Wrinkles, what wrinkles?

So a funny thing happened this past weekend. I was scrolling through photos to send up for a profile shot and saw something I hadn’t noticed before. Had they always been there? Had a love of filters over the past few years covered it up? What in the world are these things on the side of my eyes?

You see…I turned 41 this year, and we all know what a year it has been! 2020 became something else that none of us had ever imagined. January we celebrated a New Year and the oldest kid’s birthday, February was my birthday, March was Chris’s and BOOM Corona hits. For us that meant kids go from a “we’re moving up Spring Break for a 2 week halt and will be right back to school” to a “they aren’t coming back for the rest of the year”. All of my monthly and planned classes came to a screeching halt. Chris moved to a rotation for work schedule. Suddenly the house was full of us all!

So where in these few short months have these wrinkles come from? Ok, ok I know they have been there for more than a few months but they seem to me like they just appeared. I looked at the photos taken and saw creases near my eyes and on my forehead. I could have let this really bum me out, or quickly schedule an appointment for some fillers or Botox, but I did not. I decided to look at this in a whole other way, a way I have learned to look at things since March.

So here’s what I learned since March. Having the kids home full time hasn’t been terrible. We found a way to not only have all this extra time together, but also a way to give each other space. We have shared a million laughs, a few game nights, and obviously a few tears. I quickly realized focusing on the constant news wasn’t good for any of us. Instead, we turned off the tv and focused on how our days went. We laughed about serious stuff, silly stuff, and just stuff. Having Chris working from home has been a blessing too. The weeks he is home we enjoy morning coffee together, lunch, and dinner. We get to work on projects around the house that we never had time for before because of his commute.

What was a bigger shock was how my job changed, from in store classes to suddenly being online doing demos and teaching for Janome. I could have stressed over what would happen to my own mental health and income being stuck at home, but instead I found a way to cherish these new found online friends who came to watch and listen to me teach.

So what does this all mean and how does it relate to the wrinkles now prominently displayed by my eyes? It means I’ve had 41 years of a good life. I look at these wrinkles as something that have been an earned badge of courage. I refuse to look at them as I’m just aging, they are signs that I have laughed, and laughed a lot. That’s a lesson we all need to learn. Wrinkles are not a bad thing, nope, they are a good thing. They mean I have lived! So take each day to find at least one thing that is great about you and choose that to focus on.

So what am I going to focus on today? There’s a few things. First, we are all well and healthy. Second, I had a fabulous afternoon teaching many quilters how to quilt with rulers. Third, tonight I am writing this from a shady spot on the grass at a baseball field while watching my youngest do what he loves, playing ball. There are my three things, what are yours?

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