Imagination.

We built this fort to play in when I was out in Montana. When a blanket would fall I would comment to the girls, "don't get upset. we're having issues with the structural integrity of this fort." Later they would parrot, "Becca. You need to fix the structural integrity of this part."

We played in that fort for a solid 2 hours one afternoon. The fort was a spaceship and took us to dinosaur planet, the fort became a boat and took us to bear attack island and the fort was our little shelter from the big, huge storm outside and we had to keep our babies safe. My hair was a static mess, and due to either poor structural integrity or the 2 1/2 year old who didn't understand the fragile nature of a fort, we had to rebuild and secure our blankets with more pillows and clothespins quite often.

At one point we were laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face which instantly silenced both little girls who asked quite seriously, "why are you sad, Aunt Bec?" But I was not sad. I was so stinkin' happy. So happy to be free to play so hard, to be silly, to be dramatic, to use funny voices, to feel my heart race as we closed up every hole on our fort so no bears could get in. Playtime is fullyalive time.

The past three days I was at an American Camping Association conference with other camp folk. I ate lunch with a woman who shared a similar passion for imagination. She said that teaching imagination is actually a part of their staff training. And that each day with the campers there are blocks of times when props are given, vague instructions are presented and the end result is imagination.

I think camp is one of the most imaginative places on earth. Skits, storytelling, improv games, time fillers, costumes all the time, tricks up your sleeve...it's all full of creativity and making something more than it really is. But this woman was so interesting as she commented, "ten years ago I didn't have to teach imagination. The counselors came with one. And I still have a good handful that know how to play pretend. But the number is growing for the counselors who need help in finding their ability to see what isn't really there."

The gift of playing pretend and dreaming up worlds and storylines that are completely fictitious is a world I never grew out of. This conversation was thought-provoking, leaving me to wonder and dream of how we can help foster growth in all of our kids this summer, ages five to twenty-five. Imagination Education. A very interesting thought.

Liberty and Justice

I called Heidi, last night. We've been bff's since we were 16.

Becca: So are you a technically a veteran?
Heidi: I am.
Becca: You are?!! Is everyone who was in the military at one point a veteran?
Heidi: Actually, you have to have served for at least 6 years or gone oversees.
Becca: Oh my word, you are a veteran! I'm so sorry I've never made this connection before. This day is about YOU!

I was so amazed by this conversation. I think I had just thought that veterans were older than my 28 year old best friend. But I know she fits the bill. She served faithfully for 7 1/2 years in the Air National Guard and was deployed to Saudi Arabia when we were in college.

Heidi's husband Tim is in Iraq right now, serving our country as well. He has been gone since February and will come home this February (maybe March). Heidi has two little kids that she has single-parented for this stretch of time and I honor her strength, determination and honestly as she continues to serve her country by faithfully encouraging her husband, working through the struggles of a long-distance marriage and needing a mama break so bad while knowing that Tim will still be gone for another three or four months. She amazes me.

And Tim does too. This couple has shown me so much, first hand, of the sacrifice that our military men and women make for our country. Is is a lot of time. A lot of bravery. And a whole lot of belief in America's freedom. Man, we have so much to be grateful for. And so many to be grateful for in defending our freedom and our liberty.

***

"It is not merely for today, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children's children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives."

Abraham Lincoln, August 22, 1864 - Speech to the One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment

Topography.

I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord. Maker of heaven. Creator of the earth. Psalm 121:1&2

Doogie Howser MD

I was in a marketing seminar this afternoon and the presenter was trying to explain blogging to an older woman in the room. The presenter said, “Did you ever watch Doogie Howser?” The woman nodded. “Remember how he would type his thoughts at the end of every episode, writing his opinions and learnings from his life? Well, I would say Doogie was the first blogger.”

***This has nothing to do with the topic of this post, but I remember one episode of Doogie Howser when his girlfriend, Wanda, (no, I didn’t actually remember her name. I googled it. I had thought it was Winnie, but then realized that was the girlfriend in the Wonder Years…) had one of her parents die. And Doogie tried to console her and was like, “I know how you feel.” And Wanda screamed back, “No you don’t! How can you know how I feel?!! Your parents are still alive!” And I remember making a mental note that day never to say Iknowhowyoufeel to someone when I don’t really knowhowtheyfeel.

Anyway, realizing that Doogie was the first blogger made me feel happy that I am in good company, and then sad that no theme music pops up every time I write a blog post.

Blogging is a funny thing. It is very narcissistic. And perhaps by just naming that fact, I can get over that fact. Because I struggle a lot with this question of ‘who really cares what I’m up to…’ Except that I know I have a very faithful and growing readership because my husband is techy and hooks me up to sites that graph this sort of thing. See?!! How narcissistic is that?!! Graphing my readership? Sick.

And yet, I LOVE BLOGGING. I honestly am trying to get all of my friends and family to blog. Because I think it’s so fun and I love reading other people's blogs. Donald Miller is one of my favorite writers and he recently wrote on his blog that writing a book is basically him saying, “Hey world, I exist, and I want to you to see that I exist.” (I use those quotes loosely…it was something along those lines…) He was just pointing out this very human need we all share, even though it does seem quite self-centered. So I guess blogging sort of is self-centered. And yet, because of my blog I feel so amazingly connected to friends of days gone by and new friends that I only know through their blogs. For me, that feels more relationship-centered.

Not really sure what I’m actually trying to say, except, blog readers, thanks for reading. I know this blog is Becca-centered, and maybe I’m just trying to apologize for that. But I love this blog and actually just think that if blogging was healthy and therapeutic for The World’s Youngest Television Doctor, then maybe I can just get over the stigma attached to blogging and channel my inner Doogie.

Insert Doogie theme music here: do do do do dodo. Do do do do dodo. Do dodo. Do dodo. Dododododo.

8 years later!!!

I was in India studying abroad eight years ago and I am proud to announce that I JUST FINISHED THE SCRAPBOOK!!! Literally, it has been a work in progress for 8 years and finally I just sat down with the last stack of pictures, and slapped them on the last pages. And it is done!

It is amazing how little I remember from many of the pictures. I think this is why it is so important to write down the details right away, because the little things like the names of towns we traveled to are completely gone from my memory now.

So now, with this album complete, my next big giterdone project is my Wedding Preparation album...all the showers, planning, decoration dreaming and dress shopping. And since this album is just from four years ago, I'm cutting my scrapbook-behind-time in half!