Light House Life Lessons

Sometimes we don’t just want to do something well, we want to hear someone say, “Well done.” We spend our lives trying to live up to the expectations of others. We do our very best in an effort to gain approval or praise. I was raised by parents who expected nothing less than our best effort in everything we did. There was no pressure to be the best among our peers, but to be the best we could be. I tried to raise my own kids to compete only against their own best effort. There was no need to feel bad if they didn’t win at swimming, all they needed to do was continue to improve their efforts and beat their own best time. To show improvement was all I asked. When the kids graduated with a four-year college degree in just four years, I was so proud of them. They accomplished something no one on either side of our families had done since their grandfather. Well done, I am so proud of both of them. There are plenty of college degrees in both mine and hubby’s family, but we don’t all get the chance to complete the degree in the time it is meant to take, it is important that they completed at least that much higher education. We expected it of our kids from the day they were born. We think they have both done well and know they will be able to stand on their own long after we are gone. Well done, you have done well and for that, I am so proud, grateful and pleased. Thank you both for being so well behaved. It is an honor to be your parent.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Well
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

The prompt this week is name. Your name is everything. Your name is your badge of honor. No one wants their name to be dragged through the mud. I have wondered several times if I would use a pen name if I ever got a publishing contract. Part of me thinks no way! If I get published I want my name on the book cover. The other part of me, the not-so-confident part, says yes, a pen name would make it less obvious that it was me if the book was a huge flop. I’m still undecided, but then at this time in my writing life, it is really a moot point.
Another thought came to mind when I saw the prompt. You know how you have to give the person a name when you go to a restaurant and have to wait to be seated? I always give a different name, because our last name is too much trouble to spell and pronounce/sight-read. I usually give our daughter’s first name, even when she isn’t with us because it is easy to spell and say and uncommon enough that nobody else is likely to be using it. It works as long as we don’t forget which name we gave at the hostess stand.

Names are important because they are our way of identifying ourselves. What does your name say about you?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Name
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.