A Dream Wedding & Other Sorts of Joy
Apparently, July 2nd was halfway through the year. It seems like a good time to write.
The first half of this year, my family and I were a tad preoccupied because the birthday boy from my annual mamaversary posts had the audacity to GET MARRIED. I managed to spend most of the front side of 2022 just thinking about this, really, planning a shower, arranging a rehearsal dinner, buying gifts, and ordering no fewer than four mother-of-the-groom dresses before one finally made me feel pretty.
In May, the wedding was a dream. It was the culmination of months of prep (mostly on the part of my new, super planner daughter-in-law, Parker), and it was perfect. I wanted to sit with that day and evening as long as possible. I’ve watched the professional video of the event even more times than I’ve watched Harry & Meghan’s, and their wedding had George Clooney and the Queen.
At the wedding, my sister made the most beautiful observation. At my wedding to Michael, my family and Michael’s sat on opposite sides. At this wedding, Michael’s family and mine sat together - a practical visual aid for the metaphorical unity candle John and Parker lit during their ceremony. It’s amazing what love can do.
My word for 2022 is joy. John’s wedding made that super easy. The second half is less predictable, but a couple things are keeping me on track.
My idea of joy is the Marie Kondo kind where you keep what sparks joy and let go of everything that doesn’t. Enter, morning pages.
Morning Pages
I learned this concept from celebrities who posted about it on Instagram - not from the book that coined it. I started the morning pages before I read about them in the book so I don’t do it quite like the concept intends (except in the sense that apparently you can’t do them wrong). Morning pages are supposed to be stream of consciousness, but I’ve been a journaler all my life. I’ve read journals all my life. I like full sentences and complete thoughts that run a little but end in poetry (occasionally). I can’t do the stream of consciousness thing.
This is how morning pages work for me. First of all, I love journaling. (This is not about how you should love journaling, too. I’m not one of those people who thinks if it works for me, it works for everyone.) My point is that I love journaling. So now that I journal in the morning, I start every day with something I want to do. I used to get up to get ready for work to go to work. I didn’t get to do something I wanted until well after five p.m. That’s bonkers.
The other way it works is exactly as the concept intends. The morning pages take from my messy headspace everything I can’t stop thinking about so there’s room for a new day and all its possibilities.
Ideas for Life
This year, I write an idea for life and happiness every week and send it to those who’ve subscribed (below). Although promising these every week significantly challenges my resistance to routine, writing them always brings me joy. As soon as I write one, I tromp the angst that wonders if I’m really a writer. (Of course I’m a writer; I write!) When I hit send I’ve written and published a thing, which is super cool.
The other joy is that the 2022 ideas are for others, and even the attempt at lifting someone else’s mood lifts mine. It’s scientifically proven.
Love in the beginning and joy throughout. So far, it’s a pretty beautiful year.
