my dear ramona,
love your family. we are weird. we are flawed. we will say the wrong things. we will embarrass you. we will fight. but we love you. we will always let you be you and we will always listen to you. we are celebrating you every single day. take advantage of this wide support system you have in your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins.
love people, as you love yourself. people are fun! get to know them. all sorts of them. don’t let appearances or backgrounds necessarily get in the way of getting to know and love others. treat them well and you will open up for yourself a community of beings that will teach you so many different things. not everyone will love you back but that’s not the point and don’t let that hold you back. it doesn’t always happen exactly when you want, but love people honestly and you will make good and faithful friends.
love creatures, too. treat animals with respect and honor their lives by being conscious of and thankful for the gifts they are giving you with their bodies. pet them, feed them, talk to them, care for them. you will learn a lot by watching a brood of hens or a tribe of goats. and the quiet time and fresh air is good for your health and well-being.
love hard work. choose something you love and go after it ferociously. people say to find the thing you love to do for free and then find a way to get paid for it. i tend to agree with these people. but it won’t always be easy so be ready to fall in love with working working working at it. you will get rejected, you will make mistakes, you will fail. this is ok. usually, when these things happen, it helps you redirect or refocus your work. success does not usually look like your original goal. be flexible. but love what you do.
love excellence. love craft. love the underdog. love details and the big picture. love moving your body and jumping and dancing and singing. love the quiet and what you discover in moments of prayer and mediation. love the written word.
love deeply. too many people are too careful with love. they hoard it for the “right” moment. it is of my opinion that these people miss out. do not be afraid to love.
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
love yourself and know that you are loved.
i love you.
love, mama
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read other letters to ramona bean over here, here, here, here, and here.
this post is done in collaboration with sakura bloom. the sling i am wearing is the simple linen in wheat. the beautiful photos are by lashley rhodes.
hooray! i’m so excited guys bc ramona and i and this little blog were selected to be one of the contributors for sakura bloom‘s sling diaries. leigh, over at marvelous kiddo, is hosting (along with sakura bloom) a fashion show of sorts featuring blogging mama’s who wear their babies.
i’m still learning more info but basically each month until august, ramona and i get to play dress-up, wear those beautiful sakura bloom slings, and take photos to write a blog entry around our look choices for the theme they’ve assigned us each month. a curatorial team from sakura bloom will select their favorite photos from my posts (and the other participating bloggers) and pin it to their pinterest board. (see other projects they’ve done here and here).
funny thing is, i first learned about sakura bloom from marvelous kiddo while bean was still cooking away in my belly. i won a sling from one of her giveaways and that luck really encouraged me to explore babywearing and different ways of getting around w ramona. here’s a post of me trying out the sling for the first time w ramona (i’ve since learned how to wear it better).
we just got the themes emailed to us and i’m brainstorming ways to best and most honestly portray what they mean to me as a mama that loves to wear her baby. i know i’m not such a slouch with my style but i wouldn’t consider myself a fashionista; i’m certainly not on the cusp of all the trends. there’s a little bit of anxiety thinking of good-looking outfits while making sure i’m not trying too hard or end up conveying someone i’m not. all in all, this will be really really fun. and i can’t wait to find out what other bloggers are also part of this.
disclaimer: i am NOT being paid for this. i AM receiving two free slings from sakura bloom. they have not asked me to say anything nice about their product or their blog. i am writing these things bc i genuinely do love sakura bloom slings and marvelous kiddo.
welcome
