I'm not sure where to start with my words tonight. Years ago, when I was in university, I was in a class learning how to teach kids to read. My young brain didn't have much life experience and it was working hard to grasp the concepts of phonemes and syntax. I remember saying to the professor, "where do you start when teaching something as important as learning how to read?" All these years later, I still remember her response, "you start with a story, my dear."
I guess tonight's story began about ten years ago...
Since I have always loved this time of year it's only fitting that we chose to get married on New Year's Eve. I've looked at these pictures of our younger selves and was trying to think of advice that I would give to them just starting out but I couldn't come up with anything profound. For in some ways it feels like it was just yesterday and we are still those same people and in other ways it was a lifetime ago and so much has changed. Callie saw these picture and figured out the math and said, "if that was 10 years ago, and I'm 8 years old, what did you and dad do for two years before I was born?" Isn't that a great question? I told her I spent my time dreaming about her and her sister and what it would be like to be their mom.
I dreamed of doing something big and awesome to celebrate 10 years. I tossed out the idea of the Las Vegas strip to ring in the new year. I dreamed of skiing in the mountains or a secluded spa in wilderness. I dreamed of staying at home and ordering Chinese food. Yes, I'm never short on dreams. What we actually did was take a six hour trip which ended in the farmyard of my BFF! And as you will see in the pictures, all my dreams extended into reality once again.
When it was time for us to head back home from our two days with our friends, my sweet Lexi's tears spoke for all of us. Little sister knew what was coming. Goodbye to our friends and goodbye to the holidays and goodbye to the Christmas magic for another year. She knew it was time to start filing the memories we made into long term storage. She couldn't explain exactly why she was so sad but we all knew what her heart was telling us.
Take a look at what she was saying goodbye to...
I laid down with the girls tonight after packing Christmas and the remnants of the holidays into boxes to be put in the storage room. Callie had lots to talk about since we slept so late this morning and she was taking a while to feel sleepy. She told me she's excited for her birthday because it's fun to have something to look forward to. Then she asked me if I could change one thing about my life, what would it be. Funny thing, I couldn't think of an answer. I told her that there isn't anything I would change. My life is great. She told me that her wish wouldn't be to change her life, she would use her wish to change someone else's life so that that person's life could be like ours. Next, she went on to tell me that if we didn't have sadness then we wouldn't know what joy felt like. This she learned from watching the bonus DVD from Inside Out. What I think she was trying to tell me was that just like Lexi, she was feeling sad that the holidays had to come to an end and it is this exact sadness that allows us to truly understand the meaning of joy.
Tomorrow, as we reenter reality, I will try to remember that everything we love about the holidays and special occasions is available to us everyday. That good friends and family and special moments can happen on a random Tuesday if we want it to. That we can make any day special if we choose to. We don't have to wait another year, we've got one right in front of us...hello 2016.
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