Peace in the Spaces

Tuesday, December 15, 2009, by Leigh Anne & Sherra

Moments & Memories

Leigh Anne says…

I met Amber Schmitt years ago when she lived in Oregon, prior to her move to Texas. She is the best friend of my next door neighbor Sheri. Amber and I share quite a few similarities including our love for reading and scrapbooking!

I have been married to my college sweetheart for 20 years and we have three smart, funny, wonderful (ok, I’m biased) kids who are 9 (boy), 13 (girl) and 17 (girl). I have a degree in Business Marketing and had a career in Public Relations and Sponsorship Marketing/Event Planning for a large bank before becoming a stay at home mom. Our family has a love for travel and have traveled together all over the world. I believe this travel has been a great education for the kids and a great bonding experience for our family.

First and foremost I love my husband and kids and being a HOME maker, although it feels like we are rarely home. I am also a voracious reader and scrapbook with a group every Wednesday while the kids are in school.

I love being the best wife and mother I can be, but I also believe strongly in not losing myself in it completely. I have an entrepreneurial and creative mind, lots of energy, and lots of ideas. One of these days I know these will all come together to create the next adventure/business venture of my life (in the meantime you might find me a little scattered).

Favorite color:

Bright Blue

Favorite food you associate with this holiday season:

Peanut butter and Hershey Kiss cookies

Pet Peeve?

Negative Nellies (complainers)

What is something that no one knows about you? (that you want to tell the whole internet world)

I’m an open book – what you see is what you get.

One word that describes you:

Energetic

What’s your motto or mantra:

“Things go best for those who do best with the way things go”

What are the top three things that are most important to you — the things you love to do and you are passionate about?

Family travel
Scrapbooking
Reading

Thoughts on Underwear, Incessant Chatter and Chasing PEACE

“Peace on Earth” glowing in big red lights, surrounded by greenery and giant gold plastic ornaments greets me as I walk into the mall full of people scurrying like ants. There it is again on the front of the foil-lined envelope that sits on top of my mail as I pull it out of the mailbox. “Peace on Earth” embossed on the card, covered with glitter by a friend who loves to do stamping. I get home and stand next to the kitchen counter, flipping through the bills and holiday catalogs. Tucked in among this pile is a Victoria’s Secret flyer. The perfectly sculpted and spray-tanned model wears nothing but a red push-up bra and red underwear that have the letters P-E-A-C-E in glittery rhinestones all across the front.

What a lovely thought, this elusive peace. It goes without saying that I would love to have Peace on Earth. Heck, I’d even be happy to have peace in our school PTA! Peace on earth, peace at the holidays, it’s all a wonderful wish. But right now, I’m not looking for peace at the mall and I am certainly not looking for peace on my underwear! I don’t see what is so peaceful about looking over my “had three babies and am over 40″ stomach to view some glittery letters upside down on my underwear. That is not peaceful to me!

The truth is that peace is not something you look for and it is not always something you create. Sure, we can all seek to improve peace among our children and within our households. We can always strive to be a part of creating a more peaceful world. But what people forget is that there are moments of peace in every single day. So often we rarely even see them because we are not paying attention.

The question I would like to ask many women is this:

“Are you events planning your life or are you living it?”

Again and again I see women who are fantastic mothers, wives, homemakers, entrepreneurs, volunteers, and employees — wonderful women who wear a lot of different hats and are very good at it. But too often our lives become like movies that we are directors of and sadly we forget to be in the film. Sure, we jump in once in a while, even savor it a bit. But even as we enjoy putting the ornaments on the tree or making hot cocoa with the kids, we have this on-going chatter going on inside our heads. What do we need at the store? When are we going to wrap the teacher gift? What color thread should I use when I sew those apron gifts? This incessant chatter in our heads goes on and on and on.

I think that is why we all love photographs so much. Have you ever put on an event, like a children’s birthday party and the entire event you are busy buzzing around, doing what needs to be done? Only afterwards as you look at the photos do you admire how perfectly pink your little girl’s lips are as she prepares to blow out the candles? Only looking at the photos do you take the time to notice how handsome your teenage boy looks in that shade of blue, what a fine young man he is becoming?

As you decorate your house for the holidays do you take even just 60 seconds when you finish your mantle to just soak in the magic of the lights glittering and the stockings hanging there with the names of the people you hold most dear in this world? Do you take even 60 full, uncluttered seconds to simply enjoy just watching your kids open their gifts, or are you busy making thank-you note lists and gathering up the wrapping paper in a giant black trash bag?

Our lives are like novels. They are full of absolute sorrow and extreme joy that makes you want to burst. Our lives have chapters and storylines and always plenty of drama. Just remember that novels have pacing and punctuation – lots of it. They have spaces between the words. There are pauses after each chapter.

My challenge to you this holiday season is to mentally slow down and notice all the spaces between the words in your life. Peace cannot be found at the mall and it certainly isn’t on a pair of Victoria’s Secret underwear. It is inside you.

Whatever you do this holiday season, even if you do it quickly, do it with intention. Live it. Enjoy it. Quiet your mind a pay attention to the spaces and you will find little slices of heaven, little bits of real PEACE.

Visit Amber at her blog at As The World Churns.

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Moments & Memories is a column is centered around our word of the month. We love to feature women from all walks of lives – it may be in the form of an interview or as a guest writer. We’d love to feature you as a guest writer. Qualifications: No experience necessary…just be willing to share a great moment or memory with other women. Send us an email and we’ll schedule a date. Our guest writers do not necessarily have to have a website or a blog as we want iLashGirls to be a place where every woman has a voice!