Day 9: A moment in your day (this can be just a photo or both a photo and words)
A daily hour-long walk often provides the best moment in my day…there’s always something new to see if I just keep my eyes open. I’ll miss my walks along the canal in England, but once we’re settled in our Virginia home once more, it’ll be interesting to take note of all the changes in the neighborhood.
A moment…or 60 of them, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Photo from bilerico.com
Day 8: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.
After about an hour, I stopped struggling to put my advice into words, since the Zac Brown Band has already said it so eloquently in their song “Let It Go.”
You keep your heart above your head and your eyes wide open
So this world can’t find a way to leave you cold
And know you’re not the only ship out on the ocean
Save your strength for things that you can change
Forgive the ones you can’t
You gotta let ’em go
In other words, be compassionate, be perceptive, remember that your actions affect others, pick your battles, and know when to let go.
My two cents worth, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Photo from salon.com
Day 7: The thing(s) you’re most afraid of
My greatest fear is living (and then dying) in anonymity and obscurity. I don’t have children who will be obligated to remember me and tell their own children stories about me. So I’m hoping for remembrance and recognition outside the family.
It’s not that I want to die famous. I’ve zero aspirations of being a rock star or a movie idol or a sports legend (although I wouldn’t turn up my nose at being a best-selling author). I don’t expect that in the time I have left I can cure cancer or single-handedly bring about world peace.
I don’t want to be a household name, but I don’t want my life, my words, my deeds to be completely unnoticed. I want to believe that I have left a footprint in the sands of someone’s memory. I just want to have mattered enough that someone will read my obituary, attend my funeral, and maybe say to someone else, “Hey, that Michelle, she was alright. I remember when she…”
My biggest fear, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Photo copyright seanwes
Day 6: If you couldn’t answer with your job, how would you answer the question, ‘What do you do’?
I do my best—trying to take advantage of all the opportunities I’m given, and trying to move with grace through the tough times, so that I never have to look back with regret and say, “I wish I had…” and so that no one in my world would ever be ashamed to say, “That’s my daughter/wife/friend/sister/granddaughter/niece/aunt/
coworker/neighbor.”
What I do, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Photo from Funny Quotes and Sayings
Day 5: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don’t have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member.
While there are several bloggers I read regularly and respect greatly (stay tuned—on Day 19 I’ll reveal which ones), I’ve not been part of the blogging world long enough or interacted personally with any bloggers meaningfully enough to develop a friendship. So I am opting to profess my love for my real-life friends.
I‘m constantly trying to make sure I never intentionally hurt anyone’s feelings, and highlighting just one friend in a blog entry seems like a recipe for doing just that. So instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of my real-life friends. Like rare gemstones, their numbers are few, but their quality is exceptional and their value is priceless. Each one is treasured for her own unique qualities, but collectively I admire their warm, kind, compassionate, enthusiastic, no-nonsense, independent spirits.
My dear friends,
Thank you for leading when I need to follow, and for following when I need to lead, but most of all for walking beside me through all the twists and turns of life’s journey.
Thank you for the sympathetic ears, supportive words, comforting hugs, belly laughs, and shoulders to cry on.
Thank you for movie nights, lunches on the fly, and mid-week meet-ups halfway between here and there.
Thank you for questioning and advising, but for always accepting that ultimately the decisions are mine…then for being there to help celebrate the triumphs or clean up after the failures.
Thank you for offering the kind of friendship that time and distance cannot diminish; I always know that the next time we get together, it will feel as if I just saw you yesterday.
Thank you for being my sisters, not by blood, but in heart. I love you all.
BFFs, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Photo from flickriver.com
Day 4: Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it
I like this quote because Mrs. Roosevelt has summed up how I feel about my life. I would not be where I am today if I had made different choices. While in some cases it might have been fun to see where the other fork in the road would have taken me, I can honestly say I don’t regret any of the choices I’ve made in my four decades on the planet. I credit those choices with a lot of personal growth and a lot of amazing opportunities…and they’ve all been part of a necessary progression that’s led me to where I stand today.
Inspirational words, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Day 3: Things that make you uncomfortable
Several scenarios, both trivial and substantial, that routinely make me uneasy crossed my mind when I first pondered this prompt: walking into a crowded room, talking on the phone, hearing racially/culturally insensitive remarks, passing a homeless person on the street…
But today I went to the Battle Proms (a summer concert series) at Highclere Castle (where they film the BBC/PBS drama Downton Abbey) and found myself in a previously undiscovered disturbing situation.
Air shows make me EXTREMELY uncomfortable!
The Blades Aerobatic Display Team, comprised of four highly experienced former RAF pilots, spent 15 minutes rolling, spinning, climbing, diving, twisting, tumbling, racing headlong at each other, stalling, and free-falling DIRECTLY ABOVE a crowd of 9000 vulnerable, oohing, ahhing, champagne-impaired Brits. If the worst had happened, there would have been carnage. It was absolutely the stuff of my nightmares.
No, really. I have recurring nightmares of watching helplessly from the ground as a plane falls out of the sky toward me. Now there were four of my enemy overhead, threatening to turn my dreams into reality. Nauseous and shaking, I didn’t know whether to keep my eye on the sky or run for cover.
Watching the video of the display from my husband’s iPhone this morning, I could fully appreciate the skill and talent of the pilots, the technical capabilities of the aircraft, and the beauty of their maneuvers without any of the paralyzing anxiety I experienced yesterday. I think I am meant to take in air shows from the safety and comfort of my sofa, not directly underneath the action!
Skin-crawling discomfort, brought to you by Jenni’s blog-every-day challenge at Story of My Life.
Things I See and Know 
