little nervous turning them loose with this task. Would I get back 5 pictures of items that made them happy? I was really pleased to find they had each chosen an activity they loved. Although I guess I’ll have to start addressing Rhodes’ preoccupation with himself... or teach him how to flip the camera around. 😉