{"id":686,"date":"2018-04-03T03:42:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T03:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/?p=686"},"modified":"2018-04-04T05:32:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T05:32:24","slug":"forever-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/03\/forever-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Forever welcome…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Just days after Landon left to serve a mission in South Carolina, we took our kids to see Toy Story 3–where Rick and I promptly died!\u00a0 We sobbed so bitterly that I contemplated rolling around the isles in an attempt to extinguish my grief.<\/p>\n

The movie was a painful reminder that we too had watched our “Andy” pack up his childhood and walk away.\u00a0 I desperately longed for a do-over.\u00a0 More time to laugh play and explore together.\u00a0 More time to listen, experience and learn.\u00a0 More snuggles, stories and songs.\u00a0 More.\u00a0 Lots more.<\/p>\n

“Did I do enough?” I wondered.\u00a0 “Did he know that he was my everything?\u00a0 That he was my world?”\u00a0 I wanted more time to make sure that he did.<\/p>\n

I experience similar emotions–though far less intensely–when I visit my old blog.\u00a0 Reading the stories of my young family fills me with the desire for a do-over.\u00a0 I want to go back and hold tighter, longer and more attentively to each moment. And I want to live more of the moments we loved.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My recent #tbt post<\/a> about the Welcome Home Snack especially pinged my heart as I\u00a0 found myself wrestling with feelings of guilt for not continuing a tradition that brought my children–and me–so much joy.<\/p>\n

Until, remembering a blessing I received the day before, a blessing that reminded me of my continued influence over all of my children and the need to use, to the very fullest, the remaining time I have with my kids still at home, I shook off that guilt and developed a plan.<\/p>\n

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With the same enthusiasm I used to create a world of wonder and whimsy for my kids while they were young, I brought back the Welcome Home Snack.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And just as I suspected,<\/p>\n

no one’s ever too old for a plate full of love,<\/p>\n

after a long day at school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just days after Landon left to serve a mission in South Carolina, we took our kids to see Toy Story 3–where Rick and I promptly died!\u00a0 We sobbed so bitterly that I contemplated rolling around the isles in an attempt to extinguish my grief. The movie was a painful reminder that we too had watched … Continue reading “Forever welcome…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}