5/27/2010

Emily Day

This is a special story written for my granddaughter Emily to celebrate her eighth birthday.  Happy Birthday Emily!

Once there was a girl named Emily who had a hard day. First, her baby brother Andrew wouldn’t stop crying while her Mommy fixed breakfast. When Emily picked him up, Andrew spit up all over her pajamas and then his diaper leaked. While she was gone to school, her little sister Sandy lost the shiny lady bug pin Grandma gave her. At supper, her little sister Libby reached over and knocked her soup off the table into Emily’s lap and burned her legs.

“Did you have a hard day?” her mother asked while she tucked Emily in bed that night.
“Yes,” Emily answered.
“Sometimes do you get tired of being the oldest?”
“Yes,” Emily sighed.
“Sometimes do you wish you didn’t have to be a good example all the time?”
Emily nodded.
“I have an idea,” her mother said. “Tomorrow will be Emily Day.”
“What’s that?” Emily asked.
“That is the day when you don’t have to be the oldest and you get to do whatever you want and make a mess if you feel like it without getting in trouble.”
“Really?” Emily asked with a smile.
“Really,” her mother answered.
The next morning Emily woke up when she felt her mother lift her from bed and take her to the rocking chair. Then her mother rocked her back and forth for a long time.
At breakfast Emily ate ice cream with strawberries on top just because she felt like it.
When her little sister Sandy asked for ice cream with strawberries on top her mother said, “No, this is Emily Day.”
Emily decided she didn’t want to go to school. She played in the field next to their house instead. She took all day to build a fort with sagebrush and old rocks. Emily got so dirty a dust cloud followed her everywhere she went.
When her little sister said she wanted to play in the fort, Emily’s mother said, “No this is Emily Day. She doesn’t have to share.”
In the bath that night Emily splashed so high she made a lake on the floor. Just before her father was about to scold, Emily’s mother said, “This is Emily Day. She can make a lake on the floor if she wants to.”
“Did you have a good day?” her mother asked while she was tucking Emily in bed.
Emily smiled and nodded.
“If you ever need another Emily Day, just let me know,” her mother said.
Emily smiled. Then an idea came into her brain.
“Do you want a Mommy Day?”
Her mother smiled.
“How about tomorrow?” Emily said.
“I think I’d like that,” she answered.
Then Emily and her mother gave each other a great big hug.

* * *

Happy Birthday Emily. I love you SO much!

Hugs and kisses,

Grandma Baadsgaard

5/19/2010

Look Mom, I'm the Breadmaker!

I remember a day when I walked into the kitchen to find my young son surrounded by the large containers where I stored our flour, rice, sugar and pasta. He was busy scooping – sugar into the flour – rice into the sugar – pasta into the rice – you get the picture. The whole kitchen looked like a white billowing cloud except for my son’s innocent grin and two large blue eyes staring up at me.



“Look, Mom. I’m the bread maker!” my young son said as he looked up at me.

Suddenly it dawned on me that whenever I made bread I pulled out all those containers and started scooping. He was trying to be like me. My feelings of frustration melted into love. I was so proud of him for trying.
As we got busy cleaning the kitchen I realized God loves us like that. No matter how big the mess or mistake we’ve made, God provides us with a Savior to help us clean it up and make everything all better. We can “be still and know that (He is) God.”(Psalm 46:10) We can put our hand into the hand of God’s and know, in spite of present realities, everything will be all right in the end - no matter what.
Christ promises, “Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.”(D&C 50:41-42)

5/18/2010

Happy Birthday Libby

This is a special story for my granddaugher Libby written for her third birthday.  Happy Birthday Libby!

Libby's Rain Dance

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Libby who had a purple rain coat with flowers snaps and a butterfly pocket. On hot summer days when there isn’t a cloud for miles around, Libby knows just what to do. She grabs her slick purple rain coat and marches outside to talk to the sky. When she reaches the sidewalk in front of her house, she looks up and . . . the Libby rain dance starts.


First Libby lifts her right foot and then she puts in down.
Then she lifts her left foot and twirls all around.
Next she does the rub-a-dub by patting her round tummy.
Then she licks the air because she thinks it’s yummy.


Next she finds a pebble and sticks it in her mouth
Then she sucks it clean, before she spits it out.
Next she grabs a glob of dirt and flings it all around
Then she sings a rain song and fills the air with sound.


Then before you know it the clouds slip into view
The air feels kind of heavy and smells like morning dew
Then Libby reaches back and pulls on her slick hat
Right as she hears the rain drops going pitter-pat.

I hope you like your new rain coat Libby. Keep doing the Libby rain dance and listen for the magic. I love you very, very, very much.

Love,

Grandma Baadsgaard

5/11/2010

Friends

Friends are one of life's sweetest treasures.  On the second Tuesday of every month I get together with a great group of friends.  We eat, we talk, we laugh  . . . and just enjoy each other's company.  Some of these women I've known for decades.  We 've watched our children grow up and now we are watching each other grow old.  Though our lives have proved difficult at times, we still find reason to celebrate the joy of friendship.  

5/10/2010

How to Make Your Life a Masterpiece . . . become an inverse paranoid

When someone tells you their life story, they unknowingly also tell you if they are a regular, run-of-the-mill paranoid person or a fabulous, one-of-a-kind, inverse paranoid person. A regular run-of-the-mill paranoid person thinks life, experiences and people are out there to do them harm. They are constantly stressed out, negative, anxious and complaining about life - waiting for the other boot to drop. Paranoid people are experts at brooding. They dwell on the past, nurse old wounds, indulge in comparisons, chew on regrets, second guess, obsess on problems and always anticipate the worst-case scenario.


On the other hand, an inverse paranoid person believes life and people are out there to do them good – to a paranoid extent. They are relaxed, positive, believe everyone loves them and that good things are always headed their way. They ask for help when needed, delight in differences, nourish relationships, uplift friends and family, inspire, delight, comfort and charm. When the other boot drops and clobbers them on the noggin, they grab it and go dancing.

For example, if a regular paranoid person tells you their life story it will go something like this: “My mother was always depressed while I was growing up and my father was obsessed with his career so I grew up shy, insecure and unloved. Then they got divorced and messed me up big time. Then I got married and my husband turned out just like my father and he left me and now all my children are messed up because of their father, and on and on and so forth. You get the picture. This person has written her life story in her mind, and it is a tragedy.

Now, an inverse paranoid person may have the same plot details to work with, but they choose to write their life story more like this: “My mom often glued herself to the bed sheets while I was growing up so I had lots of unstructured time to develop a vivid imagination. I learned great skills in independence and responsibility while I kept the house clean and my siblings fed. ‘Who’s that?’ I asked my mom once when a strange man walked through the living room. ‘Why son, that’s your father,’ my mother answered to my surprise. I knew great things were in store for me because my parents were the perfect character studies for a murder mystery I was going to write when I grew up and became a famous author. After my wife left me, my remarkable children lined me up with a blind date who turned out to be an angel. We got married and I’ve been living in second heaven every since.”

This is basically the same story told through different lenses. When we look through the lens of a camera, we see everything in front of us in the viewfinder. Then we decide what detail to focus on before we take the picture. We can choose to look at our life through a lens that focuses on our blessings or our hardships. The picture we take needs to include precisely what we want to emphasize because that picture will become the story of our life. We get to choose whether we want a life story that ends as a tragedy or a masterpiece. A masterpiece doesn’t come as the result of all light and no darkness. A masterpiece is darkness that has been dispersed by the light.

5/06/2010

Learning Brings Joy

My son John began playing the bass a few months ago.  I went to his concert tonight and couldn't believe how far the students had progressed in one short school year.  It was a thrill to listen to the music they performed.  And I had to wonder - why do we adults stop learning new things? Children aren't afraid to try anything. 

As we age to tend to stop trying new things.  Perhaps we have decided what we are good at and don't want to look foolish.  Perhaps we compare ourselves to others and don't want to look bad by comparison. 

We can begin anew to explore and experiment.  We can develop new skills and talents at any age. It doesn't matter if we are good at what we try but only that we are willing to try. 

Perhaps the reason we grow old is not because our bodies age but because we stop learning and growing like children do.

5/05/2010

Joyful Living is a Choice

Living a joyful life is really a personal choice.  Nursing old wounds, obsessing on problems, anticipating the worst, indulging in comparisons, dwelling on the past and second-guessing choices are all good ways to think if we want to be miserable.  The only  moment we have is now.  The only power we have is to act in the present.

This life is just a drop in the sea of eternity. We can choose to drink deep from the well of love. We can't control how many love us but we can control how many people we love.  We can choose to uplift, encourage, nurture and inspire. Whenever we’re tempted to retreat into small living, we can remember who we are and tell ourselves to start acting like the children of God we are.


Each moment of our life is precious and deserves to be savored. If we had a glimpse into the magnitude of our influence, we wouldn’t live one more day without offering our love. Just being alive is a glorious thing no matter what our present circumstances may be. For all experience is like the entrance into a new world of expanded perspective, awareness and wisdom.

5/03/2010

The Wisdom of Grandmahood

During my early years of motherhood, I felt the need to learn from older wiser women.  I often asked mothers who had raised their children what they would do differently if they had it to do over again. 

Without fail, every mother said, "I would enjoy my children more." 
This advice gave me the perspective I needed. 

Now I am the grandma and I see younger mothers around me stressed out and anxious about unimportant things. 

And I want to tell them the same thing, "Relax.  Slow down.  Enjoy your children.  Some day you will treasure these moments like precious gems gleaming with the luster of years well spent."