SMILES Week 1
Life A Life of SMILES
Week 1
Although SMILES has 6 letters and fits so nicely into a Monday-Saturday calendar, it is not meant to be a rigid mandate of doing 1 letter per day (like serve others on Monday, make memories on Tuesday, and so forth). Living a life of SMILES is a journey, not a to-do list. It is a venture into a life of purpose and intention.
Do you love to-do lists? Schedules? Detailed itineraries? I am the type of person that is VERY comfortable (possibly addicted) to checklists and detailed laid-out plans because it’s comfortable, familiar, and gives me a sense of productivity and security. However, life rarely operates according to a checklist and hardly ever follows my detailed laid-out plans. I have had a LOT of growth over the years (decades) of dealing with changes in plans and detours. I don’t like it. At all. But I’m getting better (slowly) at dealing with change in a positive way and finding joy and beauty among the detours and “messed-up” plans. In fact, I never would have met my husband if my life had followed MY plan.
I was working at the Sonic Drive-In while I attended college. After so many months at this fast-food joint, I began looking for higher end restaurants like Outback and Carrabba’s (that’s high-end in my book!) in the hopes of upping my tip money. After applying up and down the main street of our town that held most of the restaurants, I waited in eager anticipation of my career change. When several weeks had passed with no answer to my applications, I resigned to the fact that Sonic would be my job for the foreseeable future. Not long after I threw my pity party (Sonic wasn’t all bad: when I worked the last shift I was able to make myself an extra large milkshake with extra toppings & drink it all the way home. 🙂) a good-looking guy came to the patio of the Sonic I was working at one evening. After dancing on a table to “Sweet Home Alabama”, asking for my phone number (I didn’t know him!), and coming back quite often over the next few weeks to chat (I did GET to know him!) we went out on a date. Then a few more…until he proposed…and now we are getting close to our 20th wedding anniversary. Glad I stuck it out at the Sonic!
Back to our weekly plan for living a life of SMILES. Although my template schedule has each letter in 6 different blocks it is more likely we will accomplish them within the flow of our week. Maybe 2 letters in one day or 1 letter every day throughout the week. The ultimate goal is to change our habits, mindsets, and routines to be more intentional about serving, making memories, exploring, learning, books, and living a life of meaning.
This past week our life of SMILES looked like this:
Serving others
This past week we served others by cleaning up our local park. We pulled on some work gloves (a must!), grabbed a Walmart bag, picked up “the claw”, and got to work. Unfortunately, litter seems to creep its way into the beautiful parks and beaches and hiking trails and creeks that surround us. This activity is a small time investment that makes a huge impact! There is no prep work or skills needed! Also, if you keep a few plastic bags in your vehicle, this is an activity your family could spontaneously do while out and about.
Making memories
Picnic time! We love picnics! Up in the North Carolina mountains where we spend our summers and autumns, we found a lovely park with a river running through it. It is conveniently located near a Chick-fil-A so we will occasionally grab our lunch of chicken nuggets & milkshakes and head to the picnic tables at this local park. We dine next to the river & enjoy the ducks, trees, and surrounding nature. Then, the boys play on the playground or in the river or we might walk down one of the nature trails. (Most often our picnics include peanut butter sandwiches, goldfish, & fruit. But every now and then, Chick-fil-A just hits the spot!)
Intentionality
We are choosing to be intentional about writing letters to people. I saw a poll recently that stated 37% of Americans hadn’t written a personal letter in over 5 years, and 15% had never written even one! Wow! There is something special about a handwritten letter that a text or email cannot measure up to. There is also something special about receiving a letter in the mail- it means someone thought of you and took the time to hand write a letter, put it in an envelope with a stamp, address it, and mail it. Your kiddos could write a thank-you letter OR a letter describing their summer or a trip they took OR maybe a letter containing riddles or jokes OR even a picture they drew with a caption- the possibilities are endless! Teach your kiddo how to stamp and address the envelope AND don’t forget to put the red flag up on the mailbox to let the mail carrier know to pick it up!
Learning
There has been a decline in plant and animal identification over the past few decades. I saw a study that showed participants could identify 10 or less plants! We live in such a beautiful world with a myriad of unique plants and animals, it’s a shame we are missing them! My boys and I are on a mission to learn more about the plants and animals in our area AND when we visit new areas. This week we are walking around our property with our nature journals and documenting the trees and plants we see. We use a plant identification app to help us (I highly recommend!). Try walking around your yard this week or a local park and find a new plant to identify.
Exploring
Keep in mind exploring can be both big and small. Even if you don’t have a national or state park near you, you can still explore! This week we explored a local plant nursery that we had never been to before. It’s interesting to walk around and observe hundreds of different plants and trees. We saw these GIANT hibiscus flowers (we are used to the normal sized hibiscus in FL!) plus a Horstman Blue Atlas Cedar which had these adorable cedar needle puffs. Bonus: we were able to observe butterflies and moths drinking nectar from the flowers of butterfly bushes. Have you ever seen a butterfly drink from a flower and then curl up its proboscis?? Pretty neat!
Stories
The library is such a treasure trove of picture book jewels! This week we found 3 lovely books.
Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler
This beautiful book tells the true story of Eliza’s grandmother growing up with her 7 siblings in the midst of the Great Depression. After her father died, Eliza’s grandmother’s mum moved the family into a shack in the middle of the woods and they had to work together to survive. It is an enchanting story of family resilience and finding joy & beauty amidst adversity.
My Grandpa, My Tree, and Me by Roxanne Troup
This uplifting book is about a grandpa who owns a pecan orchard, but his favorite pecan tree is the one he planted for his granddaughter. This tree is one that they tend and nurture together. It’s a comforting book that focuses on simplicity and family connection.
What Lies on the Other Side? By Udo Weigelt
This humorous book explores themes of fear, perceptions, and friendship. A little fox and raccoon become unlikely friends and ultimately build a bridge of understanding between 2 sides of the forest. A delightful read-aloud with engaging illustrations.
Living a life of SMILES is a practice in flexibility. Remember, things might not always go as planned…
Monday- when we got to our local park to pick up litter there was a lawn maintenance crew doing work. So, we had to wait a little bit and play on the playground before getting to our mission.
Tuesday- literally on our way to the park for our picnic the sky opened up with torrential rain. So, we had to reschedule for another day.
Wednesday- one of my sons was at work with Dad, so only my other 2 sons and I wrote letters to mail.
Thursday- we were able to observe and document a few trees on our property, not every single one like my ambitious side wanted to!
Friday- it was a very hot day, but we explored the plant nursery anyway and did enjoy our time and learn a lot about the local flora.
Saturday- not every book we choose from the library is a jewel- sometimes we have to read through “okay” books to find the excellent ones.
I can’t wait to hear about how your family lived a life of SMILES this past week! Please share your ideas and let me know how serving others, making memories, intentionality, learning, exploring, and stories played out in your life!
With Smiles,
Kathryn
