Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.
Brene Brown
When I decided to pick a quote for each month, I didn’t actually intend to then write a post about it, but life happens, and things change.
I picked this quote originally as a flagship quote for my decision to move towards publishing my own writing instead of hiding behind a penname or writing as a ghost, both of which I’ve done for a while now. Both of those were done because I wasn’t ready to deal with what criticism I know will come from certain family along the way, but at this point in my life, I simply don’t care anymore what someone else thinks or says. I simply want to enjoy what I enjoy and love this art that has kept me going over the years.
To that end, there will be some things that I had formerly posted under my penname that I’m going to repost here over the next few months, especially this summer when it’s harder to carve out time to write since the kids will be home and demanding more attention each day.
And the kids are why this post is happening. As the month has gone one, I’ve come to realize how much my kids have learned over the last couple of years. While cleaning the other day, I accidentally knocked a notebook off my daughter’s shelf and discovered that what used to be filled with pages of drawing and art, now has as many stories and handwritten prayers amongst its pages as there are drawings. While not taking the time to go through the entire book, just the couple of pages I saw yesterday, as I put the book back where it belongs showed me that my little girl has some very big thoughts going through her head. Thoughts that she is telling, even if it meant to only be between her, God and the pages she’s writing them down on.
Ironically, this is something that her teacher and I were just talking about a few days ago, as in public she’s not ready to tell those stories. That will come in time though, she’s lived a life much harder than many her age. She’ll get to a point soon where she’s ready to share her story, a moment I look forward to seeing as it will be a great story to hear from her point of view.
For now, though, I’ll simply make sure she had a place to write those stories down, a place to keep them safe, and work to make sure she knows that she’s always welcome to open up to her mom and I anytime she needs more than a sheet of paper to hear her pain or celebrate her joys.
J.Rhett Lively 