Monday, July 7, 2008

July 4th and Name Change

First of all, a very happy Independence Day to all of you (although it is a little late). A celebrated by dressing up, then making a new friend at the playground to go down the slide with.



We also have changed the name of our blog due to some philosophical inspiration from none other than A: The other day A found a ball to play with at the playground. At one point it rolled into one of the landscaped areas that has a little step down from the regular playground. A went after the ball, falling on her face after taking the unexpected step down. Instead of crying and asking to be picked up, however, she walked back over to the step and made her way back up, then down, then up, then down, at first crawling, then walking, then jumping. She worked on that step for a good 15 minutes (which is a very long time for a 19-month-old; I was even starting to get bored watching her) until she had finally mastered the step. She then picked up the ball and worked on walking and jumping up and down that step while holding the ball, just to make sure that she had truly mastered it. Once she had figured out that she could do it on her own, she took great pleasure in carrying the ball up and down that step, making sure that I was watching her show off her new talent.

This really inspired me (I get inspired easily, I guess) about what we are all doing in our lives. Do we sometimes fall flat on our faces when we try something new or have something unexpected thrown in our paths? Do we then cry and ask to be picked up? Or do we stop what we had previously planned to simply overcome and master the added little step? I am guilty of crying and asking to be picked up much more often than I would like to admit. I want to be more like A was that day; I want to master the obstacles in my way, then take great pleasure in having stretched my limits.

What have you done recently to stretch your limits, instead of crying and asking to be picked up?

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