Living Out Loud

Slip slidin' away

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“Every song ends but is that any reason not to enjoy the music?” – Peyton Sawyer

One day in each of our life’s we all wake up one morning and realize we’re not children anymore. It happens to all of us but at different points in our lives, perhaps it’s when we graduate from high school, or maybe it’s when we have our first kiss or start our first job and earning our “own” money, or when we are already helping our family keep food on the table while mom works an extra job. Whenever it is, we do grow up and start becoming self-sufficient. This is also when a part of our innocence disappears. I still remember when my daughters would pick chickweed or dandelions and gave them to me like a bouquet of roses. My daughters didn’t know the “flowers” were actually weeds, only that they are beautiful to them and a prize to share with me, their mother. I believe that’s the best part of innocence, that you can see things for what they are- not what they’re supposed to be. Most of us associate innocence with children, with a lack of worldliness—a condition we start to lose as soon as we begin to acquire wisdom. But innocence is something we can carry with us throughout our lives, it’s a way of viewing each other without prejudice, it’s looking for the potential for good in people and most importantly, a way of looking at the world without fear.
The month of May brings Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and Graduation Day. It’s a month filled with Spring fever and making memories that resist fading. I remember being freshmen and looking forward to my own graduation day. I’ve told my daughters, “You’re going to miss this” countless times like I’m sure you have told your own. It’s the part before you finish a milestone in your life, its weird how time seems to drag one day and goes by quickly the next. Your young years are far from over, and, no, you’re not old but time does slip away too quickly. My advice is just to try to make the most of your life every step along the way. Try not to criticize yourself so harshly or doubt your abilities. Remember to be kind to yourself even when you think you’ve failed. The world does all those things for you, so you don’t need to add anything yourself, just know that failing is just a small part of life. Don’t be afraid of it! Winners are not afraid of losing, but losers are.
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear" – Jack Canfield. Growing up is never easy. You try to hold on to things that were and wonder about what’s still to come. Don’t allow someone to tell you how to live your life by allowing yourself to take a backseat and let people dictate how your future would go.
And lastly, please remember to make time to spend with your family. We all would like to think that our family is going to be around forever but it’s not. Some of us get to grow old, which is a privilege denied to many, while others get sick and die way too young. We are just visitors here, “My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world” – Billy Graham. Make sure that you don’t pass up time with your family to laugh, joke, eat, drink and make memories. You will treasure those memories, and one day they will be all that is left. Life is hard. Love makes all things bearable but only when you can love yourself first.
Email me at Lorriegrogg@aol.com.

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