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Further
Reading ...
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Extend the Life of Books and Magazines
Promote reading in your community, reduce clutter around your home and your contribution of waste to the landfill, save a buck and benefit a charity while you are at it. Just how are you supposed to do all this? Well, it is actually quite simple....
The Wedding Party
In ancient times, brides were thought to be particularly vulnerable to evil spirits, so in order to protect the bride, her friends were richly dressed in costumes similar to the bride's and acted as decoys to confuse the evil spirits.
It was...
Make Personalized Placemats With Kids
This is a great family craft because everyone can do it. Small children will have fun with it because often they are learning how to set the table, how to help out at mealtime. Everybody has their own chair at the dinner table (or the kitchen...
SMS Daycare
Using the Physical World as a Game Board.
This is not Kinky Day Care! SMS stands for Short Message Service.
If your children carry cell phones, or if you have an extra family phone you can let them borrow for the day. This is a good way to...
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The Picture
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Written By:
Staci Stallings
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We had a lot of pictures taken at our wedding—a lot of pictures. We had two photographers and two videographers, so there weren’t many pictures that we missed. However, out of all those pictures, there is one perfectly perfect one.
It wasn’t a staged one. It wasn’t one I had on my infamous “list” to have taken. I didn’t know it had been taken. I didn’t even see this one until nearly a month after we’d been married. Yet is it my favorite of all of them. Why? Because in one single image our relationship was captured—frozen forever on Fuji Photo Film.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I’ll try not to use quite that many to explain it. In the picture I’m doing what I’m always doing—directing traffic. Since it was taken during the photo session following our wedding and since we didn’t see each other before the wedding and since my husband’s immediate family had 26 people in it at the time, there was a lot of traffic to direct. There were certain pictures that I wanted, and we had a small window of opportunity to get them taken.
In short, I was occupied.
The picture shows me, looking off-camera, pointing to someone and explaining what I want done. My dress that day didn’t make doing things myself an option, so I had to rely on everyone else. It’s easy to - continued below ...
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see that I’m intent on getting whomever it is to do whatever it is I want done immediately.
As funny and point-blank as I am what makes the photo poignant is what my newlywed husband is doing. What’s that? Exactly what he always does—he’s taking care of me.
As my attention is elsewhere, he’s standing there patiently picking tiny pieces of birdseed out of my hair. The thing is, he looks like he’s got not another thing in the world to do, not one other thing to worry about. Amazing. Us in living color.
Many, many times since that photo was taken we’ve relived that moment. Me taking care of others, me ordering the world around us, him patiently taking care of me. Now, twelve years later, during the present incarnation of our relationship, I’m the one out there trying to learn new things. I’m the one out there taking us out of our comfort zone, pulling us in directions we never could have seen or imagined at that moment.
But the thing is, I can take those chances, chase those dreams because I know with no doubt that he will always be right there, patiently keeping me together. It’s how we’ve always been. I have the proof.
About the Author
Life is meant to be lived—not just survived. Find out how. Visit StaciStallings.com. You’ll feel better for the experience!
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Baby Sign Language - Boost Your Baby's Future
Teaching sign language to babies has become not just "the thing to do" but rather has come to the forefront of the beginning of us, as parents taking the lead in educating our children from their earliest days. Teaching sign language to your baby is...
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