may the fourth be with you.

May the fourth be with you!

I learned that today is National Star Wars Day (Or is it Starwars Day...?). I am not really a Star Wars girl (hence my question on it being two words or one). But I think its hilarious to say "May the fourth be with you." So I did. Twice already in this post. Three times if you include the title.

I just ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on freshly baked wheat bread with freshly made jam. It was delightful, except the bakery that sold it to me used normal creamy Jiff peanut butter and I think it would have been more fitting to use natural crunchy. The weather is warm and wonderful, the kind you hope for all year and when it comes you want to do everything possible to make it stay. Shaun and I have been playing tennis in the evenings for just that reason. Soaking up the perfect warm air. We bought tennis rackets from Goodwill and he scrounged a tennis ball from somewhere while out skating I think. The makings for some of my favorite memories so far this year.

"Scrounging" is Shaun's term for finding free things while going about his daily life. It is most often used when he is telling stories about the food he scrounged from other people's tables at restaurants. He is all about free food. Even if it is somebody else's mostly eaten french fries. He walks through restaurants watching as people are about to leave and then right when they are finished and walking away he takes their left overs before the busboy comes to throw them away. Its actually really fun, and sometimes disgusting, and every now and then I help him. One time I convinced a waiter to box up someone else's plate of leftover pasta for me so that I could take it home to one of our skaters. The fettucine alfredo filled an entire carry-out container. Then on the next table someone left behind an entire pink lemonade. I took that too. I felt so accomplished presenting my entirely scrounged meal to our skater friend who had no shame in eating somebody else's food because compared to other things he had ingested this meal was fit for a king.

I never wanted to be an astronaut. I remember getting anxious in elementary school when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up because I thought they expected me to say astronaut and I thought going to space sounded frightening and unnecessary. I still feel that way. I also never wanted to be "just a ________". I remember hearing grown ups say things like, "When I was your age I wanted to be a professional athlete and now I'm just a furniture salesman." That wasn't anybody's exact quote but that was the gist of it. Like they once had a big dream and now life for them is a sad story of settling down into their unmet desires. I didn't want that. Still don't. I don't want to be "just a ______". To be "just a missionary" or "just a wife" or "just a stay at home mom" implies that somehow we are missing the bigger better thing. No sir. Time to make a switch. It doesn't actually matter what we are doing or how different it looks from the things we thought we would be doing. Lets be "a ______!" Did you catch the difference? It was a subtle shift. All I did was subtract the "just" and replace the period at the end with an exclamation point.

What are you? "Well Johnny, when I was little I wanted to be a fireman but now I'm a pizza delivery guy! And your dad! And your mom's favorite guy!"

What are you? "Well Lucy when I was little I wanted to be a professional dancer and travel the world with big celebs but now I am a blogger! And a decorator! And your mama! And a fun haver! And your Daddy's favorite girl!"

What are you? "Well Carlos, when I was little I wanted to be Oprah but now I'm a missionary! Living in a church! Trying to run some ministries! And maintain friendships! And love my husband! And not eat my feelings!"

See how great that was? Let's add exclamation points to our every days.

Enjoy the little stuff. Take risks. Laugh when we fail. Laugh when we don't. Laugh just because. Even when its inappropriate. Like in church. Let's just laugh.

Because life is short and we don't want to miss it.

Ps. May 4th is my Goddaughter Lily's 4th birthday. We celebrated last Sunday but I'll post the photos today. She and the fam are on a ministry trip in Redding. She is a darling.