Introducing Stories that Make Life Shine

For the most part, the pages of my journals tell my story like most people’s journals probably do. Past tense, reflective, with thoughts that may or may not be complete. But my pages are also laced with the occasional story. I sometimes take a break from playing commentator and try my hand at playing writer. For one entry, I write in present tense and try to capture the scene. I’m going to start sharing them here, on occasion, partly to inspire you to write your own life vignettes from time to time—and partly just to keep nurturing the writer in me. The point of writing personal vignettes is to keep them short and not labor over them to the point of losing your love for it. I hope you enjoy what I share in the upcoming months. I so appreciate you reading Let Why Lead!

I sit, staring at my blush pink polished toes. The sun pours down on my legs while a large canvas umbrella shelters my face and arms from it’s heat. A breeze stirs the leaves of the surrounding aspen trees, making them look as if they’re sparkling in the sun—which reminds me that even though I could almost believe I was sitting poolside in the Caribbean, I’m actually tucked away in a mountain resort in Deer Valley, Utah, nearly 8,000 feet above the sea.

I shift my focus from my toes to the scene behind them, sensing my toes going blurry while the background comes into focus, as if I’m watching through a camera lens.

For twenty-four hours, my story is not about me as a mother. For this one day, my story is once again about me. Erica, the girl I’ve always been. I haven’t been able to shake the strangeness of that feeling, but for the few remaining hours of our getaway, I’m going to stop trying. Because one of the things I love most about my life is that Erica the girl I’ve always been is now also Erica a mother.

I close my eyes in contentment, knowing you have to hold onto it when it comes.

After today, I will always love gargling pool fountains and yellow and white striped towels.