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Celebrate Everything We Can

Party On, Wayne

Remember that time I told you that I struggle with depression?  Well, that is only part of my story.  The other part of my story is that I am a shameless goofball.  Because I am intimately acquainted with the darkness, I know how how important it is for me to celebrate the light.  I am looking for joy constantly, laughing readily, singing enthusiastically (perhaps poorly, but who cares), and celebrating life eagerly.  

I believe life is a gift, and certainly it has its seasons and moment to take seriously, I also believe that perhaps we are overestimating those moments.  If you are my friend, you can always count on me for moments of levity, bouts of spontaneous dancing, incredibly expressive facial expressions that hide zero of my feelings, inappropriate and/or cheesy jokes, and, I mean, I'm not going to lie, a potty mouth.  I smile with my whole face and I love with my whole heart.

I recently had a dear friend tell me that something she admires about me is that I am completely and unapologetically content in my life and the choices I make.  It was one of the nicest things anybody has said to me.  

But, she is right.  I am overjoyed with my life, even with the tough stuff I might complain about (or more likely the petty stuff I whine about).  Life is a precious, beautiful, messy, tough, fun gift.  And as for me and my family, we are going to #celebrateeverythingwecan.

We can't stop.  We are addicted to the shindig.

Want some ideas to celebrate all the things?

  • Start with your half-birthdays.  Everybody has one.  In my family, my kiddos get one gift (and, bonus! one for her sister too), and a half-birthday dessert.  My original intent was to make a half of a birthday cake, but turns out I am terrible at frosting cakes without a billion crumbs ending up in the frosting.  So, whatevs.  
  • Speaking of birthdays, we like to drag out the celebration.  Put a candle in every meal.  Or try out our tradition of opening presents throughout the day, instead of all in one sitting.  Before the kids were in school, we used to put all the gifts in the car and let them open one every time we made a stop.  
  • Make family dinners a time to recognize individual accomplishments or special days.  Through an interesting turn of events while registering for dishes at Target over 11 years ago for our wedding, my husband and I ended up with like eight grayish dinner plates and four light green plates.  So, in our family, if someone had a special day, they get surprised with a green plate at dinner.  What constitutes a special day?  That's the beauty!  You decide.  And it can totally depend on season of your life.  You kept your big girl panties dry all day?  Green plate!  You had an awesome compliment on your report card?  Green plate!  Hey, babe, you got a promotion at work?  Green plate!  I even gave myself a green plate the first (and only) time I ran five miles.  
  • Break your own rules.  My husband travels for work some, so my daughters and I have several girls nights throughout the year.  One time, we were trying to agree on what to have for dinner, but the only part that we came to a consensus on was ice cream.  So, I decided that just that one time, we would have ice cream sundaes for dinner.  #coolmom
  • Make anything into a game.  We are season pass holders at the zoo in town, so we go.  A. LOT.  Like, we could probably give tours and are on a first name basis with some of the animals.  So, it would be safe to say that by now, the novelty of a zoo trip is waning.  So last time, we made a fake game of jumping off the big rocks they had around to earn points and then celebrating making it to a completely arbitrary point value by buying a treat (with a 20% discount.  Friends of the Zoo say what?).
  • Make transitions a party.  Last day of preschool?  Shoe polish or decorate your car for pick-up to announce to the world you have a future kindergartener on board.  Potty training?  Sounds like it is time for a panty party.  First day of school?  How about an after school snack of a  giant chocolate chip cookie with your new grade level formed out of chocolate chips?
There are as many ways to celebrate life as there are moments in life.  Do you celebrate life in a fun way?  Leave me a comment here on this blog post.  And, as always, I would appreciate you subscribing to get future blog posts in your inbox.  
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