Trying to Stay Awake in a Sleepy World: Parenting, Leadership, and Personal Development
Guest posts about people who inspire passion, creativity and adventure.
A Love Letter by Brenda from You Can Always Start Now
March 9, 2018
Dear Mom,
A positive aspect about aging is perspective. I am trying to live with no regrets – something you taught me. I know you found it hard to say the words I love you. And, looking back, I realize it was both your era and personality. To put yourself out there and be hurt and disappointed is hard. As a woman now, I realize how hard your life was. Continue reading “Love Letter: Let Me Get My Coat”
A Love Letter by Claire Saul
February 22, 2018
In the months leading up to Cheryl’s death at thirty-seven from very aggressive breast cancer, I witnessed my friend’s short battle for life. We found ourselves in the tricky situation of being close friends with children who were best friends, but also my nurse to her patient. We talked and talked, and knew it was only a matter of time until she would need to come into the hospice. The night before she was due to go home I remember begging the night staff (also my friends) to take extra care of her. She wanted to be at home and had a day with her children before she drifted into unconsciousness. She died two days later.
Cheryl’s sister read the poem I wrote for her at the funeral. Continue reading “Love Letter: Do You Remember?”
A Guest Post by Mind Over Meta
December 9, 2017
I remember the morning when mum came into my room to tell me you’d passed away; I could hear my younger brother crying in his room. Nan and granddad came round, having lost their only child, and I remember the dimly lit rooms and deafening silences. I remember your funeral, I remember your friends all dressed in black. I remember time standing still and yet life carrying on.
You were just forty-six years old when you died. I was just thirteen. Continue reading “Love Letter: Dear Dad, I’m Sorry”
A Guest Post by Dave Driver
November 2, 2017
A young friend posited the following: “I know the ones we love are never things we own. And I know that love is something to be given freely, not to be expected. Finally, I know that all things change in time, especially human beings. It is for all these reasons I wonder why long-term relationships are to be pursued.”
I sent this in reply: Continue reading “A Love Letter: The Nature of Love”
A Guest Post by Hayley Beasley Dye
September 28, 2017
Becoming a grandfather is fairly easy, one just needs to have a child and for that child to also have a child. Lots of men become grandfathers, but becoming one is not the achievement that a man should be recognised for. No, being a good grandfather, is what a man should be commended on.
What qualifies a man as a good grandfather? Sure, being able to turn a blind eye when your grandchild has pilfered yet another Fox’s Glacier Mint from your tin that you kept hidden away, is definitely an essential quality, but making your grandchild feel your unconditional love is, as the kids say these days, “the one.” Continue reading “Love Letter: Memories of the Grandadest of Grandads”
A Love Letter by Lauren Elliot.
June 6,2017
Note: Luke and Lauren retreated to separate rooms and gave each other an hour to write their respective marriage vows in June 2015. The below is adapted from what she promised to her now-husband on their wedding day.
Dear Luke,
We first met during Fresher’s Week in 2008, on a little trip to Sainsbury’s. I was strolling along the road when I bumped into a tall, handsome stranger, who said he would come along for the ride. You were so friendly that I couldn’t resist. From them on we were inseparable! We spent countless nights talking on the benches, pretending to be Rose– ‘Jack, the boats, come back…’
I had fancied you since I met you. I was suddenly really shy around you, and scared of losing the friendship we had already built. You were too far out of my league! So when you finally kissed me at Sunday lunch, I couldn’t believe it! I had so many butterflies! By Christmas, I loved you all the world! I told my nan and grandad on Christmas Day that I’d met the man I was going to marry. Continue reading “A Handsome Stranger Becomes a Best Friend”
By Angela Noel
June 15, 2017
My father isn’t a “guy’s guy.” He’s not a hunter, sports-fanatic, beer-drinker, or back-slapper. But, he can grill things and fix other things. He can build decks, waterfalls, and walls. When my dad wanted to go price a boat or a washing machine, he let me tag along. He called me his “lucky charm” because we always seemed to find a good deal whenever we went shopping together. He told me he was 99.4% perfect. I believed him. Continue reading “The Most Creative Man I Know: My Dad”
By Angela Noel
May 4, 2017
To feel love and to express it boldly without expectation of return requires tremendous courage. The word courage originates from the Latin word for heart. Not the organ itself, but what it represents–the living room for our feelings. In my original I Want Your Love Letters post I ask readers of my blog to pen a letter to anyone he or she loves or admires–friend, teacher, lover, mentor, parent, bus driver, coach, sibling–anyone. Each writer of a love letter demonstrates the essence of heart. Every one of the letters makes me smile and fills me with a kind of quiet inspiration. And I want more.
For this post, I’ve gathered these letters together to celebrate the writers and their loved ones. I also want to invite others, like you, to contribute your love letters to the collection.
A Love Letter by Dana Mason Womer
January 12, 2017
I am adopted. This is a phrase I have said hundreds of times in my life. When I’m at a new doctor and they want my family history: I am adopted. When my kid’s doctor wants a family history on his maternal side: I don’t know. I’m adopted. When someone comments on how I look nothing like my little sister: It’s because I’m adopted.
Don’t get me wrong–I love talking about it, I love telling people my story. It’s just my way of life. These simple words have opened up so many different conversations and connections and pathways for me. There has never been a time in my life when I didn’t know I was adopted, that I was chosen.
My story is a simple one. Continue reading “I am Adopted”
A Love Letter by Julia Zhang
October 13, 2016
I was a two-year-old preparing for the most important role of my life: Best Big Sister Ever. My parents told me it was my job to take good care of my little sister because she would look up to me, which is a big responsibility.
I relished responsibility. I loved to show off how great I was at doing jobs for my parents, like fetching my dad’s sandals for him, or helping my mom break the ends off string beans . . . taking care of a little sister was just another job that I could get pats on the head and praise for. I read stories with my mom like this one extolling the virtues of sharing, and practiced taking care of a baby with my dolls. As much as I rehearsed for my role, when baby Jenny came into the world, I was wholly unprepared for one thing – how much I would absolutely adore her. Continue reading “Wanted: Best Big Sister Ever”
