Dear Ellie:

Whenever people ask me how you’re doing I always say great, growing so fast and, always BUSY! You are always busy figuring things out, learning new words, singing new songs, or finding new ways to make me and Daddy laugh. I love to see you so busy but as you get older busy will take on a different meaning. These days people often wear busy like a badge of honor…the busier you can say you are the more important you must be. It reminds of when I was in elementary school and whenever we had a substitute teacher it meant one of two things either we got to watch a fun movie or we had to do busy work. You see busy work was usually a bunch of worksheets that our teacher would leave just so that we could say we did something that day even though it didn’t serve as big a purpose as other classwork. Truth be told filling your day with things that serve no real over all purpose or that aren’t as important as we may like to think is just like having busy work in school. These things allow us to say we were doing something and that we didn’t just sit around doing nothing (because no one wants to be known as the person who sits around doing nothing). In reality though my baby I want you to know there is nothing wrong with not being “busy”. I used to love to be apart of a million things and now that I’m truly busy, because my job as mommy and wife are both 24/7 lifetime positions and require more of me than anything else I’ve ever been apart of, I’ve learned that “busying” my so called free time just sitting on a couch with your Daddy watching you figure out a toy is the best kind of busy there is. I’d rather be busy doing nothing with the people I love than filling my schedule with things that in all honesty can either wait, be put to the side, or delegated to someone else. It took me years to figure out that I don’t have to do it all and I want to make sure I remind you of that early. You don’t have to play a bunch of sports or participate in a bunch of activities to prove anything. I’d rather you spend your time focused on what you love (and yes its fine to remind me of this when I wake you up at the crack of dawn for dance class). We all need to breathe my baby there is no award being the person that worked the most. Dedicate your time and busy yourself with things that serve you and serve a purpose not just what looks good on a to do list because when you really spend your time doing what you want and not just what makes you busy you won’t need one. I never need a list to remind me to hug you tight, or a reminder to call my mom, or an alarm to tell Daddy I love him and I thank God every day I work in a field where I enjoy what I do so its an extension of my purpose rather than a title that sounds good. And I’m not saying there won’t be times in your life where you will have to busy yourself with things you may not want to do to get to where you’re going but just make sure you’re not just doing the busy work of life but rather you’re really enjoying you life because you don’t get a substitute there’s only one life so fill your time with what makes you happy.

Love You Always,

Mommy

P.S.: To the girl who always has to be in the mix…make sure you are dedicating yourself to people and things that are dedicated to you. You can’t be busy doing things for people who don’t have a second of time for you. This is your life and you will never get to rewind so choose things now that serve you in a positive way. Spend your free time on things that free you emotionally, physically, and/or mentally not on things that make you feel trapped in a endless cycles of things that you “have” to do.