Do Not Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Matthew 6:25-27

The First Summer of my 30's

Top Down

Teachers

Summer and Salt Water 

More than Work

Past vs Present/Polaroid vs Selfie-Stick

Well, I'm no longer in my late 20's. I am fully immersed into my 30th year of life and feel both as confused and certain of things as I did when I was pumping my legs on the old swing-set at the neighborhood park. My body and I have an intimate understanding of one another and my mood swings no longer knock me into a sense of bewilderment for days. When it's time to rest, my body is trampled with a cold that I can't shake with hot tea and vitamin C. The universe knows when it's time to take a break.

I feel more tired than ever, but yet also so ambitious and fearless. So, on Sundays like this when I wake up with no plans or obligations, I find myself wondering what should I be doing and with whom should I be doing it with. Life is passing by faster than ever and as the milestones keeping strolling right on by, and I'm just trying to maintain a sense of who I am.
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Although today I am filled with questions, yesterday was filled with nothing but joy, sand and a selfie-stick. I am grateful for the women I met in my 20's: Those who were with me as I carved out a career in Youth Work and Mama-Bearing. Those who traveled with me to the greatest moments of my imagination; Harry Potter world and Greece and Hawaii and Costa Rica. Those who have sat in cafes with markers and sketch pads drawing out the maps to the future. Those who have helped me navigate the second half of my 20's with grace and confidence.

My 20's are over, but 30 is looking pretty promising, as long as I keep moving in the right direction with the best of the best along-side.

The first post is always the hardest. Here is to Sundays filled with more writing.

Dear Tessa: Listening to No

Dear Tessa,

Last weekend, you told me no-- no less than 100 times. When I tried to comb your hair. When I tried to kiss your cheek. When I tried to change you into a diaper so that you wouldn't wet the bed during a nap. When I tried to make you lay down for that said nap. When I tried to make you sit down to eat the toast you asked for --You get the point.

What I struggled with is doing what I know is best for you (the food, the nap, the curl detangling) and honoring your right to say no. I want you to grow up to be a woman who feels confident in what she knows is best for herself, but how can I do that when I am trying to overpower you to do what I think is best? I am not sure how well I did this weekend in honoring your wishes. Even as you jumble up your words and are frustrated by my inability to understand, I hope you know that I hear you.

My hope for you is that as you grow older, and even as I push my own advice onto you, I will hear you. I will listen.  I will ask questions to deepen my understanding of who you know yourself to be.

As you sat in the tub, asking me for, "Ten more minutes!" I had only offered two, but you knew best. You sang to your bath toys, "Along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be... SNAP! That monkey right outta that tree!" Finally you were ready, when you pulled out the drain stopper. Wrinkled, cold and scared of the sound, you called for my help.  I wrapped you up into the towel like a caterpillar in its cocoon and called you my little butterfly. You nestled your wet curls into my neck and perched yourself into my arms.

You knew when you were ready. I'll hold onto this moment as you grow older and the risks, decisions, and possibilities of mistakes become bigger. We all do things in our own time, even when you're two years old. I promise to be patient with your requests, knowing that whether it takes you two minutes or ten, two years of twenty, you'll figure it out just like the rest of us.

Thank you for being my favorite (and cutest) teacher.

xoxo,
Tia

Currently Reading: Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Read just enough of it to read the following line and to feel the sense of relief that in this crazy, messed up world that being even half-way sane is an accomplishment:

"They are all kinds of crazy. Some folk drink themselves so stupid. Others so empty, gluttony take they belly hostage. And some get so full of hate, it like to crack they soul. Hell, ain't nothing strange when Colored go crazy. Strange is when we don't." (p. 71)

It's Oprah's Book Club selection, but this book deserves the hype for the way it explores the effects of racism and violence on the mental wellness and health of oppressed people. So, when the stories of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown have us waking up feeling sick to our stomachs or have us running into the streets wanting to scream at the top of our lungs, this story reminds us that racism has been driving us crazy long before we knew to name it as such.

And so with that, I am going back to reading. What are you all reading right now?


Sidenote: Thank you to all of those who are still reading! I am trying to get back in the rhythm and figure out what this space will be now. If you have any ideas of what you want to see here, write them in the comments! xoxo 

7 Things Before 7am

1. I bought two bras that almost equal half my paycheck. Someone told me that in my 30's I needed expensive undergarments. I am starting early--little sister complex.

2. Read a bit of Oprah's new Book Club selection, Ruby, and instantly felt depressed by the state of my writing.

3. Put an english muffin in the toaster over and didn't burn it. The past few months I have been eating black toast because of my negligence.

4. Proof-read someone else's work.

5. Thought about quitting my job.

6. Decided I need my job to pay for the expensive bras.

7. Drank a cup of coffee.