In 2014, I took a little break from the fast lane of life to spend more time with my kids. During that time I started a book that I have yet to finish. I joined a writing “club” and the first assignment was to post “Why I Write.” For inspiration, I re-read it today….here it is with no changes from January 2014. Enjoy!
Getting Started
At a young age, I started reading. My dad says I was only three. As I sat in his lap while he read the newspaper, I started reading aloud the latest news. Maybe I was that smart as a child?! I skipped kindergarten. For years, I thought that was my greatest achievement.
As I got older, writing just came naturally to me. I struggled in English classes even though I loved to read and write. I felt confined by rules, and I was bored with diagramming sentences. It was slowing down my writing and my creative out pour. In high school, I started writing sports articles. First, I wrote for the high school newspaper, but then I moved on to the local town newspaper where I interned my last semester of high school. I felt like I was successful at that point. I had my own weekly column for the few months I was there, and I reached my goal of being published.
Off to college as a journalism major I went. I was confident in my writing, but not sure where it was going to lead me. Then I signed up for Army ROTC and everything changed. I changed my major to political science and put all my focus on activities that would help me get active duty as an Army Officer. I thought I had put writing on hold. Little did I know that every political science class I took had many books to read and several essays and research reports to write. I graduated a semester late, but I graduated and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.
My first daughter was born my senior year of college. My life changed completely. My priorities evolved. I still found myself reading and writing. I actually had more time to read now since I was no longer chasing the next big party. I developed a love for military history and read everything I could find, both non-fiction and fiction.
My family continued to grow over the years. Watching them all start school and learn to read was exciting for me. Then as they learned to write and express themselves I saw pieces of me in each of them. Seeing them read on their own is a gift! With the struggles of life and balancing work and family, I lost the time to read for fun. I had to watch my children read and got enjoyment from their book reviews. I was able to write occasionally, but it was either work related or an assignment for a class that I was taking.
I have finally reached a place in life where I can work part time and not be financially devastated. Two of my kids are grown up or at least by age they are considered grown up. My youngest daughter is in kindergarten, so I have found a few hours a day that belong to me. At first, I spent that time running and trained for a half marathon. When that was over I said “what’s next?” I started reading and found myself reading every chance I could get. I read during the day, I read at night, I read while I waited in the car line at school, and I read whenever I found myself alone for a moment. Reading just did not seem like it was enough. I needed to find a way to write.
For the past two years, I have done the 30 Day of Thanksgiving Challenge during the month of November. After the first year I realized most of my daily thanks were wrapped around my five kids. They bring me joy, they bring me anxiety, they bring me smiles and laughter, and they bring me tears as well. I discovered that so much of what I am is because of them. I started a journal expressing these emotions towards my kids. I then started something that resembled a letter to each of them. I wanted them to know my feelings when they were born, my happiness as I watched them learn to love and care for others, my feeling of pride when I watch them excel in life, and my never ending unconditional love that I felt for each of them. Of all the things I have done or will ever do in this lifetime, the five hearts that once beat strongly in rhythm with mine will be my greatest accomplishments. And I want them to know just how special each of them are to me.
My greatest accomplishments in life share my sense of humor and my love of reading. We are our own book club. Five hearts share my love and I hope they recognize that I love each of them just the same. I have had the pleasure of saying “welcome to my world” five times while looking into the those precious eyes that long to see my smile. As you can see…my world revolves around five hearts that call me “Mom.” I want them to be proud to say that I am their mom. Because of them, I have decided to write.
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ADDED: My youngest is now a Junior in High School. The other four are technically adults! Two of them have upgraded my status to “Gigi”!
I love this writing. Very beautiful.