This year I have taken the one little word challenge and decided to use the word Climb. I have also decided to give my word a little anthem song to go along with it. By now you've all probably heard this song, but just in case, it is The Climb by Miley Cyrus.
Last year I didn't pick a word. In the fall of 2007 my mom was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, cancer of the appendix. By the time the doctors discovered it it was already stage 4. The next year was as awful as you can imagine. My mom made it through to the following fall and then it was time for her to leave us.
Three days before she passed Brad was diagnosed with non hodgkins lymphoma. You know that term someone swept the rug right out from under you? Well that's what it felt like. I was in shock, I could not believe that this could be happening all at once. I was filled with despair, loss, worry, and alot of anger.
My one little word for the next 9 months was paralyzed. I wont give you all the gory details, but I was in a bad place. It was right about the spring of 2009 that this song came out, and it was also very near the end of Brads treatments.
I can say that I was still in the ugly place until about August. With the help of my friends I was able to start to pull it together.
On New Years Eve I was sitting on main street in the Magic Kingdom reading this blog entry from Carissa of the Brown Eyed Fox blog. I immediately started thinking about what my word could be.
I had taken this picture the night before at Hollywood Studios. I thought it could be a great idea for a scrapbook layout.
Then the next day I stood before The Tree of Life.
I started to reflect on the past year.
Life had thrown me a curve ball for sure. But here I stood in one of the happiest and funnest places on earth, with my family and a husband who is by the grace of God, still here with us. Gone were the feelings of anger, and selfishness. I wasn't beating myself up for my shortcomings as a wife and mother. I was thanking God for giving me the strength to make it through that storm.
With my held held high,
knowing it's not about how fast I get there,
it's all the lessons, curveballs, ups and downs, joys and triumphs that make up the journey of my life.
I need to keep moving and climbing,
reaching and stretching myself.
With the spirit of that song in my heart I am excited work on strengthening my relationships with my family and friends, including my new blog family.
Stay connected to my pre-teen and teenager, in a world where we all think we are connected just by being plugged ... literally.
Pray better, harder and more.
Stay consistent with working out and eating better.
Expand and grow Front -n- Center Designs.
Learn more about photography and digital elements
Come out of my shell a bit. I know looking at the blog you might not get that, but there are things I dream about doing and putting on here that I am too scared to do.
(no worries... they don't include a pole)
I had to get something funny in there!
No, there arn't any crazy things like jumping out of airplanes or actually scaling mountains...
The metaphor in the song works fine for me.
So, putting all these elements together this is what I came up with:
At the end of the month I will be hanging it in a frame so that I can have it as a visual reminder for the rest of the year.
I loved the layered look of the billboard.
I freehanded the tree, sponge painted the leaves in and then used a leaf punch to rough up the edges.
I tore little pieces of paper and stained them sunset colors like in the billboard and taped them down under the tree.
For the tree trunk I was inspired by the tree trunk on The Living Tree in the Animal Kingdom. I used words as my carvings.
If you would like a more detailed tutorial I can do that for you.
Enjoy...
the Climb