Words about contentment inspired this series that celebrates ingenuity, creativity, and resourcefulness. Join me in the comments and share what you've done with what you have.
Your kindest words on my last post meant so much. The email, the calls, the texts I received - are you okay? - were so thoughtful. You all really are the best.
And, yes, we are all okay here in the little house.
In my life, as in yours, there are days when I'm just not sure how. How to parent, how to spouse, how to parent, how to friend, how to parent, how to work, how to parent, how. I've not been around this corner before. I've not had this conversation, this experience, this moment. This is real life, isn't it? Mixed with the beauty, there's grit. Wild flowers explode in bloom right beside a gravel trail. I don't want to miss those times when I need to step off that trail, sit down in the middle of beauty on that open hillside and let my face get wet.
I love the words one reader sent:
These are the times to sit still, on that metaphoric hillside (I live in New Jersey where it's very flat terrain) and experience what is coming up inside.
Without attaching to meanings and stories, there's nothing quite like a good, clean, old-fashioned bawl, to clear out the cobwebs. This is the meaning of 'Do what you can with what you have'.
Indeed.
And after all that?
I suggest you make bread. With white flour. Yes, take a diversion from the usual (lame) whole-wheat fare, because right now, white bread means love cool to middle school boys. And have softened butter nearby, and plates handy. Because those middle school boys who are, at the moment, acutely enamored with white bread, drumming, basketball shoes, and the idea of having their own motorized transportation, will burst through the door at any moment with appetites bigger than your house.
If there's much about middle school boys that's beyond your grasp, this one isn't.
Do what you can with what you have.
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