Category Archives: Erika Beebe
Digital Goodies: One More Day
“You’re never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true.”
― Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Here they are! These are the digital goodies for One More Day, J Taylor Publishing’s book anthology set to release December 2, 2013. Help yourself by right clicking on the image of choice, selecting ‘save image as,’ and OK.
J. Taylor Publishing supplies the images for their authors and they are for personal or advertising / promotional purposes only.
DESKTOP:
COVER ART:
IPAD COVER:
BOOK MARKS:
The Purpose of Life Is … And Conversation
How could it be so simple? Basic thoughts. Basic feelings. I love it. I absolutely love this image. The hard part is actually figuring out how to let go and do these things.
This past week, I’ve been thinking a great deal about being kind and honest as we talk to others about emotional topics. Being honest is definitely the best way to go, and kindness, well, how can you go wrong when you’re speaking from the heart in a manner that touches someone else?
Emotional conversations are never easy and I have to admit, I’ve been sort of terrible with them in my past, but I’m learning, and no matter if you need to talk to a coworker, a boss, your spouse, or your kids, what you say matters. Maybe you’re introducing something heartfelt from you for a first time to someone else, and you have been holding it in for so long, it’s hard to know where to start. Or in my case, the topic is so difficult, you feel overwhelmed instantly.
1. Know what you want to say.
With my children. I read some material online first. I had to decide what I wanted to say and how others made the conversation work with their kids. I knew I wanted to be honest. I knew I needed to communicate my uncle had passed away because his body was tired. I knew I wanted my kids to know people would be sad at the funeral. Our family wouldn’t see him anymore, and it’s ok to be sad. I just didn’t know where to begin, and I definitely didn’t want my kids thinking I was sick and possibly leaving them too.
With my spouse or coworker. Same thing applies, but when you’re researching, I think it’s always best to pull from the most recent event and keep to a handful of examples. That way, you have a chance to relate back to their memory, and they won’t be so busy trying to figure out what you’re talking about, that they don’t listen to your words.
2. Delivery.
With my kids, I made sure I was completely calm. I didn’t want to talk to them when I was cooking dinner and they would be running around with their toys. I wanted to look them in the eyes. I wanted them to see my face. And the words? I thought about some simple analogies in the research I dug up: Batteries and toys. Our batteries in our toys go out and we need to replace them, and then sometimes our toys just don’t work anymore. Batteries don’t always fix them. We also talked about emotion. And when we don’t see someone we care about, how we feel sad and we want to see them. And that’s ok. It’s ok to miss someone. It’s ok to cry. And sometimes we just give hugs to make it better.
3. Time and Place to hold your discussion.
I mentioned this one above, but with my kids, we actually held three separate discussions and we built on each one, because I knew, sometimes we can become overloaded. That’s why simple is best, so we first talked about visiting Wichita. Then we talked about the reason we were visiting Wichita. The batteries. Then we talked about emotion, being sad, and the importance of hugs.
On Friday, two days before we headed out to Wichita to see my family and stay the night with my dad, my husband comes through the front door after getting home from work. My son runs down the steps to open the door for him. When my husband walks in, our son quickly says, “Daddy, Uncle Gerald passed away. His family is going to miss him and they might be sad. But it’s okay to be sad daddy.”
I couldn’t be more proud. I knew I reached him, and I knew he was ok with what had happened to Uncle Gerald. I know this topic is a bit heavy today, but life is heavy sometimes and we learn to find the positives in everything. So be kind, be thoughtful, and be helpful to others as you engage in emotional conversations. It helps others understand your world, their world, and how to bridge our world, this giant place we live.
Hugs!
What’s Your Miracle Dust?
When I write, I feel like I’m reaching into this million piece puzzle box, and I stick my hand in the box, and I pull out something pretty and perfect. But then I wonder, what do I do with this piece? Where do I place it so someone else will see it too? And some days, you just have to try, even if you end up throwing the whole thing back in the box.
Monday Motivation: Live For Today, But Do It Better
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“Simon, get your shoes on!” I yell from the kitchen, feeling antsy and worried I’ll be late for work. He comes running down the hall with a big smile showing me his shoes. “Check out your toes. Are they on the right feet?” I ask him.
Then my little girl, walks in all wobbly with her arms stuffed with her babies. You can’t see her eyes. She can’t even see where she’s going. “Sissy, one toy. We can’t take all your babies in the car to school.”
There we are, standing in my yellow kitchen, studying each other, me scratching my head thinking, am I missing something?
I sigh, and we scurry down the steps anyway, to the garage, and I buckle all the seat belts. I pull the car out of the garage and freeze. I did! I forgot my phone, or a change of clothes for the little one, or maybe I didn’t shut the pantry door, and I know if I don’t shut the pantry door, I’ll come home at lunch to a mess made by the dog with him finding his food or something else, tearing it up all over the place.
A typical morning lately, in the life of me.
Not today. Last night I vowed to make it a different sort of morning—a really great and organized one. Today, my son started the first day of his educational journey—pre-k summer school, preparing him for Kindergarten in August, so I woke up early as usual, but with a plan this time. I set out all our clothes the night before, packed our food for the day, backpacks, all the things I knew needed to get out of the door, with us—we made my goal.
We left the house at 6:55 a.m. so I could drop off the wee one, pick up Simon’s school supplies from his old preschool classroom so I could take him hand-in-hand to check in to his new school. I wanted to be there and help him if he had questions. I wanted to be able to let him know it was safe and loving just like his preschool, and I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if he’d be sad. He woke up this morning asking me, “Momma, am I going to kindergarten after nap today?”
Now I’m looking at the pictures from this morning and I can’t believe my son is a big five-year-old. Everyone always tells you time flies. I forget that from time to time, getting worked up and stressed because I’m not moving fast enough. It’s the whole time thing and how you just can’t make more of it.
But today, I didn’t forget. I revisited an age-old practice I’ve known about: get organized and prepare for the day to come because selfishly, I wanted to enjoy every moment this morning, as it happened. And I did. It was amazing spending that extra time meeting his teachers and watching him run straight into the gym, circling around trying to figure out what to do first. He grinned. He jumped up and down the way he always does when he gets really excited, and I’m proud. We both did it. He felt ready and excited to take his new lunchbox to school, and his superhero backpack stuffed with his blanket and school supplies, and me, well, I got to enjoy every moment without stressing and wondering if I had missed anything. Hooray!
Cloud Nine Girl 