Today, I came across an old cassette tape. On it was a recording of me telling various
stories to my kids at bedtime. My now
teenage daughter and I laughed hysterically.
A 5-second portion of it typified the personalities of my kids to this
day. It is true. They are born with a little personality and
it continues without deviation. God help
me. Anyway, at one point when my kids
were young, I was really good at telling bedtime stories and decided to
start taping them. I then thought of an
idea for a website, which became the iTunes of
audio stories, but unfortunately, without the same traffic...or sales. It was, to this day, an amazing idea
and site. I still miss it. But, life has a funny way of changing, even
though personalities may not.
Where am I going with this?
Well, first, it got me thinking again about how important it is to be
creative in your life. My current job is
somewhat lacking in this area, so hearing the tapes was motivating to again
create a hobby, or carve out an aspect of my work, that can bring out the
creative side. Humans all need to
exercise this critical part of their brain and soul. It really is a gift to be creative.
Second, I noticed that
nearly all of the stories I told held a message. Be kind to others. Don’t tease.
See the good in others. Be kind
to animals. Be giving. This, even more than creativity, is the
essence of life. I hope that a little
rubbed off on my kids each night as they fell to sleep. I never realized I was doing that in the
stories, so it’s good to know that maybe I was a little better mom than I gave
myself credit for. The hardest job in
the world never has a grade report, so one always tends to see the flaws and
forget the good that was done.
Third, and last, love your kids. They grow up too quickly. Appreciate those little moments. Record their sweet voices. Soon they will be
teenagers blasting the car radio as you sit white-knuckled on the passenger
side. Be a passenger throughout their
lives. Don’t miss out. For they will too. On those creative stories, on the hidden
messages, and on your unflappable and unconditional love.