This is has been an interesting week in our family, sprinkled with many tears, but also the kind of laughter that  goes to your very toes.  A roller coaster of  rich memories. I have decided to let my camera be part of my personal world again. After nearly two full years of the pendulum swinging to the side of my clients lives, I am allowing it to come to my own again. Before I went to Love Affair Workshop this year, I remember lamenting to my husband that I felt like I was capturing everyone else’s best moments, but missing out on my own. If nothing else, ( and there was so much more!), Love Affair encouraged me to find my life again. I believe the quote we said together all week was , “I want to live a beautiful sweet life, without fear!”.  Yes, I do,  and I will.

All that being said, this was the week that my sweet Annie was to depart for her sophomore year at Oglethorpe University, or the Oglefort, as she lovingly calls it. Katie, my eldest, was also heading back to UGA, but is commuting, which softens the blow for me a bit. (she is going to Spain in the spring, but that is another blog.) Life as a family unit was coming to an end again, and I knew it. I decided to bring my camera with me everywhere we went this week, as Annie and I shopped for school supplies, when our family had a final meal and “dance party” together, and finally, when we drove her back to the Fort. As I said, a roller coaster, full of highs and lows, sometimes holding our breath and sometimes throwing our hands in the air. I was gathering memories with speed and fervor, putting them on my flash cards, in my pockets, my heart, whatever would hold them.  I couldn’t hold them all, but I tried. I couldn’t stop time, I but I did savor it.

This is my family. We are for real. We do dance in the kitchen with sparklers, and have salsa lessons in the den. We raise our hands sometimes to pray at mealtimes, ( mostly on Chris’s lead), and we laugh and cry together. I love them so. Life will not be the same without all of them around me and I know this is the way it goes. Most of my friends still have little ones at home and I envy them. A lot. How I loved the days of reading books together, finger painting, and even the fits they would pitch on the kitchen floor when things weren’t going their way.  I did have a baby on the way four years ago, but lost him in my fifth month. He would be four now. I look forward to seeing him one day. I know he is beautiful, just like my others.

Anyway, here they are. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do

Here are the books I am reading  and/or writing in on a daily basis these days. As you can tell, I am trying to reign in my life a bit. Pictured above, from top to bottom, ( but not in order of priority), are my journal, Simplify Your Work Life, by Elaine St. James, my Bible, Simplify Your Life, by Marcia Ramsland ( a Davina Fear recommendation), and finally, Boundaries, by Cloud and Townsend, a kick-butt book that everyone should read.

I am finding bits of wisdom in these books that can help me in very practical ways. Today, I have just a few thoughts on Marcia Ramsland’s book, Simplify Your Life. ( fourth from the top)

She talks about four time-management lifestyles that most of us fall into.

1. The crisis and memory method: this method relies primarily on reacting to the urgent, and relies on        memory to keep it all under control. ( oh GEEZ this sounds so familiar). Not a real keeper.

2. The list and pile method: has a little more forethought, by piling up things that need to be done by category. ( I do this too!) This method only works well if we clear the piles daily and start all over again. (WHO does THAT?)

3. The calendar method: Hmm, writing out your entire schedule on the wall calendar, or on a calendar in your purse, but missing out on errands and to do’s because they are scribbled in the margins or on sticky notes.  I don’t get the feeling she approves of this plan either.

4. Finally, (can you hear the angels singing?) The planner method!:  I will quote her here. ” A planner is a book with sections to organize your activities and lists. It is basically everything you need to stay organized all in one place. It is a system for people who have numerous details to attend to or who ever have the same day twice.” I think she likes that one.

I have some work to do! I like this book, and don’t find it too overwhelming, as she uses real lives of people to explain the problems and solutions she comes to. Wish she could come spend some time with me. Or do I? Off to Barnes and Noble to find a good planner, I think