~ I ~

"I" has been a difficult letter for me.  There are so many things that start with "I" and I can't really tell a great story about any of them today.

Inspiration starts with "I" and there are many things that inspires me.

Good mothers inspire me to be a better mother myself.  I love the way they interact with their children and help them cross over to the next phase of their lives.  I have a person I read on blogger that inspires me with so many things, from relationships to parenting, it really is endless.  There a several women in my personal life that inspire by the way they raise their children. Some inspire me to be a better person, some inspire me to be a better mother than they are. 

I am inspired by people I read about or watch on Television.  Oprah has been a lifetime inspiration to me.  The stories she brings to the public often inspire me to do better, want more, and work harder.  I remember one story several years ago about a woman named Christine McFadden.  While she was out one morning walking with a friend her ex husband came to her home and shot and killed her four children and then himself. He made sure that he left this scene for her to find.  For months after that Christine wished she had died with her children. When she was first on Oprah I could see the emptiness in her eyes, and I wished for her pain to go away.  Her story stayed with me for years, even to today.  This lady experienced the worst that life could hand her, yet she still forced herself to get up in the morning and take a breath and put one foot in front of the other.  A few years later, Oprah went back to talk to Christine and see how things had changed for her.  Well, she was married again, and had just had twins.  What an inspiration.  She came from a place that I don't think I could have gotten out of, and she allowed herself to love again. Amazing!  Every time I think, I just can't get out of bed, it hurts too much or I just don't have what it takes, I think of Christine and I get up. 

I watched a very close friend live through breast cancer.  She was very sick, and for a while I wondered if she would win the fight.  She did, and to celebrate life, before her hair even really started growing back, she went on a canoe trip down a large river in the western part of Canada, where she celebrated her life surrounded by strong women.  She even at one point took off her shirt and moved through the pain of losing her breasts to this terrible disease.  She inspired me to hold on to what you have, and embrace life, before you lose it.  Her strength through breast cancer and then the death of her son a year later taught me that we can never give up hope that tomorrow will be better.

Zeb inspires me the most I think.  I watch the way he is, the way he just happily goes through life and that inspires me to lighten up a bit.  Children have such an innocence, and in that they hold no grudges, make no enemies, and accepts everyone equally.  I love that he doesn't remember from one visit to another how kids treat him, each time he sees his friends again it's a fresh slate.  I love the way he loves with his whole heart.  He isn't afraid to show his affection and his happiness.  I love how he get excited about things, and can't contain himself, it comes out of his pores.  I love the way he can easily walk among strangers and has a belief that they are just all friends he hasn't really met yet.  I love how ever time he comes home from school he is happy, even when his day didn't go so good, he just moves beyond it.  He inspires me to be much more flexible, to not care so much about things and more about having fun. 

Inspiration is what drives us, moves us to want more, or to stretch ourselves when we think we can't. 

Inspiration is a good word.  I am glad I picked it.

Tell me, what inspires you?