Unsolicited Advice...

Ahhh...unsolicited advice.  It's typically the kind of advice that you smile and nod and do your own thing anyway.  Or the kind of advice that leaves you thinking, "And who are you to think you can tell me what to do??"...  I've never been the type that's liked being told "how" or "what" to do.  When I was 5 years old I wanted to learn to tie my shoes.  I asked my mom to show me the procedure, then locked myself in my room--by myself--until I could do it on my own.  I was the only Kindergartener that could tie shoes and would help my teacher tie all the shoes before we went out to recess.  That's just me...I'm an independent spirit.  But, something stopped me in my tracks today.  FOUR people in FOUR different places gave us the same advice.  You've gotta think there is something to this!!

We had a WONDERFUL day!!  Our dear friends Kyle and Laura were suppose to be visiting us this weekend from Atlanta, but unfortunately, things didn't work out.  So, we were left with a wide open weekend...only the second one we have had since July 1st.  You forget how much you need these kind of weekends when you're in the day to day grind.  But, it was so nice to take an expected breather (even though we were sad we couldn't spend time with our friends).  Friday night we went to Sweet Adelaide's  4th Birthday party and got to meet some special people in the lives of our friends Carey and Jeff.  We had a great time and felt so blessed to be part of the celebration of Miss Addie!!  Saturday, We woke up, went to breakfast at Clary's, went to the Antique Market and bought a couple of pieces (one to refinish), went to Home Depot, ate Thai food for lunch, worked on our new furniture piece, ate dinner, put Ella to bed, worked on our furniture piece some more, watched football, and now Brent is asleep and I'm blogging.  I'd say it was a PERFECT day accented with some valuable food for thought.

So, back to this UNSOLICITED ADVICE-- wherever we went today, Ella caught everyone's attention.  To be honest, she commands attention wherever she goes.  If you aren't looking at her, she "yells" at you until you are.  Once you're looking at her, she does what we like to call, the BEAUTY PAGENT wave and gives you a huge smile.  She makes friends WHEREVER she goes.  Today we had four people say the same thing... "I remember when my baby girl was that age.  She's 22 (or 23, or 26) now.  At the time, you think they will be young forever.  Then, one day she was all grown up; it's like I blinked and she wasn't my little baby anymore.  Cherish these moments while you have them because it goes so quickly..."  WOW-- four different people... same message; maybe we should stop to listen.

I read a quote or an article, I can't remember which, before Ella was born and it gave a piece of advice that said you don't need the perfectly clean house or the most elaborate dinners...you'll have plenty of time for all that.  You have you're children for 18 years...make the most of it...you can have that perfect house when they're grown... having your babies at home will pass in the blink of an eye...enjoy the perfect moments inside the imperfection. ABSOLUTELY!!  I'm holding on to this piece of advice.  Don't worry...my house is clean enough and sanitary (yes...I'm a borderline germaphobe)...but if I have to choose between mopping or going to the park with Ella...the park is going to win out ten times out of ten.  She'll be a year in less than two months and we're going to take the time to enjoy her--every minute counts.

So, our house may not be perfect, we may eat out more than we should, but we are going to savor every minute we have with our children while we have them home with us.  Life's too short for focusing on being perfect in everyone else's eyes!  For now, we'll focus on US-- and for once, take the UNSOLICITED advice and enjoy every second we have with our Dear Ells Bells...as we affectionately call her...we think that sounds PERFECT to us!