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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What Grown-Ups Get to Do (and a free printable.)

May 21, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 13 Comments

When I was eight years old I wore purple unicorn sneakers and yarn ribbons in my hair. I scraped my knobby knees jumping off the front steps to escape a lizard. I fashioned a reading nook with my Lady Lovely Locks sleeping bag and a stack of books from the school library. The minute we came home from school, I dropped my backpack and found my quiet spot to crack open Spunky’s Diary for the fifth time.

My mom headed straight for the kitchen and began to make dinner. She sang hymns under her breath and I heard her when the electric can opener stopped abruptly. She seemed to be in her happy place, stepping from refrigerator to counter and back to stove top, humming and stirring dinner for six other people. Even after being at work for hours, she still seemed happy to be where she was. Happy to be doing what she had to do.
What she “got” to do.

grownups

I have clear memories of thinking I would just call out for pizza every night when I was a mom— you know, so I could read more books. (Nerd alert.)

I thought that grown-ups could do whatever they wanted because no one was bossing them around.
I thought my parents both worked so hard because they enjoyed it, when it was actually more like– they had five hungry guppies eating everything in sight and needing new shoes every four months.

Now I know.
Now I know that what grown-ups really get to do, is clean cold scrambled eggs out of the sink drain and be thankful for mouths to feed.
Grown-ups get to peel themselves from a warm duvet at midnight when a tiny person needs a hug and not really mind.
Grown-ups get to buy each other ceiling fans and small appliances and know that the experience of building a life together is really where it’s at.
Grown-ups get to catch baby spit-up with their bare hands, and then laugh about it.
Grown-ups get to be the former generation of big kids who do the things they have to do with joy.

AnneQuote1I want for my children to see that. I want them to hear me humming at the end of a long day. For them to see me smile when the hours till bedtime are stretching and so is my patience. I want them to notice me delighting in my life– all of it.

Because once upon a time, this reality was more or less exactly what I dreamed of.

There is so much more that we could say on this topic, but let’s leave it in the hands of the very wise Anne with an E.

I made a printable with a lovely quote from Anne of Green Gables for you and I. There are two font options, so just pick the one you like the most and download below.

AnneQuote2-3

Hang it near your desk or washing machine or kitchen sink so that we may remember– We may not choose the task, but we may certainly choose the perspective. 

Anne Printable, Script Font

Anne Quote, Caps Font

Download either PDF by clicking the link above & save it to your computer. Then either print out your 8×10 print at home, or email to your local print shop or office supply. I would suggest Cardstock or a high quality paper. Then just frame it and hang it!

Be kind, and please always give proper credit. © Cynthia M. Stuckey. For personal use only, not to be altered or sold. https://www.happygostuckey.com

Quick Basil Pesto
What We Can Do In The Aftermath.

Comments

  1. Birdy Pierce says

    May 22, 2016 at 6:59 am

    ❤️

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      May 29, 2016 at 5:23 pm

      Right back ‘atcha dear friend!

      Reply
  2. Cheryl says

    May 22, 2016 at 8:24 am

    Yes I love that and print it I will!

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      May 29, 2016 at 5:22 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  3. lee says

    May 23, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Beautiful reminder! Thanks for the lovely design to remember this important concept. =)

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      May 29, 2016 at 5:22 pm

      Thank you! I certainly need to surround myself with reminders and it helps if they are pretty, right? Thanks for stopping by to say hello!

      Reply
  4. Courtney Lynn Harris says

    May 24, 2016 at 4:43 pm

    Such a lovely reminder! I love what you said about your Mom doing the work she “got” to do. I want my daughter to have the same perspective on my work, based on what she observes from me. Challenging!

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      May 29, 2016 at 5:15 pm

      Hey Courtney!
      It is such a challenge to know we are always being watched, isn’t it?
      I love what you have done with your writing space. Really fresh and pretty. And your recent post for “when your week has been hard” is just lovely. Sharing now!
      Always happy to see you here or there.
      –Cynthia

      Reply
      • Courtney Lynn Harris says

        May 29, 2016 at 7:41 pm

        Thanks so much, Cynthia! So fun to reconnect with you. 🙂

        Reply
  5. Megan Rae says

    October 12, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    Cynthia,

    I love this quote with your design elements! May I discuss purchasing from you a higher Rez for a larger print possibly? Thank you!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. For Your Weekend : Encouraging Reads | Life with Truth says:
    May 28, 2016 at 7:39 am

    […] What Grown-ups Get to Do – Cynthia Stuckey […]

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  2. What I Learned in May says:
    June 1, 2016 at 6:39 pm

    […] Did you see this post last week with the free Printable? I had such fun making this for us. Help yourself to […]

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  3. laurenwasher.com - For Your Weekend : Encouraging Reads says:
    September 15, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    […] What Grown-ups Get to Do – Cynthia Stuckey […]

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will co Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will continue to sigh into in ‘21.
Baking sourdough, watching it bubble and rise and fill our BlueHouse with the scent of a good, long, posture of patience— I absolutely need a second serving of this.
While we wait, and whatever it is that we wait for— may the space between be made sweeter by the knowledge that we never wait alone.
You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapp You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapped this photo was somewhat of a regular day.

What looks like a winter beach vacation was actually the tail-end of a masked lunch stop in the middle of a pandemic road trip.

This sparkling moment of sun-splashed fun was sandwiched between brutal conversations about regular life, especially the hard parts.

And this is how it is. 
These bits of life that we never see coming, they are enveloped between all that makes us tired, weary, sighing pilgrims in a world that was never really meant to be hospitable in the first place.

This photo reminds me to look again at our year, our season, our circumstances.

To look a second and third time.
To keep looking as long as it takes to see that the joy of our right now isn’t gone, it just might be hiding in the shadow of all that’s hard.

Brokenness is never vague. And we don’t have to search very long to see it both within ourselves and around us.
Sometimes the weight of that fact is crushing.
And then, sometimes it reminds us even more clearly of the light shining in darkness.

Joy is an act of defiance against despair and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather defiant at the moment.✨✨✨✨

@hopewriters #hopewriterlife 
#feastingandforaging #hopelenses #getaftergrateful
Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially if what we’re called to be about is the same as yesterday and last month. 
It’s difficult to meet each day with the same fervor and joy for what we are called to do, especially when at present, the progress seems small and immeasurable. 
But even then, perhaps especially so — our faithfulness matters.

When we cannot yet see the other side, the light at the end of this particularly long tunnel, we begin again.

Not because we will always wake with fresh energies and bright, sparkling hope for what comes next, friend. But because the God of Endurance (Romans 15:5) dwells within us.

“It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what he calls you to be and do what he calls you to do between this moment and the moment when you cross over to the other side. When difficulty exposes the weakness of your resolve and the limits of your strength, you do not have to panic, because He will endure even in this moments when you don’t feel able to do so yourself.” — Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

#hopewriterlife
Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for paper towels... especially if the store is in convenient proximity to a quick date for croissants and dirty chai for two. Love my forever coffee companion even more at the start of this new year. Wherever he’s going, I’m riding shotgun.
We have learned... The inestimable value of a goo We have learned...

The inestimable value of a good camp chair, for they have been used for everything from soccer benches and coffee dates to theatre seats and church pews.

What our neighborhood streets can offer in the way of an outing—from the colors of spring to the sparkle of Christmas.

To hold plans with the loosest hands possible.

To rejoice in things found. Time. Margin. ...and enough toilet paper to share with a neighbor.

To give grace and accept it for ourselves.

The hilarious joy of a group text complete with “have you seen this meme yet?” 

To pivot. And then pivot again.

To find more joy in candlelight closer to home, instead of the bright lights of traveled cities.

To perfect our pizza dough recipe and truly learn to prefer it over dinner out.

To work with yeast and flour again and again— until the message of waiting for something really good dusted our apron fronts and kitchen floors.

And in our house, we learned how to be unexpectedly unemployed. We learned how to honor that new found space with needed grief and desired hope. How to be grateful for true friends who prayed with us, held questions with us, and hoped with us. We were reminded of our true identity and that it will never rest in a job. 

In a year in which we’ve all lost quite a lot, you and I have been given so much as well. Some of what we’ve lost we have learned to be without. Some, we won’t go looking for again.

In 525,600 minutes and in all the things, found and lost and found again— there is far and away more to be grateful for.

And we choose joy.

✨Happy New Year, dear friends!✨
Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Though the one in our rear view window is one we wouldn’t choose to repeat, still it was one full of God’s nearness.

One day I’ll write it all down.
But for now I’ll just say,
we were not alone. 🕯
“Once in our world, a Stable had something in it “Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Joy to the World, friends.
Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 desser Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 dessert ever. Made from a wonky gingerbread cake that did not cooperate.
We shall not go quietly into 2021.
We will fight back with beauty and joy and candles... and fresh whipped cream made by an eleven year old with sparkly green eyes. 🎄❤️✨
Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Stuckeys in their natural habitat.) 🎄🕯❤️✨
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