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Monthly Archives: March 2016

Choosing Compassion In a Culture of Fear

March 10, 2016 – 9:57 am

A couple years ago, as I was loading Sophie into the van after a morning of half-day kindergarten, two men approached me. Their car had run out of gas on 27 and they wondered if I would give them a ride to a gas station. I believe most people are good and kind. I give […]

By kara | Posted in All | Tagged Albert Einstein, compassion, culture of fear, Joe, parenting, strangers, This I Believe | Comments (0)
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    The kids’ finished print. Thanks, @kenswinson We love it. The Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy (@fortthomasforest) held a fundraiser this weekend to help restore and maintain Harlan Hubbard’s studio. For a donation the kiddos were able to help the talented @kenswinson make a print from one of his gorgeous woodblocks on a traditional press in Harlan’s beautiful studio. They also had music, a beekeeper, a re-enactor and some fine folks who have given much time and energy to this cause. Super fun. This place is truly a hidden treasure. Andy says coaching is a highlight of his week. It was a fun fall season! Pretty place and pretty sister My cousin Brett and all the kids, ha. His wife, Sandra, is a veterinarian and was on call and out checking on a horse at this point. My aunt Ellen and uncle Skip were there, too! Plus my mom, sister and brother-in-law. Fun night. Nerf wars + s’mores = heaven for these two (three?) Yesterday! At my cousin’s house. Cheers to 14 years! And we recently realized this summer marked 20 years together. My friends Aimee and Shruti invited him to see a drive-in movie with us (they knew I liked him). They conveniently made it so that Andy and I sat next to each other in the back of my parents’ pick-up. He said I smelled good. (It was CK One, of course.) @cupofjo recently wrote about moms rarely being included in everyday family photos (bc they’re usually the ones taking them). I didn’t think this was quite true for us until I looked back and discovered there are hardly any in which I’m the only adult and all three kids are present, even in vacation photos. This is an evergreen topic in parenting pieces although what really struck me was the part about the everyday. I love capturing those moments but I never, ever include myself. Those are the photos and videos I most enjoy revisiting, though. They’re such gifts, later on, those glimpses of past everydays. And then I remembered this photo, taken way back in 2012. It was Mother’s Day and all this tired mama wanted was a picture with her kids. And this is what I got. And to this day, it’s one of my favorite shots. So I suppose I should get over myself and turn that camera around sometimes. No matter my frizzy hair, the 10 (eh, 15) pounds I’m forever trying to lose and the having to ask a stranger. Future self will be grateful. #cupofjomotherhood John + James putting together LEGOs together on the stairs (kids play with toys in the strangest places). Apparently UNO includes make-your-own cards now? #myopponentrolleda6 There are things no one tells you about any occupation. No one warned me about the amount of pressure I’d feel when tasked with sharing a part of someone’s life story, no matter how small the part and no matter how small the intended readership. At times this leads to anxiety and perfectionism, which ultimately and infuriatingly leads to procrastination, which leads to deadlines that shouldn’t be a surprise but are, and attempted all-nighters that remind me I am no longer 20. So here’s a snapshot of Sophie today. She’s wearing her Opie shoes that make me smile and a shirt that says “my unicorn ate my homework” that we bought at Target. Andy is teaching her to play the ukulele. And the whole scene made me want to cry (but I am gravely sleep-deprived, so keep that in mind). This life. Oof. Today marks three months of navigating grief and suicide with these three. I took this picture tonight. Downtown. All three kids running and laughing their heads off, leaving their children’s grief support group. Funny how that works sometimes. Thank you, Fernside. I just realized I’m wearing my feather necklace while riding a , ha! Also, I could people-watch Swifties all.day.long. Their outfits! #hereforjasonisbellthough ☺️ I’m really awful with selfies but this is my new t-shirt designed and printed by my friend @jennfieldssummer who sells the most lovely work online at jennifersummer.com/mothshop/. Aside from supporting a talented artist proceeds also help fund her cancer treatments bc we happen to live in a country in which being unlucky and getting sick can put you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt but I digress. If you feel like ❤️’ing someone today and buying something pretty, check out her shop. A lot of Lewisburg’s bicentennial celebration was rained out due to the whole park flooding so we weren’t able to sell the things we made for OLOG (an organization created by my aunt, uncle and cousins dedicated to building a library in Belize). But we still saw Aunt Alise and Uncle Tom from Philadelphia, Aunt Janeil from California, Aunt Ann, Kelsey, both of my grandmothers and my parents. And we got to explore the interior of a caboose and eat ice cream. Although my heart breaks for all the folks who put so much time and energy into this, it was still a fun day. It’s beautiful! My mom dyes fabric all the time now. My sister saves avocado pits for her and just the other day my mom showed me marigold heads drying on a rack on her dining room table.
    TAP

  • Favorite Essays

    Choosing Compassion in a Culture of Fear

    Seeking the Bigness in the Everyday

    The Love in Trying

    The View from Up High

    Season of Innocence

    The Huffington Post guest post: Apologies to the Parents I Judged Four Years Ago, a TIME's top 10 opinion piece in 2012

    Simple

    Changing Love

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