Time Warp Tuesday: Peace

Let’s do the Time Warp again!

Welcome to the 34th installment of my blog hop/writing exercise called Time Warp Tuesday!

For those not familiar with Time Warp Tuesdays, which I host on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, here is the background of how and why I came up with the idea. If you are here to participate and link up, you can do so with the Linky Tools at the end of this post (or if you have any difficulty, you can share the link to your post in the comment section).

The gist of Time Warp Tuesday is to revisit and share some of our favorite blog entries from our archives, as well as others’, and reflect on our journeys since we wrote or read them.

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The theme for this month’s Time Warp Tuesday is: Peace

How do we cultivate peace in the midst of chaos brought on by infertility, loss, illness or other unexpected circumstances? After a whirlwind summer season for many, and as some of us (and/or our families) prepare to begin another school year in the coming weeks, let’s take time out to reflect on what brings peace to our lives. Choose a post from your archives OR another blogger’s in which you or they wrote about peace. It might be a post about what peace means to you (or another blogger). It could also be a blog entry about how you or they find peace in day-to-day life. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since it was written.

Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might have needed some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:

Why did you pick this post? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post or read the other blogger’s? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing or reading the post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote or read the original post?

Note: If you have an idea for a future Time Warp topic, theme and/or writing prompt, please feel free to share it in the comment section or send me an email. If I choose to use your idea, I will give you credit and link to your blog.

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Time Warp Tuesday: Peace

The post I chose to reflect on this month is one that I wrote six years ago this Friday. I had only been blogging for four months at the time and was anxiously awaiting the results of our third Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) cycle (our second try at IVF #2). I was excited about the possibility that maybe it had finally worked and also trying to make peace with the more likely outcome. I shared about something at the time which had been helping me to find peace, comfort and inspiration. It is bittersweet for me to remember how I came to know of it, especially in light of what it represents for me today.

Time

It was surreal for me to revisit this post. So many things struck me about who I was and what our family was like back then.

In some ways it was fun to read about the cousins picture preparations. It was also bittersweet to recall how the event felt for me each year as we yearned to have another baby (who would eventually get to be a part of the portrait). It is nice to note that in the summer of 2010, Abby got to be in her first cousins pictures (on both sides of our family)! It was very special to me in those moments to see our two living children photographed with their cousins, something I had imagined and hoped for, for so long.

Our daughter Abby is now the age that Sean was when I wrote it. That is interesting for me to think about, to remember how much we wanted to have more children and give our son siblings. It is bittersweet to realize how different Abby’s life as an almost four-year old is from Sean’s at the same age, mostly because she has an older brother, as well as a big sister in Heaven, and we are no longer trying to expand our family.

Six years later I still watch So You Think You Can Dance every summer. Only now, Sean, who is almost ten years old, and I watch it together. There are still a few dances every season that really move and inspire me. However, the one that I wrote about in this post, choreographed by Mia Michaels, to the song Time by Billy Porter, and danced by Lacey and Neil is still my favorite for so many reasons.

Later that year, on November 5, 2007, I got to see Lacey and Neil perform the piece live on tour. It was so awesome to experience in person. Ironically by then we were early on in our pregnancy with Molly and had actually heard her heartbeat, via ultrasound that morning, for the first time. We had no idea that our baby’s heart had not formed normally and what that would mean for Molly and our future.

Here is the video of the dance I watched so many times that year, in effort to bring some peace to my heart and mind as we tried have another child and eventually began our journey with our Molly-girl:

Time became Molly’s Song for me and our loved ones. I ended up using it in the photo montage I made with pictures our bereavement photographer took on the day Molly was born and died. Whenever I hear it I think about our baby girl and how her short, but very special, life changed mine and so many others who have been touched by our journey with her.

In some ways revisiting this post is painful for me, knowing now what would happen in year to follow. However, rereading it also brings me a sense of peace knowing how far my family and I have come since I wrote it.

As I have shared here in recent months, though my life is far from perfect, I do feel that I am finally living the dream that I dreamed for so long. My family may not look how I imagined we could or would, but I am truly grateful for the many blessings I have, especially my husband Bob, living children Sean and Abby, and Molly and Babies Benson, who are always in our hearts.

As we approach this new school year, one that might have seen Molly starting Kindergarten, if she had lived, I feel at peace with where we are now. Of course I wish our second child was still here with us and sometimes daydream about the bigger family we once hoped for, but choose to focus on and look forward to celebrating Sean’s experience in fourth grade and Abby’s second year of preschool.

What brings peace to your life?

How do you find peace in your day-to-day life?

Thank you for reading and for doing the Time Warp with me this month! I look forward to your feedback about this post, as well as reading and commenting on all of yours.

Please feel free to comment even if you didn’t write your own Time Warp Tuesday post. It is not too late to participate if you are interested, click here for the details.

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The topic for the next Time Warp Tuesday (on September 10th) is: Learning

As many people head back to school (whether as students or teachers), the month of September calls to mind lessons we have learned over the years. Choose a post from your archives OR another blogger’s in which you or they wrote about a lesson(s) learned. Maybe it was through a difficult experience or uncertain time in life that you or they were able to find a silver lining. Or maybe it was something a teacher, student or loved one helped you or they to better understand. Another option is to choose a post that you or another blogger wrote through which you learned something new. Maybe writing or reading it helped you to see a situation from a different perspective. Then write a new post on your blog about why you chose the post that you did and what has happened in your life since it was written.

Participants can write about whatever you want in your new blog entries. However, for those who might need some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:

Why did you pick this post? Has your perspective changed since the day you wrote your original post or read the other blogger’s? Do you think you would still feel the same way if you were writing or reading the post today? What have you learned about yourself, your family and your life since you wrote or read the original post?

Note: Many thanks to Keiko from The Infertility Voice and Team Zoll for suggesting “Learning” for September! If you have an idea for a future Time Warp topic, theme and/or writing prompt, please feel free to share it in the comment section or send me an email. If I choose to use your idea, I will give you credit and link to your blog.

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For those new to Time Warp Tuesday, here is a quick recap of how it works:

1) Browse through your old blog entries or another blogger’s to find one that fits the topic for the given month. The topic is shared at the end of the previous month’s “Time Warp Tuesday” post here on my blog (see above for next week’s topic).

2) Write a new blog post in which you introduce, link to and then reflect on your journey since you wrote or read the older blog post and put it up on your blog on Tuesday. Please include this link https://bereavedandblessed.com/projects-regular-series/time-warp-tuesdays/ in your blog entry, so your readers can find their way to my post with the list of other participants, in case they would like to read more or participate themselves.

3) Share the link to your new post here on Tuesday and then visit, read and comment on the other blogs.

4) After you have done all of these things, you are welcome to grab the code for the Time Warp Tuesday button by clicking here and put it on your blog. The link will take you to a Google Doc where you can copy the code. If your browser does not allow access to your computer’s clipboard, you can use Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste, or use your browser’s Edit menu.

5) Check back here on the 2nd Tuesday of the month to find out the new topic, theme or question for the next Time Warp Tuesday (I welcome your ideas and suggestions) and then return to Step 1 of this recap to participate. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you back here next month: Tuesday, September 10th (the 2nd Tuesday of the month), when we’ll “do the time warp again!”

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Thank you again for reading, commenting and participating in my Time Warp Tuesday blog hop. Link up below and click through to visit others who are doing the Time Warp! (If you have any trouble with Linky Tools, please share the link to your blog entry in the comment section. Also, please don’t forget to comment on my post here, as I do not have a link to this (my own) post below, but I would still really appreciate your feedback. xoxo

1. Lavender Luz

2. Stumbling Grace

3. R. Sativus