April is full of celebration for me!
Well…more specifically, for some the people I hold most dear. It is sprinkled with the birthdays of those I love the most (in fact, my teddy bear: Ted Edward Bear was even ‘born’ in April). Serendipitously, April 10th is also National Sibling’s Day. This means in the span of a few weeks my calendar is full of days in which I get to remember some of the people that I love most in the whole world. In loving them and growing with them in my life, I see how truly and effortlessly they love me in return.
The birthday of Ted Edward (Teddy for short) always reminds me of one of my favorite books: “The Velveteen Rabbit”. If you haven’t read it or haven’t in a while, I recommend picking it up this weekend for a quick read.
My other stuffed dear one: Jingle Kitty (note, her nose is extra good for chewing on xo)
These last few months, I have found myself lost on my own path. Unhappy with where I am and unsure of where I was going, my mind was full of unsettled thoughts. “Why aren’t I there yet?” “When will I be happy in my own skin?” “I’m getting so old and yet feel so far from grown up!” And though these demons are not fully cast away, it is in the eyes, voice, and wisdom of those that I love and who love me that I see the reflection of my true ME. They remind me that I am still growing, I am still becoming the person that they see (even if I can’t yet)…and you know what? That person has so much to give and deserves to be loved.
Let’s go forward, unafraid to become!
Here is a little spoiler from “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams:
“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.
‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’
‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
A Cup A Day 