Birthday Rings and Birthday Blogs

On my thirtieth birthday, still single and a single mother at that, I decided to celebrate.  I bought myself a monogram ring.  It's traditional with the last name initial, larger, in the middle, first and middle initials on the sides.  The ring represented a celebration of my life until that point.  The ring also signified a certain turning point looking to the future. 

Instead of waiting to "build my fence" around myself and a spouse, I made a conscious decision to find fulfillment in the here and now.  Not that I, or any of us, haven't made that decision a thousand times.  I think, because it's a "here and now" statement, we need to renew in each day's "here and now".

A lot has happened between that birthday and this, celebrated just about two weeks ago.  Growing joys and growing pains...and thankfully, not too much growth in the horizontal direction.  To me, growth signifies movement.  So, whether it's welcomed or begrudgingly accepted it's all better than stagnantion.

I passed a stagnant pond this evening on a bike ride.  Covered with that signature green, immobile film it looked and felt stale.  Nobody wants to be covered with green gook; nobody likes stale...anything.  Stagnation in life should be one allergy we hope and pray to have a noxious reaction to.

This blog is a fruit of that growth and my thirty-third birthday present to myself.  Some of my friends joke that I have been blogging over the past year, sending articles, quotes and reflections on a somewhat regular basis.  Here is a more formal attempt at sharing thoughts and prompting any who come across this to pull out of any static, inert or motionless state of mind and action.  It is for you to determine if it is a gift worth re-gifting...by all means, please re-gift it!

Each post will end with a "bridge-board" - focused on the relational aspect of our lives - or a "fence-link" - focused on our inner lives, or relationship with ourselves.

A "fence-link" for today: What area of my life, that is within my power to influence or change, is most stagnant?  What is the first step I need to get the waters moving again?