day 19 ~ the object of my affection

so i have something fun…let’s diagram a sentence!

{please…i know…only a nerd like me would think this is fun.}

ok, you ready?  here we go.

i love my family.

now to diagram this simple statement, it would look something like this:

• i – subject (the person doing the action or being something)
• love – predicate (the action or being that is carried out by the subject)
• my family – object (the receiver or result of the action)

the “i” and the “my family” are pretty straightforward, descriptive words about who is doing the action and who is receiving the action.  the action itself – love – is a bit harder to narrow down.  so i thought i’d see how ol’ mr. webster defines love (verb):

a) to hold dear: to feel or show affection for. CHERISH
b) to keep or cultivate with care and affection.

so i would say those definitions perfectly describe my actions toward tripp and kelsey.  in fact, to keep and cultivate with care affection has been my purpose for over 20 years. i have cooked their food and washed their clothes. i have helped with math homework and kissed booboos. i’ve hung their picture on the refrigerator. i have supported their decisions and encouraged their dreams.

i’ve done everything a wife and mother does. with care and affection. because i love them. they are my greatest blessing, the source of my profound happiness, and the object of my affection.

i think where i may have gone a little off track is that i made my family the object of so many of the things i love to do.

a perfect example- i love to scrapbook. i have made dozens of scrapbooks documenting our family’s life. everything from vacations to cookouts to the first day of school – i love preserving those special memories. but i also love to scrapbook because it’s tactile. i love gluing and cutting and pretty paper and doodads.

the same is true with photography. although what got me into this hobby was the desire to capture the life of my family in photos, now I am pursuing this passion for my own joy and satisfaction.

and i could apply this same example to baking. or sewing. or gardening.

looking back, i think a big part of my empty-nest/mid-life crisis is that i made my family the object of things i love to do in order to give them purpose. as if in some way just the fact that i love to do something wasn’t a good enough reason to do it.

but all that has changed.

because what i discovered is that i can experience the same kind of joy in the things i love to do. and it’s not because they serve some higher purpose… it’s because they make me happy.

 

thank you so much for joining me on my 31 day writing challenge. to see all of the posts in this series, please click here. and if you would like to receive future posts via email, you can subscribe here.

 

 

 

 

 

from the archives

• why scrapbooking matters
• fences, chiggers, and butterflies…oh my!
• snickerdoodles