Follow your Heart

 

I had just completed my first year of law school and I was clerking for a judge during my “Summer 1” (as the law students call it).  I should have been enjoying my time off from class but I didn’t feel happy.  At lunchtime, I should have been rubbing elbows with the higher ups, networking and learning the politics of the courthouse.  Instead, I sat in the giant window in the Judges Chambers with my salad, scribbling away furiously in a pink legal pad. 

I knew at Christmas of that year that I wasn’t happy in law school, but I kept pushing to make it fit.  Instead of gloating about the coveted clerkship I was privileged to obtain, I was writing, trying to organize my feelings on returning to law school for a second year.

Whenever I come to a crossroads in my life, I like to make a list of pro’s and con’s. Sounds kind of silly, that a list could help me make decisions, but my gut seemed to be confused and as hard as I looked for Jiminy Cricket, he didn’t appear to be anywhere in sight.  It was just me and my pink legal pad.  So I restored to the list.

The list was comprised of pro’s and con’s of topics like; time, starting over, staying on a set track and finances.  Things that were logical and concrete.  Then, in the column marked “Pro,” (the upside for leaving law school) I drew a <3 symbol.  I didn’t write anything by it, I didn’t need to explain.  As my pencil drew the lines of the heart, I heard my mother’s voice in the back of my head, echoing, “If your hearts not in it, it’s nothing worth pursuing, you have to follow your heart.”

That day, I stopped the incessant list and put down the pencil and pink legal pad.  I made my way over to my desk in the corner of the Judges Chamber and started Googling graduate programs.  It was like asking a child what they wanted to be when they grew up. I didn’t know, I hadn’t ever considered anything besides law, but this felt like the first day, in a long time, when I asked myself what would really make me happy?  I remember not knowing exactly what I was looking for, but I knew it wasn’t law.

You see, the fountain of youth may be a myth but the secret to happiness is said to be found when you “follow your heart.”  The problem however, is that your “heart” is merely an organ in your chest that beats and pumps blood.  This heart cannot be the one they are talking about.

The heart we should follow must be the theoretical heart.  The one that you draw on notebooks in elementary school when referencing your first crush.  The heart that accompanies your signature on the bottom of greeting cards at birthdays and holidays. The heart that, as you get into your teenage years, you’re warned NOT to wear on your sleeve!  The same heart people are referencing when they advise you to think with your head before your heart.

A thinking heart?  Now, this is where things get complicated… You see, the older we get the more we’re cautioned to handle our hearts with care. BUT WAIT... How are we supposed to use caution with our heart and simultaneously be thinking with it and following it?

There are just too may contradictions.  Should our hearts be cautioned or should they be followed like a beacon pointing us toward happiness?

No wonder everyone is confused and many of us, including myself, end up a little lost.

You see, there seems to be two options…

1.  We use caution with our heart, think first and think of others.  Doing what makes others happy because were happy when our loved ones are happy.

2.  Forget caution and follow your heart.  Doing what makes ourselves happy even though it may disappoint or hurt the people that we so dearly want to make happy?

Neither sounds like a “happily ever after” to me…

The crux is that not everyone is going to be happy, despite the simple formula to “follow your heart.”  Some of us get lost and we forget about our heart so we stay lost.  Some people look at their lives and prefer to see the negative, dark things.  They focus on what needs work rather than what needs credit and appreciation.  They actively chose not to be happy with themselves and thus, they struggle to be happy for others.

You see, these people think that happiness will find them, so they fail to look for it.  The secret is that happiness is not something that spontaneously comes upon us.  Although at times it may pop out of the blue, I think it’s safe to say that happiness falls in line with almost every other aspect of life… in order to have it; you have to work at it.

I know, definitely NOT something we wanted to hear.

We wanted happiness to follow a fairy tale story line… that it just happens.  It comes knocking on your door and we embrace it and skip through the day.  Like winning the lottery without ever having to buy the ticket.  It should just strike our lives and everything falls into place. But that is the stuff Disney movies are made of, not life.

Come on, we’re all adults here.  By now we know that fairy tale princesses, leprechauns and constant euphoria is not real. In life we have to work towards what we want and we have to embrace it and take it.

Unfortunately, like most good things, happiness does exist without sadness.  In order to let in the good we have to let in the bad.  There is no path of least resistance to finding happiness. To obtain happiness it must be earned.

Whether it is a goal, a career, a relationship with family, friends, or yourself… true happiness is only found when we consciously and consistently make the choice to be happy.

The cliché “Follow your heart” reminds us to do what's right for ourselves, because happiness comes from within.  It reminds us that trying to please everyone results in jumping through hoops and running in circles ultimately running the risk of ending up back at square one.

To “Follow your heart,” the first step is to find the gumption to ask yourself, what makes you happy?  Then you need to find the courage and endurance to go get it.

SHORT AND SWEET…AKA…MORAL OF THE BLOG

 Although the age old advice to “Follow your heart” may be an effective expression that reminds us to be our own leader. … It is a guide to advocate for ourselves, follow our own way and our own passion. However, it can be vague, and sometimes despite the simple formula, we would all rather just ask for directions.   

When we really think about it, the expression enables us to avoid all of the confusion of leading and following or jumping through life’s hoops, circles, and squares. “Following your heart,” seems to sometimes place us exactly where we need or are supposed to be. 

xoxo

Lana

    "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."~Abraham Lincoln

Show, Don’t Tell

“A frail grasp on the big picture…”

Now what the hell does that mean??  First time I heard this particular group of words strung together was in song by the band, The Eagles.   

 

The song talks about the local bar…

Good ol' boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all

About relationships…

You don't have the slightest notion what long-term love is all about
All your romantic liaisons don't deal with eternal questions like:
"Who left the cap off the” freaking” toothpaste?" "Whose turn to take the garbage out?"

And about morals….

All our troubles will be resolved
We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved

This song is brutally honest and makes complete sense.  I’ll tell you why…

I am currently teaching writing to college students at the local Community College.  It’s English 100 and English 112.  I found that in the past few weeks I’ve been stressing to my students a very old adage in writing; one, I think, is the secret to good writing. “Show, Don’t Tell.” 

I stand in the front of the room, dry erase masker in one hand, gesturing with the other hand saying…

“Don’t just tell me your character is nervous; show me her palms sweating, or her foot tapping, her heart beating out of her chest, or her finger mindlessly twirling her hair.”

I explain that in writing, we have to remember that the reader is intelligent. The reader will draw the correct conclusions if the writer does a good job of leading them there. You don’t have to “spell things out” for the readers. (NO PUN INTENDED.) Telling a reader is much less effective than showing and allowing them to visualize the picture you’ve painted.  

As I explain, I can tell my 8:00AM lecture is resonating with some students.  I can also tell that in many of the sleepy eyed college students; it’s going in one ear and out the other.  They’re just not getting IT!

Which brings me to my next point…

“UGH, why don’t you get it?”

It is one of the standard “fighting words” appropriate to fire off in almost any situation. It blames the other person, “YOU” and the obscure, “IT.”  Choosing “IT” allows the blamer to accuse someone while simultaneously dancing around what’s really going on. When the infamous “IT” is launched, it usually is code for, “There’s something bigger going on here; but I just don’t feel comfortable revealing the truth.” So “IT” weasels its way into the equation.  And that little word “IT” can morph into an enormous wedge.

So what do song lyrics, writing, and fighting have in common?  Well students, (that’s my teacher voice) they are all examples of a “frail grasp on the big picture.” The inability to get the infamous “IT.”

You see in life, unlike in writing, you can’t always assume that dropping a hint or an inference is enough to lead someone to grasp a certain conclusion.  In life, friendships and relationships; sometimes we have to let go, stop guiding or showing, and allow someone to sink or swim.  Allow them to come to their own conclusions.  Allow them to see the bigger picture, or not.

Perspective is a funny thing.  It’s something that has to hit someone on its own.  It cannot be forced upon them or taught in a 90 minute lesson.

But “Show, Don’t Tell,” isn’t lost completely in the real world.  If someone claims to have miraculously obtained a new found “Perspective.”  They want to make a change,   be a better person, find another job, or embody a new attitude….Well, these are all groundbreaking revelations. But, if the revelation is all talk and no action…then it’s plain and simple Bullshit.

So how can you tell if it’s really a new perspective?  Whether it’s a game-changer or just plain games?

“Show, Don’t Tell.”  Just like in writing, to make the character believable, you have to show the reader.  In life, to prove your own character, you have to show it. You have to live it.

It’s like those people who diligently attend Sunday Mass each and every weekend.  Rain or shine, on vacation or not. They find a church and they go. They think this makes them better people just because they showed up.  Yet, upon leaving the church they can’t even hold the door for an elderly person walking behind them.  As the door flops into grandma’s face—it’s clear they have a frail grasp on the big picture.  They claim to be good Christians, but they don’t live it.

Living it, showing it…that’s the hard part.

So, a frail grasp on the big picture means that people tend to get so consumed with the small details; the minutia of life, that they have a weak hold on what’s truly important. What’s really going on; i.e. the big picture.

The sad part is that if you let the little stuff run your life, you miss out on the real lessons. The real perspective. The real things that you should be grateful for.  So next time you feel upset, pissed off, annoyed, frustrated, fed up… think about the big picture.  Think about how you hold onto it.  Think about perspective.  Are you showing and not telling? Maybe you need to reel yourself in and slap yourself back into check…

xoxo

Lana

SHORT AND SWEET…AKA…MORAL OF THE BLOG

It’s easy to lose perspective.  It’s easy to talk the talk.  But life isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be effort and gratification and lessons. So open up your mind and your eyes… look at the bigger picture and if you see it, hold on with both hands.

“You can’t see the Forest through the Trees” –Unknown.

Hallmark Has A Point?

“I’m sorry for your loss…”  

It’s what you’re supposed to say.  But even as the words left my lips and resonated in my brain, I thought about how empty, generic and half hearted they seemed.  As I listened to his voice on the voicemail I rehearsed saying it, but each time it sounded wrong.  I wanted a Hallmark zinger; something short, sweet and powerful.

At this point even if it rhymed and skimmed the surface of cheesy, I thought that it would have been better than “I’m sorry for your loss.”

This was a person I spent my childhood summers beside.  He was someone I’ve known for almost two decades and I felt like the words “I’m sorry for your loss” were desensitizing
his situation.

This is when I really needed Hallmark, but instead was left to my own devices.  Suddenly the voicemail beeped indicating for me to speak...

“Hey… it’s me.” I sounded too chipper; I tried to adjust my tone.  “I heard about your dad…” Shit, now I sounded too depressing, I need to fix that {Long Pause}

“I know you don’t have a sister, so I guess that makes me the closest thing… so, I had to call you.   I’m so sorry.” {Another Long Pause}

“If you need to talk or you need a drink or you need a ride because you’ve already had too many drinks… just call me.  Love you.”

I hung up. 

It didn’t rhyme, it didn’t flow, there was no unearthing the meaning of life… but it did the job. Hallmark however, would have had an elegant way for me to state that, so I didn’t have to stumble over myself. Like I feel I just did.

It’s moments like this that remind me why, even writers like myself, pay $6.99 for pre-packaged words beautiful organized into a harmonious greeting card.

It’s not because I couldn’t do it myself.  I’m a writer; of course I could have put something to together… for someone else. But this situation was different, he’s my friend and I knew his dad and...

It’s just when emotions cloud the logical and productive side of our brain, it’s difficult to pull the feelings out and stick them onto a page.

Maybe this is why the cards seem to stick for me?

You see, Valentine’s Day is over, the flowers have wilted, the stuffed animals settled into their  home a top of a bookshelf.  The chocolates have been picked through and eaten; what are left are the undesired flavors marred by tiny nibbles, taken from the corner, to differentiate caramels from peanuts.  The champagne has been popped, the surprises over and most of the red and pink mayhem has been marked yellow with a “Clearance” sign. Things have swiftly gone back to normal.

In the aftermath of Valentine’s Day, I’m going to admit, it’s a whole lot of fluff for what I call, one silly “Hallmark Holiday.”  I’m down on Valentines, not because I’m bitter and single (that’s only half true ha-ha) mostly though because if you love someone, don’t save your money to buy overpriced roses on February 14^th. 

Instead buy a single rose from the drug store on a random Tuesday.  To me, little private reminders, casually scattered throughout the year mean more than some showy gesture on V-day that is motivated sometimes just to “keep up with the Jones.”

With that being said, there is one aspect to the debacle that does have sticking power.  For me, what stands the test of time is ironically enough, the cards.  The cards, which are the foundation of Hallmark.  The words strung together on some half-folded piece of overpriced laminated paper.

I mean who the hell decided we should pay $6.99 for a greeting card? But we do.  And it’s usually
includes some cheesy catch phrase or rhyming idiom that are supposed to explain the meaning of life, but really just act as a cryptogram.

So, yeah, these cards are obnoxiously “Hallmark,” but we buy them anyway.

In fact we feel out of place giving a gift for any occasion without them. With each passing Holiday we continue to perform the ritual of card shopping.  The ritual of dumping money to buy words written by someone else, in hopes that it can accurately express how we feel about the recipient.  We buy the cards to personalize the day, gift, occasion.

Whether it’s a need to express sorrow and a condolence, or a chance to express elation and love… we look to greeting cards.

The words, the message, the feelings they evoke come alive with each and every read.

Since I was a child I always saved my cards. The wrapping paper, boxes, ribbons, bows were all quickly cleaned up into the garbage.  Eventually the gift became outdated, broken, old… Somehow touched by time. But the cards remain.

I used to put them in the top drawer of my dresser after every Birthday, Christmas, Communion, etc.  But by the time I was a tween, the drawer became full and now they sit in an egg crate in the back of my closet.

I’ve considered throwing them all out and making room for more shoe racks, but as much as I love Shoes…I can’t do it. 

I’m not really sure what I’m saving them for.  I mean, what the hell, am I going to do with a huge stack of old cards?  But I can’t bring myself to get rid of them.  As I continued to get older, I’ve added graduation cards; welcome home cards, good luck cards, and romantic cards to the bin.

They are like a timeline of my life.  Some were encouraging for scary beginnings, some were congratulatory for confident middles, and some were sympathetic for bittersweet endings.

The cards tend to hold more clout than the “stuff.” The flowers, candy, even an embrace… all have a shelf life.  The cards, however, memorialize our feelings.  They don’t expire, they don’t wilt away, and they don’t just live in the moment.  So next time you buy a card, think about the power it has and choose carefully…

xoxo
Lana

SHORT AND SWEET…AKA…MORAL OF THE BLOG

QUIZ:

Is Valentine’s Day an overpriced marketing ploy?

Is it ridiculous that we pay over $6.99 for a disposable card that may only be read once?

Do we need that sappy “Hallmark” shit every now and then?

The answer to all of these is “YES.”

"Life is a special occasion so celebrate” –Hallmark

Forget “It” & The Ground Hog & Try To Balance

“I want it all!”

Those four words are engrained in the foundation of the American Dream.  Anyone can have it (whatever “it” is) as long as their willing to work for it.  So, we 20somethings, trudge through school in hopes of finding “it”.  We secure a job in able to work at achieving “it.”  We focus on “it” and we make it our goal, our passion, our dream.

 

The irony is, that those people who seem most “together,” the ones that are certain they’re going to find “it”, can end up the most lost.  Those people who appear to know the program, the ones that are “on the right track” from the start… they are the ones who risk being farthest from “it.”

 

I can make this general statement with confidence because I was one of those people.

 

Smart, driven, confident and determined—all of which sounds good on paper, but can actually be a lethal combination.

 

When you have these qualities and you chose to focus on the wrong thing; or if you find yourself pursuing the wrong “it”, well then you end up making quite a mess for yourself. 

 

In our (my) defense, the trouble is that you never really know your pursuing the wrong “it,” until you’ve lost all perspective.  All that damn determination, confidence and wit has you convincing yourself that you’re doing the right thing.  Heading you in the right direction and surrounding yourself with the right people.  I mean come on…  you’re so smart, how could you not know exactly what you’re doing?

(Note the sarcasm)

 

Once you convince yourself that “it” is the one and only; goal, school, career, car, person, place—whatever it is… once you hone in on “it” and drive full speed toward it, you put on blinders.  Not just any blinders, either, it’s the big dark leather blinders, the kind they put on horses, the kind that blocks out everything in your peripheral. 

 

Which would be fine if you’re going in the right direction… but what if you’re not?  What if you need a moment to look away or a chance to see the bigger picture?  What if you need a second to assess your whole picture... you can’t do it.  You can’t do it because you’ve put so much pressure on yourself to keep chasing this one “it,” that you can’t give up now.  You’re so close…

 

In fact, you’re so savvy that you’ve even convinced the people around you that this is your “thing,” your “it,” and you find them cheering you on from the sidelines.  You’ve tricked the bystanders and worse, you’ve tricked yourself. 

So you get deeper into the commitment, the schooling, the contract, the job or the relationship.  So deep that before you know it… that thing is your “it.”  That schooling is your degree, that job your career, that relationship your life, and now you suddenly feel pigeon holed by life.

 

It’s the “This is it?” feeling. It’s disheartening, like finding out Santa isn’t real, or letting the air out of a balloon painfully slow, until it lays limp on the floor, an unrecognized shriveled version of its former self.

You spent all of that time and effort pursuing this?  You put blinders on for this?  But, by the time you realize “this isn’t for me,” you’re so far in; it feels as if you’ll never be able to get out.

 

But don’t worry… it only feels that way.

 

The truth is that, the second you start to look outside of the blinders you’re able to get a good grasp on the real picture.

 

And the real picture is that finding fulfillment from “it” (job, place, goal, relationship, accomplishment) doesn’t actually exist.  Pursuing one thing head-on is a fruitless battle because that one thing won’t ever be truly enough. We’re programmed to want it all, remember?

 

That’s the frustration because we can’t ever really have it all.

 

No matter how good you are at one thing, whatever “it” is… the bottom line is that it’s only ONE thing. Just because you have the job, now you want the promotion, the career, the relationship, the real estate, the bank account… you just keep adding things to your “Want” list. 

 

Maybe this is why people have always been so fond of that Groundhog Day movie.  Where the same day that plays over and over again.  People like this movie because they identify with it.  The silly comedy hits a heartstring because it portrays the real fear that life will be end up being one mundane routine that plays over and over again. Day in and day out.  We fear we will never feel fulfilled and we will continually chase one goal after another in a tired cyclical fashion. 

 

I think the solution to that movie… to the conundrum that is Ground Hogs Day, is to remember that life is about ebb and flow.  It’s not about ONE thing.  It’s about TONS of things and the hush-hush secret to a contented life is - balance.  You have to have a little focus on success, mixed with a hint of competition, peppered with a desire to find love and acceptance, and finished with a dash of whatever “it” is that you love.  The real key is to know when we have enough… 

 

xoxo

Lana

 

SHORT AND SWEET…AKA…MORAL OF THE BLOG

The best recipes are made with tons of ingredients; the best movies (with the exception of Ground Hogs Day) are created with a variety of scenes and vignettes… so why should life be any different?  Forget ONE thing… Forget “it”.  Life shouldn’t be singular; it’s supposed to be a complex plural, so strive for a hearty plethora of spice and pizzazz and leave the Ground Hog out of it…  what does he know anyway?

 "That's the key to having it all: stop expecting it to look like what you thought it was going to look like" ~Quote from Sex and the City

Tech-No-kidology

Holy Hiatus! With Christmas and New Years falling on the weekend this year, I just couldn’t get my life together enough to sit down and blog… which I think is okay, because you readers probably couldn’t get your lives together to sit down and read either… We’re even!

So during this hiatus, winter decided to rear its ugly head. Here in the Northeast we didn’t have a white Christmas, we had a white day-after Christmas. Whether you like snow or not, many Holiday/Christmas songs of a “White Christmas,” end up making most people long for it, even if they don’t particularly like snow. In short, had the storm arrived just 12 hours earlier, it could have arrived to open arms… but truthfully, instead, it was greeted with a groan.

I guess at some point, snowstorms have had to stop being personally offended by the adult – hatred toward them.

• “We have to get to work” 
• “We have to reschedule everything now” 
• “I don’t want to shovel” 
• “Oh No, Look at the roads!” 

Whether we like it or not, all of those miserable expressions come seeping out of our mouths the second the snow starts sticking to the ground.

Once you graduate high school, snow morphs from “YEAH, DAY OFF!” to “UGH, I HATE SNOW!” It’s a big, white, fluffy (sometimes mushy) inconvenience.

If snowstorms had feelings, they would have to be offended. But while we bitch and moan, our gripes are countered with adolescent screams of joy! They pray for snow in school. They wear their PJ’s inside out in hopes of snow magically appearing. They close their eyes at night and dream about their back yards morphing into a winter sledding amusement park.

• We see piles of snow, they see igloos and snowball forts.
• We see a covered driveway and think about all that has to be shoveled and they see a clean palate for Snow Angels.

Kids put a happy spin on the snow. So even if a snowstorm did have feelings—which isn’t that far off, I mean, come on, we name Hurricane’s, why not give snowstorms a human quality too? So EVEN IF, they were offended by the adults, the adolescent elation and love for snow, far out ways our bitch-fest’s.

Or at least it used to…

I’m not sure what happened in the last 10 years since I left grade school… okay so maybe it’s more like 15 years but who’s counting—I’m 20SOMETHING—remember?! ;)

So, in that “window” of time, the kids of America have changed. They are technologically savvy. They get leapfrog laptops as toddlers and carry Playskool cell phones. When they become the age to go to school they listen to music on the school bus that blares through their ear buds courtesy of an iPod touch. They keep growing up and manage their homework on a palm pilot or smart phone, they Skype their friends after school and in 8th grade the stay current on who’s going out with whom, by watching the relationship status of their friends change on Facebook!

The kids today are advanced. They are Techno/ digital and thus just too damn busy texting, skyping, downloading and Facebooking to make time for Snow!

One of my best friends has a little brother in middle school. She called me during that last snowstorm pissed off. The conversation went something like this…

“Lan, I have to talk to you.” She sounded upset, so I lowered the volume on my reality-show dujour.

“There is something seriously wrong with my little brother…”

“Oh My God, is he okay?” My chest tightened, I was afraid what she would say next.

“Yeah, he’s fine, it’s nothing like that” Whew, sigh of relief. “I asked my brother if he was going to hang out with his friends since it’s a snow day. He said “Yes” and went into his bedroom.”

“OK, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is, he never came out.”

“Maybe you should check on him?” I was starting to wonder about my friend…

“Exactly, so I went in to see if he was okay—maybe needed help doubling up on gloves or zipping up his snow boots. I open up his door and find him still in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms, his TV blaring and he’s holding neon controllers in his hands jumping around his room.”

Let me interject here. I do not have younger siblings, I have a nephew, but he’s 1, so I have no idea what in God’s name my friend is getting at. To me, it sounded like her brother had a bad case of cabin fever and maybe an adolescent nervous breakdown complimented by neon glow sticks? So I had to ask...

“What the hell was he doing and where did he find glow sticks?”

“What? I didn’t say glow sticks, I said neon controllers, ya know for X-Box Kinect.”

“X-Box what?”

“X-Box Kinect, it’s a new game!” I was instantly relieved there was a logical explanation for the glow sticks, I’d hate to think her middle school brother was already attending raves.

“So anyhow, I asked him what he was doing and he said he was playing with his friends. Apparently they can all log-on and play these games together. I asked him if he was going to play in the snow and he said, ‘No, its cold out!’ What is wrong with these kids today?”

And there is was, the age old, official statement... “What is wrong with these kids today?!” The second you find yourself saying that in normal conversation, it’s a red flag you’re officially an adult! My friend continued to rant for a few more minutes about how watching your friend on a computer or logging on and playing a game doesn’t count as “playing with friends” or “hanging out.”

She was right though. Not only are these kids isolating themselves with technology, but because they all log on to chat on the computer, play on X-Box or skype from a video, these poor kids actually think they are still “hanging out” with one another.

It’s funny though; we spend our childhood, trying to act like a grown-up. Thinking about what we’ll be when we grow up, trying to learn as much as we can so we can act and be grown up. Then one day, we find ourselves, all grown up.

At that point, we realize that we will now forever spend tons of energy and time, saving money so we can take vacations and act like a kid again. We yearn to travel so we can marvel at something the same way we marveled at snow as a child. We wait in baited breath for Friday night, for the weekend to get here, so we can be care-free for 48 hours, just like we were as a kid, before its back to the grind of adulthood on Monday. We even drive our cars with bumper stickers that say, "It’s never too late to enjoy your childhood!"

Maybe these kids need a little reminder. You have to soak up your youth while you still have the chance. Put those Ziplock bags over your socks and stick them inside snow boots to keep the snow out, because you’re going to go out there for hours.

 And who cares if you get sick, because you’ll just stay home from school. The teacher can’t email you homework, you’ll just have wait till the next day when you get there.

See, there really were some perks about not being digitally connected! ;)



SHORT AND SWEET…AKA…MORAL OF THE BLOG


These kids (and us, because the adults are setting the example) don’t need to log on to achieve being connected. We have to log OFF and get OUTSIDE into the world. Build a snowman, have a snowball fight, build a fort, make snow angels, be the first steps in the snow-covered wonderland of life outside after a snowstorm… there’s no age limit!

Half the fun of a snow day was meeting friends, “half way” and trudging through the snow together. The streets are empty, the snow is still, and the only thing you can hear is the echo of your own giggles as you and your friends pummel each other with snowballs.

We have to remind the younger generation of this… That you don’t have to hook something up to your TV, have Internet connection or download something to have fun. Let’s all help these little techi’s, so that they don’t DVR and fast-forward right through their own childhoods.

xoxo
Lana

“Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world; they grow up and they forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old.”- Walt Disney