I can't say it enough, I love my neighborhood! Irvington is a small historic neighborhood 10 minutes east of downtown Indy. It was one of the first Indianapolis Suburbs. This summer they have been re-paving Washington Street (Old HWY 40 that splits Irvington in half) and you could see the old rail tracks from the cable cars that used to run from downtown. Oh how I wish they were still running. Very cool but not the reason I am in love with my neighborhood today. Today was the 2nd annual Irvington Skill Share. People gathered to share skills they have learned. I LOVED it. I rode my bike to a church in the neighborhood and learned how to make a no-knead bread, how to knit socks, save seeds from my garden for the spring, make cheese, and re-purpose fabric. I got so many ideas and immediately came home and harvested seeds from my lettuce and bean plants. I also found out that I can plant my lettuce seeds now for another harvest this fall. LOVE IT!
I feel like a kid. Now that I actually have time to do things outside of work I may not be as financially rich but boy am I rich in ideas and relationships that I am able to build now that I have more balance. Today is a good day!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Dear Tween Tara...
I am feeling quite reflective tonight after hearing that the mother of a dear friend of mine lost her battle with Cancer today. LP you will be dearly missed by everyone who had the fortune of encountering you and your wisdom, calm nature and wonderful advice. You raised an amazing and wonderful son and daughter. Your memory will live on forever.
I often think back to when I was a little girl lying in bed dreaming about the woman I would become. I loved books on spells and witchcraft and always checked them out from the library. (Now that I think about it, my uber Catholic parents were pretty cool with that). There was one "Spell" (I was so ahead of Harry Potter) that was supposed to show you a reflection of your future husband or wife in the mirror if you chanted it in a dark room. We had a HUGE mirror in the kids bathroom and try as I might, I was too afraid to follow through with it. I think part of me was afraid it wouldn't work but the bigger part of me thought it might and I was concerned that I wouldn't like what I saw! Well little girl, you would have liked what you saw. Well, I guess that depends on if it would have shown John at that age and at that age I'm pretty sure he still had his rat tail and well...let's just say I hope the spell would not have shown me at that time. I had two braces on my two front teeth and pink glasses with stars on the side. Boy we would have been a match!
So, this blog is a message to little Tween Tara the worry wart: That mole on the side of your nose, you know, the one the size of a pencil tip? Yeah, no one even realizes it's there so quit freaking out about it. Oh and you are not fat. You have adorable chubby cheeks with dimples and the braces work. You will have no more gap in your teeth. You will have lasik eye surgery and lose the glasses. It will be 5 minutes of pure hell but you will get over it and it will be wonderful.
You have a great time in college where you will meet your soul mates in the form of sorority sisters. They will empower you and make you realize that high school was a bit of a sham and that the hormones got in the way of joy. (You even get to know people you thought were kind of jerks in high school and they become awesome in college.) You meet friends that will hold your hair back on your 21st birthday. you will meet the friends that stand with you on your wedding day and when you find out those friends are going to become moms you will cry every time. Those friends become the most wonderful parents in the world and their children will bring tears to your eyes too. You will share other tears too and not just those of joy. You will walk over hot coals for them if they need it and wish you could take away their pain and loss for them and they would do the same for you.
Your sucky sister and brother? Yeah, it takes awhile but you all become very close and hearing about their engagements, marriages and births bring on a whole other set of tears. They bring you the most special little people to your life. You can't even imagine loving someone as much as you love those little nephews.
Your "mean" parents that torture you by making you do chores, work in the yard and cook dinner? It turns out they are pretty smart but you won't realize that until much later. (You have to let your hormones get settled before that happens) and these days you LOVE to cook and do your best to cook dinner for your own family every night. It is now cooking and yard work that calms those worries and anxieties. Cleaning? Sorry, you still hate that. What you will find out is that your parents enable you to spread your wings and fly by offering just the right amount of love and support. They let you fall just enough to learn from the feeling of pain but would never let you fall on your face. Kind of like how they taught you to ride a bike. You skinned your knee but you didn't bust your head. They teach you all kinds of things just like riding a bike only it's stuff like buying a house, car, insurance and more. You may hate their lessons now but really, they know their stuff.
Oh and the heartbreak? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's gonna suck and it's gonna suck bad for awhile and it's not just one heartbreaker so hold on. It gets better I promise though you will lose faith many times. Then, just like they said it would, it comes when you least expect it. You will meet this guy and not even have a clue you like him or he likes you. It takes 6 years for it all to sort itself out but stick with it! It is SOOOOO worth it. You end up with two dogs, two cats, a beautiful home and the party is just getting started.
So, Tween Tara the worry wart, I have good news and I have bad news.
The bad news: there will be tears and there will be many and you never stop being a worrier but you kind of start to deal with it. You have to treat it like a chronic illness and know that the worry is always lurking. It's part of you.
Now the good news: you are happy! You find love, true friendship and great dogs. You can have your cake and eat it too and well, you still have chubby cheeks but you eventually start to think they are kinda nice. So hang in there. The best is yet to come.
I often think back to when I was a little girl lying in bed dreaming about the woman I would become. I loved books on spells and witchcraft and always checked them out from the library. (Now that I think about it, my uber Catholic parents were pretty cool with that). There was one "Spell" (I was so ahead of Harry Potter) that was supposed to show you a reflection of your future husband or wife in the mirror if you chanted it in a dark room. We had a HUGE mirror in the kids bathroom and try as I might, I was too afraid to follow through with it. I think part of me was afraid it wouldn't work but the bigger part of me thought it might and I was concerned that I wouldn't like what I saw! Well little girl, you would have liked what you saw. Well, I guess that depends on if it would have shown John at that age and at that age I'm pretty sure he still had his rat tail and well...let's just say I hope the spell would not have shown me at that time. I had two braces on my two front teeth and pink glasses with stars on the side. Boy we would have been a match!
So, this blog is a message to little Tween Tara the worry wart: That mole on the side of your nose, you know, the one the size of a pencil tip? Yeah, no one even realizes it's there so quit freaking out about it. Oh and you are not fat. You have adorable chubby cheeks with dimples and the braces work. You will have no more gap in your teeth. You will have lasik eye surgery and lose the glasses. It will be 5 minutes of pure hell but you will get over it and it will be wonderful.
You have a great time in college where you will meet your soul mates in the form of sorority sisters. They will empower you and make you realize that high school was a bit of a sham and that the hormones got in the way of joy. (You even get to know people you thought were kind of jerks in high school and they become awesome in college.) You meet friends that will hold your hair back on your 21st birthday. you will meet the friends that stand with you on your wedding day and when you find out those friends are going to become moms you will cry every time. Those friends become the most wonderful parents in the world and their children will bring tears to your eyes too. You will share other tears too and not just those of joy. You will walk over hot coals for them if they need it and wish you could take away their pain and loss for them and they would do the same for you.
Your sucky sister and brother? Yeah, it takes awhile but you all become very close and hearing about their engagements, marriages and births bring on a whole other set of tears. They bring you the most special little people to your life. You can't even imagine loving someone as much as you love those little nephews.
Your "mean" parents that torture you by making you do chores, work in the yard and cook dinner? It turns out they are pretty smart but you won't realize that until much later. (You have to let your hormones get settled before that happens) and these days you LOVE to cook and do your best to cook dinner for your own family every night. It is now cooking and yard work that calms those worries and anxieties. Cleaning? Sorry, you still hate that. What you will find out is that your parents enable you to spread your wings and fly by offering just the right amount of love and support. They let you fall just enough to learn from the feeling of pain but would never let you fall on your face. Kind of like how they taught you to ride a bike. You skinned your knee but you didn't bust your head. They teach you all kinds of things just like riding a bike only it's stuff like buying a house, car, insurance and more. You may hate their lessons now but really, they know their stuff.
Oh and the heartbreak? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's gonna suck and it's gonna suck bad for awhile and it's not just one heartbreaker so hold on. It gets better I promise though you will lose faith many times. Then, just like they said it would, it comes when you least expect it. You will meet this guy and not even have a clue you like him or he likes you. It takes 6 years for it all to sort itself out but stick with it! It is SOOOOO worth it. You end up with two dogs, two cats, a beautiful home and the party is just getting started.
So, Tween Tara the worry wart, I have good news and I have bad news.
The bad news: there will be tears and there will be many and you never stop being a worrier but you kind of start to deal with it. You have to treat it like a chronic illness and know that the worry is always lurking. It's part of you.
Now the good news: you are happy! You find love, true friendship and great dogs. You can have your cake and eat it too and well, you still have chubby cheeks but you eventually start to think they are kinda nice. So hang in there. The best is yet to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)