November 21st, 2018

Imperfection is a Gift

I flew to my hometown yesterday. As some of you may know traveling with kids is interesting. You have to make sure they are entertained. Since my kids don’t have screens yet, and I don’t want them on my phone, that means a lot of choreographing and directing them to other activities. If I don’t play another game of crazy eights for a while, I will be ok. At age 8 and 9, air travel is a piece of cake compared to what it used to be. I have endless stories of traveling with my kids, and I know it is not always easy, but most of the time it is worth it.  If you are traveling with young kids, deep breaths, you will survive.

When we are with our families, all of our families, our work families, our friend families that we have chosen, we have to give people space to be themselves. For me it is better to take a few deep breaths and not say anything until I can think of something kind to say.  The holidays are magical if you can slow down and enjoythe magic of the season and all of the gifts each person has to offer.  We are all unique and beautiful and the world needs all of Us.

The holidays always make me think of my family that is no longer with me. I think of my grandfather a lot. He was head of the legal department at Principal Financial, a pretty big company, before he retired at age 67.  He spent almost 30 years, traveling the world and living in 3 beautiful homes, a lake in Northern Minnesota, a lake in North Carolina, and then a condo in Des Moines, Iowa. He started legal aide in Des Moines, Iowa. It is free legal service for those who can’t afford it. It is still around today and one of his favorite parts about his career. He didn’t speak a lot of words when he spoke or when he wrote. Every time I spoke to him or heard him speak to others, we felt uplifted, and better about ourselves and the world. He gave Love everywhere financially and energetically.  I admired and loved him very much.

I want you to know that wherever you are for the holidays this week, You are Amazing and You are doing an Awesome job. You are Loved.  Not everything has to be perfect. One of my first Thanksgivings with my ex-husband, I wanted everything to be perfect. I had to make a green bean casserole 3 times because I kept messing up, and the recipe only has 3 ingredients. I have endless baking catastrophe stories. Tell your stories. Make memories with your families. The stories we have when things aren’t perfect are our best stories and the ones that can make us laugh or cry the hardest.