Pam's Daily Wave...
- Pam Buchholz
- Dec 8, 2021
- 4 min read
Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday......and 17 more sleeps to Christmas 🎄
Today, the pups wanted to say Hello too!! They heard that Pumpkin Pie Puss managed to sneak into one of the photos of the inn that I posted yesterday....and wanted to make sure they made it into the blog today 😊
I thought I would give you a little background to the "Smile Project" I mentioned yesterday. As many of you know, Duke University moved me, JB and Lloyd, from the UK to the US 10 years ago to work in their academic research organization - and I absolutely love living here in the US....in particular living in Hatteras Village (which is the best!!!)!
But one of the major drawbacks to moving to another country, is leaving members of your family behind.... throw in the fact that there have been travel restrictions in both the US and Scotland due to Covid19, and this has meant I have been unable to see my parents (or give them a huge hug🤗) in person in over 2 years 😥.
Up until the pandemic, I was super fortunate that my parents visited us in North Carolina frequently, and would usually stay for a month or so. But in between their visits, regardless of how great it is to "facetime" or speak on the phone, my Mom and I miss each other terribly.
So, a couple of years ago, I decided to start collecting images and words, that I knew would make my Mom smile. I often "saved" pictures, quotes and jokes from websites like Pinterest, and I began keeping a “Smile List” of things I wanted to let my mom know - like how much I loved her, memories I have from when I was younger, etc.
Once I had collected quite a few (well, actually it was quite a lot 💗), I got some paper and cut it into multiple smaller pieces of paper (approx. 2in x 4in each). I then wrote one of my little messages (taken from my "Smile List"), on each piece of paper.
Then I printed out the things that I had "saved" from Pinterest etc., copying and pasting 4 of them at a time, onto one piece of printer paper, which meant after printing them out, I could cut them into roughly the same size as my written notes.
The may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn’t, and also, if you don’t have a printer that’s not a problem, you could use images from magazines, draw little pics…. or even easier – just use your written messages.
Next, take each little note, roll it up, and secure with a piece of ribbon or colored string…
As my messages needed to be mailed to Scotland, I put them all in a freezer bag with a card that contained instructions on what to do with the contents of the bag and then sent to my Mom.
Instructions to be included:
Open the bag of little ribboned notes, and put them all in one of your favorite small bowls
Every time you miss me, are feeling down, or just need a little smile, take out one of the notes, unwrap it and read….and remember, this message comes with lots of love
My mom loved her notes, and after she read every one, she put them all back into the bowl and started again. The awesome thing is, as new thoughts and memories pop into my head, I just write them down in a new list, and I can send them to my mom…. like a little “Smile Bowl” update pack.....this time, I'm adding some tiny charms 🧜♀️
On compiling my latest list, I thought that this would be an awesome thing we could all do for ourselves.
Starting with a list of things that make you smile…. memories, actions, hobbies, people you know or have met, animals, places, scenes, photographs, smells, sounds…anything at all that makes you smile when you think about them.
Once you have your list - begin work on writing these on small pieces of paper, roll them up, and tie each of them with pretty ribbon. Find a bowl (I like to use small glass bowls) and put all your "pearls of positivity" into the bowl.
Next time, you’re feeling low, need inspiration…. or just because....
Reach into the bowl and take one of your messages out, sit quietly, and unwrap your message of love, image, positive quote, tiny story, or memory – and hopefully you’ll smile, and your world might just get a little brighter 😊
So, this little project can be just for you…..or maybe, you would like to do this for someone else. We all need a little help to smile sometimes, and this could make someone a magical Christmas gift….the gift of a smile from You 💗
Until next time,
Take care, Stay Safe and remember to smile…..we are all in this together
Love and Hugs,
Pam
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I absolutely love this! My step-daughter made something like this for me that I cherish and will re-read over and over.