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“Be Silly. Be Honest. Be Kind.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson


“Be silly.  Be honest.  Be kind.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote has become my mantra.  Life is too short to be worried about status, to keep up appearances, or put on airs.  BE SILLY.  Embrace the mistakes, be willing to improve, and laugh at yourself when appropriate.  BE HONEST.  Any mistake will be made exponentially worse with lies, deception, and/or secrecy.  BE KIND.  Because we will all need the benefit of the doubt in the future, we will all need to rely on the kindness of strangers at some point, and it’s a beautiful way to live.


Lake is obsessed with bird feathers.  When we were taking these family photos, she found this seagull feather, and she wouldn’t put it down.  We have learned from past experience that all of our rational discussions about the possibility of communicable diseases, the likelihood of bacterial growth from dead animals, and the danger of rubbing the soft feather around your eyes (yes, this was her favorite feather activity) - have been unsuccessful, so we just embraced the silliness and hoped her immune system would triumph.  We did finally compromise around her rubbing her arm with the feather and not her face #parentingwin

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