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Life In General

Life In General

Why I Write

Rifle Paper Peony Card

When I was a little girl, my grandmother would sit me down at the kitchen table with a pen and a sheet of paper. She’d give me a person – my mom, my dad, my aunt, a cousin – and tell me to write them a letter. She’d task me with telling them what I was up to, what new adventures I had gone on, and to recount all of the places we had gone in the last week.

I was maybe 7 or 8, and as I got older, I continued to write letters. Mostly, it was because grandma had taught me that’s how you show someone that you really care about what is going on in their lives. It shows you took the time to sit down, organize your thoughts, and then carefully place them on the page.

It was a time before computers consumed our lives. Before we used auto correct for everything. When I could type out a letter on the typewriter or in an ancient version of Microsoft Word, but chose not to. Why? Because it meant more.

When I was in college, my grandmother would write me letters occasionally and I’d try to set aside the time to respond. When I studied abroad in France for a semester, I returned those letters more frequently. But as I got older, left college, took on the real world, I forgot about handwriting letters.

I forgot to take the time to show people I cared.

Why not send them an email? Because it’s impersonal. It would take me 2 minutes to write an email. It might get lost in their Junk Mail. It might never be opened.

However, when someone opens their mailbox and they get a letter, they know the person took the time. They took the time to pick out the card or paper to write the letter on. The time to write an address on the envelope. The time to get a stamp. The time to physically drop the letter at a mail box.

So that’s why I’m writing. I’ve hand written eight letters in 2016 so far. Some thank you cards, some just because, and a few just to tell a few people that I miss having them in my life.

We can change how people communicate. We can put down the phones, stop texting so much, and get out from behind the computer screens. Get a piece of paper and an envelope and tell someone you care. Try it, at least once.

And if you need some inspiration, there’s plenty of pretty cards out there to choose from:

 

Need address labels, save at Tiny Prints with this link: Click Here. Some of their designs are SUPER cute, start at $8, and they almost always have coupon codes!

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Life In General

First Snow of the Season

Seems like the first snow of the season always brings out the scaredy cat in people, me included. Today was the first snow of the season. It came in fast and hard, and it made sure that the roads were a terrible mess. My little Chevy Cobalt is really no match for the snow, especially when in all reality, someone with my yellow belly should be driving some sort of SUV.

So like most of New Hampshire right now, I’m sitting at home, looking out the window and thinking, “how was I not prepared for this?” Last week we had short sleeve weather and now we’re getting buried in snow and our roads are super slippery.

Even yesterday, Andy and I just bought a shovel. Yes, JUST. We realized with all the weather reports that we were going to probably need one. Our plow guy only comes at night so in the mornings, we’re on our own. I also forgot to purchase warmer winter gloves and then had to dive headfirst into my storage closet to find my winter boots that had been hidden for the last 9 months. Seriously, I am very unprepared for this season.

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Life In General

Faith Findings: Daily Totems

This is your journey and this is your progress. And there is no one else in the race because it is yours alone.

Many of you might have noticed the recent postings of my daily totem. A picture of a card with an animal on it and some words of inspiration or motivation. In the last two months, I’ve learned a lot about myself. That I can be strong, I can accept change, and I can find possibility in the unknown.

I started picking a Totem card each morning to see which spirit animal is mine for that day. I’m not picking a card again just because I don’t like it, I’m accepting it and really listening to what each card says. The deck I use are from Compendium and there are 30 cards in the deck, each with its own animal. It’s funny, I don’t take much stock in fortune cookies, but these I actually have found make sense.

No matter what the card says, I’ve found what I’ve picked has applied to what’s going on in my life at that moment. Take today’s snail. Immediately I knew this was on point. I am starting a new journey, expanding My Country Story and have taken a new job that I adore. I don’t need to try to race anyone else to the top of some corporate ladder, I just need to make myself happy, work slowly, and I’ll get where I need to go.

P.S. If you’re in Dover, you can pick these up at Pear Tree. Otherwise, you can order online for your own set here.

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Life In General

Have Some Faith In The Process

I’ve been struggling with how to tackle the future. I’ve spent most of my life worried that I made the wrong decision, that I turned a wrong corner and I’ll fail. There are a few times in my life that I knew I was making the right decision. I threw caution to the wind and I took a leap of faith. That first time was the moment I stepped onto St. Michael’s College campus with  my best friend in 2004.

She wanted to see the campus because she was planning on attending. I had never heard of this small Catholic college in the Burlington area of Vermont. I didn’t care too much, just that I was supporting her decision to check it out before she sent in an application. But the moment we stepped on to the campus – on a day that everything was closed due to a holiday – I knew it was home. I could feel that I belonged here. It was weird, and many might not understand, but I just knew it. Despite the expensive tuition that I could never afford, the fact that I didn’t even know if they had the major I was going to pursue (they did), or that I couldn’t see into any of the buildings because everything was locked, I knew this was the right move for me.

So I applied. And I only applied to St. Michael’s. I had no backup plan except the faith that if I didn’t get in, that I had time to apply late to a few other local state colleges. But I knew in my heart that I was making the right decision.

I did get in. No wait list, just in. My friend ultimately did not end up going. And, yes, I may still be paying off my tuition, but I won scholarships, worked a work study job at the library and worked evenings at the sandwich cafe in Alliot. I made it work. I was rewarded with the best college roommate you could be paired up with (we stayed roommates all four years) and going to St. Michael’s ultimately brought me to living in New Hampshire in a roundabout way.

I knew it was a good idea. And yes, I had a back up plan, but it wasn’t obvious to everyone. I had faith. Faith that things will work out. That if they fail, something else will come along. Faith that even though things don’t look like they’re the best solution at the time, they are meant for the path I am taking.

What I mean is, although right now not everyone agrees with the path I’m currently taking as a career move, I’m very grateful for everyone who has been so supportive and understanding that I need something that allows me to do the things that make me happy, have time for Andy, and still can feel like I work in a creative environment.

Faith is a funny thing. You either give into it completely, or you let doubt fall into your path. So have faith. Be positive, and dream any dream you wish to dream.

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