Inspiration

I love being inspired!  I enjoy the excitement of the prospect of a new way of thinking or doing things, or the reality check that I've needed that catapults me in the right direction.  I get inspired through books, people, blogs, Pinterest.  One of my BFF's, Laura, inspires me to be tidier, cleaner and more organized.  I still never measure up, but I get inspired every time I go to her house (which unfortunately, isn't that often, because she lives 10 hours away). 

One of my most recent inspirations has been through a blog I've started following.  I gave up on reading blogs a long time ago.  It seemed like there for awhile, everyone I knew had a blog.  I tried for a long time to read and keep up with all of my friends' and family members' blogs, but in addition to not having time to read all those blogs, I finally decided one day that if I'm close to someone I'll know everything they talk about in their blog through my relationship with them, so there's really no need to read their blogs anymore.  This was rather freeing for me, although I may have hurt some people's feelings along the way whose blogs I no longer follow.

I've recently broken my blog fast and made an exception.  A mom (her name is Jen) of one of the preschoolers who went to the preschool I work at last school year was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer several months ago.  I don't know this lady very well at all, but she's close to my age, has kids very close to the same age as mine, and more than anything, curiousity got the best of me.  I initially started reading her blog to figure out how the preschool could help and/or be a blessing to her & her family.  That mission was recently accomplished.  But her blog has become like a good book that you can't put down.  She doesn't blog every day, so I'll go a long time without checking to see if she's made a new entry, and then when I do check in, there are usually several entries to catch up on.  I literally can't stop reading it.  Not because her cancer journey is so fascinating or interesting, but because I feel encouraged and inspired by reading her words.  She has the most amazing attitude and totally makes having cancer not seem so scary.  She has not burried her head in the sand or raised the white flag in surrender.  She is still living life, and doing it really, really well.  She's an amazing wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and the list goes on.  I want to be more like her.  I actually wish we ran in more of the same circles so we could be friends and not just acquaintences.  I don't feel sorry for her or her family or her children like you would think one would when you hear of someone in that circumstance.  I do pray for her that she will have the best outcome possible and be able to live a long, long time to be there for her young family, but I don't pity her.  I've learned a lot from her, I'm glad I know her, and I'm thankful for her blog and her testimony. 

That's a huge reason why I started blogging again.  She totally inspired me in the best way possible!  Her blog was meant to be public...she's chronically her journey and it helps for friends and family to be able to read about it in one centralized place so she doesn't have to retell it all a thousand times.  My blog has a different purpose.  Although I hope, pray and desire to be a blessing and inspiration to others, that's not my purpose in blogging.  In reading Jen's blog, not only am I personally inspired by her, but it also dawned on me what a neat thing for her girls to be able to go back and read one day and be able to witness first-hand what kind of a mother and person she was through such a defining time in her life.  They are too little right now to fully understand (or understand at all) what she is going through.  Even though I don't have a life-threatening illness, I realize life can't be taken for granted.  It could be snuffed out at any moment -- none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.  Whether I die tomorrow or live to be 110, I'd like to give my kids the opportunity to see what kind of person I was when they were little.

I'm still not sure what this new blog will look like or be all about, but I do feel compelled to do it.