I have written and rewritten my About page several times. For many months now it has stood mostly blank. I find it to be an incredibly difficult and daunting task. And this is just a blog. Not the dust jacket on a new novel. Not a bio in a magazine. Not a profile for Match.com. Just a blog.
The irony of it all is that I am able to share intensely personal things in my posts, but when it comes to my About page, I clam up. I can’t figure out how to distill myself into one or two cute little paragraphs. I could go with just the facts: Sarah, 32, happily married with three sons, lives in Connecticut, works part-time, mothers overtime. But what does that really tell you? Not enough. Not for me, anyway.
I want you to walk away today–each day–with a bit more than just the facts, a bit more than just an incomplete About page. I want you all to get to know me. (And there are so many of you!) So know this: I am here to give myself away. It’s how I am. Here to connect. Here to be honest. And that’s what Five for Ten is all about.
With my new-found courage from your Monday and Tuesday posts, I am going to re-publish my original About page. I hesitated over it for so long that one day I finally took it down. It doesn’t tell the full story–how can you do that in an About page anyway?–but it is real, raw and honest.
However, this page is a little too heavy for me right now. It does not depict the light in my life. I want to show that. I need to show that. I want to write to remember the thousands of tiny swells of happiness that fill me up with light and laughter every day. And I am full, to be sure.
So I’m here today to take a crack at rewriting that darn About page. Or perhaps just adding to it. And my happiness, like many of you I’m sure, starts with the the major moments of joy. With a timeline. A very simple timeline that has for years now provided me a palette of emotions that run me up and down and over and through on any given day. But, to be sure, brings me lots and lots of light and love and !!!
The !!! of my life–A Picture Story
I moved to Florida and met a boy. He had dyed blonde hair and a smart, tan body. He sang “Sweet Virginia” in the car on the way to the beach. I was just a girl in a bikini for the first time, trying to learn to have fun again. Trying just to be.
In what was one of the biggest “oh shit” moments of my life, I found out I was pregnant. The baby grew inside me and my world became clearer and brighter. When I gave birth, the world then fell away, and I fell in love again. With Jamis.
Dan and I said yes and placed our rings on a slippery white ribbon that was passed between family and friends. The images of that day show the most honest smiles I’ve ever seen captured with a camera.
We moved to Connecticut and instituted grand summer vacations with my siblings and their children. Summer splashing with cousins while I sip a margarita is almost too much !!! to even be contained by !!!
Just when my chips were down and I thought it would never happen, I got pregnant again. And the whippersnapper of our house was born. That’s him up there at the top of the page, won’t you say Hi to Max.
And just when I least expected it, I got pregnant again right away. Master Ethan is a master hugger and a bearer of great, great joy. Enter life with three kids. Enter life with three boys. Enter a life of chaos, a family of 5, and a whole new approach to the term “letting go.”
And then there’s this: a blog my sister started on a whim one year ago. A place for us to talk about having three kids. A place to talk about motherhood and womanhood and silly things like Chips and Dip. A place to practice our writing again, a thing we have both missed for too long.
This place is my !!! right now. Right now, in this very minute you are reading this post, it and you and Five for Ten are my !!! The photographs above give me my material, but you give me an audience with which to share it all. So when we talk about happiness today, when I talk about !!!, this is what I am talking about.
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Because I think we all need to recognize the !!! in our lives more often–moments both big and little–I would encourage you all to start a !!! series. I’m on board. And Bad Mommy Moments and MomalomsMom (woohoo) are too. But let’s start right here. Right now…
Seeing you all here for Five for Ten makes me want to scream !!! right out my front door.
And when my big kid asks me to sing The Way You Look Tonight.
And when Max says “baby Ethan is my best friend.”
And when I stop and talk a big, deep breath and am able to say ah, this is my life. I love my life.
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What makes you
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Oh, Sarah, I’m so moved looking at these gorgeous fotos of !!!-filled moments, and reading this !!! post and your revised About page. You’re so right that there are so many !!! moments around us, even when we struggle. You blow me away with the !!! concept. I’m all over it. And getting to know your fabulous self, your equally fabulous sister and this amazing community you’ve built together makes me !!!
Oh Belinda, thank you. From the bottom of my heart. This journey has touched me at the core, and I am so very very !!! that so many others are here with us, and feeling the same way.
This made me so happy!
.-= Kate´s last blog ..These are a few of my Happy Things… =-.
YAY!
I REALLY wish I had read this post this morning. A dose of !!! would have done wonders for the day. Now I just might stay awake all night I’m so jacked up on !!!
Your new About page is wonderful. I always err on the side of tidbit-bios…I’m impressed you’ve put more of yourself out there.
Five for Ten is rocking! Keep up the strong work!
.-= Liz @ Peace, Love & Guacamole´s last blog ..Happiness is counting eyelashes =-.
A dose of !!! is always good for the day. So I am sending you one now. Happy Friday. Go out there and spread the !!!
I love the about me page. Such an awesome way to display your hapiness:)
.-= Heather @ One Take On Life´s last blog ..True Happiness =-.
Thanks, Heather.
Ohmygoodness. Those pictures! They make my heart swell. If the point of your about page is to know you more, I feel like I do now. (And I bigfatheart your tatoo in your vows picture!)
But that picture of you holding your first born? Wow! Just absolutely beautiful.
.-= Hyacynth´s last blog ..Five for Ten: Running into courage =-.
THANK YOU! I’m so glad you feel you know me more. That’s why I’m really here. To put myself out there. To give myself to the people who are here to read. It’s liberating, really, and the connections nurture me.
There’s an even better picture of the tattoo (if you are interested) in a post entitled Mommy Has A Tattoo.
And I love your thoughts on the !!! being closer to something more permanent and lasting, like love. Awesome!
Oh, and I like !!!! so much better than I like the word happiness. :) Happy seems so temporary. !!!! seems more like the exclamation of love.
.-= Hyacynth´s last blog ..Five for Ten: Running into courage =-.
I read recently that symbolism makes a concept or idea real and the symbolism of !!! does just that for me. Thank you. I’ll relish the idea and all it can mean.
I heart (with a big fat !!! heart) this comment about symbolism. That’s exactly what it is and exactly why I’m so enthralled with the !!!
I’m all about the !!! today. I called it Crazy Happy. We are really so blessed. Thanks for the wonderful reminder and great post. Now I should start thinking about my about page too!
Thanks for Five for Ten too – it is making me HAPPY!
.-= Brittany at Mommy Words´s last blog ..Crazy Happy =-.
Crazy Happy. Yes. And Five for Ten is an enormous reason to be !!!
Sarah,
There is a reason a picture is worth a thousand words…and those pictures help fuel your words, each post, each day, radiating with honesty and !!!
ck at Bad Mommy Moments has had a couple of !!! posts, which I love. Maybe we should all coordinate, once a month, to share our !!!
P.S. Inspired me to include oodles of pictures for my Memory post…I think you and Jen will really get a kick out of it…
P.P.S. Very slick inclusion of Chips and Dip! I am still working on it!
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Happiness is… =-.
Can’t wait to see the PPS. Love the PS (pics are just fun…and yes, worth 10,000! words).
And, I think you’ll be happy to hear, that ck and I are working out the !!! details together. So stay tuned!
!!!
I knew it. You’re a HIPPIE at heart!!!
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..five for ten: happiness =-.
Okay, what gave you the Hippie impression? The wandering girl who ended up in Florida? The tattoo? Cause I didn’t mention my former love of the Dead and Phish. But those days are long gone. I wouldn’t even know how to label myself now.
M-O-M would probably do.
Ok, can you even here me amid the din of everyone’s !!! ?
Because I’m just popping in to say hi, I’m here reading even if I’m not playing along. :) And somehow, there have been a couple of new 5 for 10′ers showing up at my place. Serendipity? (new commenters, I click back to their sites and I see your button.) :)
Anyway, I love that Baby Ethan is my best friend. my heart. You know I know it.
xo and have fun with all of this.
e.
.-= Elizabeth (@claritychaos)´s last blog ..grace and connection =-.
Serendipity, indeed. They must know how I feel about you!
And as an aside, I thought of you this morning. My boys were out of control. I felt like I was out of control. And then I thought of you. And I smiled. Because I know that somewhere halfway across the country, you are doing it all, too.
(oh and YES i can hear you. YES YES YES)
!!!
I love the !!! I feel like pictures are the only way to really show someone’s happiness. Moments caught in time. The moments that make up a !!! life.
.-= Debbi´s last blog ..Happiness is.. =-.
I agree, Debbi. And pairing those pictures with words is !!! x 2!
I keep trying to add my link above. Why isn’t it showing up? What am I doing wrong?
.-= Debbi´s last blog ..Happiness is.. =-.
Hmm. Not sure. Sometimes the linky is fickle. I’ll add it in!
I think if I gathered photos to signify happiness they would have been very similar to yours. Beautiful!
Thank you, Michele.
!!!
Those are great pics. They make me happy. And a little jealous. And a little in awe of you.
Five For Ten certainly should be your !!!! right now. Look what you’ve created! It’s quite remarkable, really. I can’t get over it. So congrats! You should be Happy (and proud!) for sure.
.-= Rachel @ MWF Seeking BFF´s last blog ..Frosted. Corn. Bran. Flakes Come in All Varieties. =-.
Rachel,
I’m overwhelmed. And overjoyed. And surprised. And in awe. It definitely is my !!! right now. And am excited that we are only half way through. (Though daunted at the same time.)
It’s amazing what can be created when you start with one very simple idea: connecting, connections, connectivity. Because look! We are all here! And we are doing it!
So very !!! indeed.
My !!!! is when I lay little girl #3 on the changing table, all bright-eyed and smiley at 7 am, and little girl #2, a total firecracker, sees her baby sister’s smile start to crumble a little and says, “Oh, she just wants some sister love!” And that wide toothless grin appears again, just like magic.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Only the good parts. Mostly. =-.
Now that is some serious !!!
I feel completely overwhelmed these days with blogging: reading, posting, commenting. I almost missed this. No idea how. It’s starting to blur.
I LOVE this, Sarah. I love it. I can’t express how much.
.-= Liz´s last blog ..Lust, uninvited =-.
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