I had a wonderful, imaginative, and simple childhood in Northern Michigan that taught me how to love and learn as much as I could. Maybe it was watching my Mom get repeatedly caught up in a beat up copy of Gone With The Wind, but I developed a love for books and, more importantly, for the words that made up the stories. It’s my passion and my therapy.
I was a 20 year old sophomore living the college life (in Florida to boot!) when I decided to spend the summer with my amazing Aunt. It was at that summer job where I met my husband and then 2 year old stepdaughter. It was a whirlwind romance and I’m smiling as I write. We met in June, we started dating in August, and we secretly eloped in October (yes, of the same year smartypants). I went from a being a 20 year old college girl to being a 20 year old wife and stepmom. I was young, I was naive, and I was exactly where I was suppose to be. The odds were (and still are) against us, but we’ve never given much ado about statistics.
Marco is an awesome person. Truly. And he’s smart. Brilliant. He owns his own business and while to me that equals the right to stay in bed and watch Workaholics all day, he actually gets up and works. hard. I admire his motivation and determination. He’s also an incredible dad. The kind that gets on the floor and plays Tea Party, Tea Party with his daughter <3 He’s my best friend, and if you’re feeling particularly sappy, he’s my soulmate.
Daniela is my light and joy. Marco tells me that he fell in love when he saw Daniela and me laying belly down on the floor, chins propped up on open palms, giggling to Shrek. She had just turned 3. She is my best friend and my little munchkinita. She has a pensive, serious side that thinks up questions that I am totally unprepared to answer. It scares me. I’ve never birthed a child, but I can’t imagine that loving a child could get any more intense. It’s a ferocious, protective love that bloomed out of absolutely no where the first time she scraped her knee and ran into my arms.
They are my Light. My reason for wanting to be better.
Learning to be the Light started as a private collection of thoughts on 750words.com and from there it grew into a blog that I felt the urge to share.
The phrase “Learning to be the Light” represents (to me) the constant struggle between being just another complacent person and being that one person who makes everyone around her feel special and interesting and just better. I want to be the one person who is extending love instead of judgement. There are certain people, however, who just push my buttons. For years (ahem, all my life) I’ve justified the way I treat them because hey, they drive me nuts. It was ok to be overly sarcastic and make them uncomfortable because, well, I’m just being me and if they don’t like it, tough bananas. It was ok to go out of my way to make them feel inferior, because they’ve done so much worse.
umm, wrong.
Somewhere along the line, I saw the pettiness for what it was. While reading the New Testament I saw how radically Jesus changed the “religion” scene. Forgive me if you’re not into God — that’s fine with me, and I would love to hear about your faith and beliefs (or lack thereof); email me, we’ll chat — I saw how Jesus was totally rocking the religious culture and making people uncomfortable with His LOVE. I realized that while I was making people uncomfortable for my own pride, Jesus was making people uncomfortable for the cause of LOVE! What a difference! If people really extended that kind of love to each other, we could change friendships, and families, and schools, and communities. Love, light, blessings, good energy — whatever you believe in, we need more of it.
Every positive interaction makes a difference. Christians are so good at telling you what they are against, but that makes no difference to me. I’m on a daily (sometimes hourly) journey of learning to be the light in other people’s worlds. Forget what I’m against, this is what I’m for.
I am for Love — all kinds of love.
I am for family
I am for human rights — everywhere
I am for kindness
I am for R-E-S-P-E-C-T (you know you’re singing it)
I am for happiness
I am for puppies
I am for politics (oh, the drama!)
I am for gay marriage
I am for technology
I am for writing
I am for marriage
I am for prayer
I am for acceptance
I am for a good glass of wine
I am for education
I am for shoe shopping
I am for children
I am for loving, involved stepparents
I am for worship
I am for TOMS
I am for teen angst (gotta get through it sometime)
I am for Enjoying the Small Things
I am for organic food
I am for being organized.
It’s a simple message, really. Spread love. Wherever you are, whoever you’re with, and whatever your beliefs — love God and love others. That’s all there is to life.
