#29 Her 4th Birthday Party

This year, I'm going to spend 31 days writing about places. In my profession, I talk about place-based writing quite a bit. I frame it like this when I share: We believe in the power of including spaces in the process of writing. Place-based writing is the concept that the place where we write may influence our thinking, impacting the writer’s perspective, engagement, ownership, and/or purpose. I'm really jazzed up, thinking about where I will spend time as a writer in 31 different spaces this month and how I can use each post to share a little slice of my day. 

Today, we celebrated my niece's fourth birthday.

When I arrived, my sister-in-law took me back to her daughter's bedroom to show me her brand-new-big-girl bed.  She shares a room with her big brother who recently turned seven.  I sympathized that this was a big change and she said she had a big cry about it, and then she said, "Where have the seven years gone?"

And then we ate pizza and cake and watched Violet open gifts.  My husband bought her the blastercorn pictured below and I can't stop laughing about it.

I also can't stop thinking about that question.  Where have the seven years gone?  Because, really, this is a common thing people say, but where HAVE the seven years gone?  I don't know really.

I read something recently that said routine speeds up time--our brain doesn't bother to remember as much because it's experienced it so often.  It suggested that stepping outside of our routines slows time down and forces the brain to make memories because there is more unkown information.  And I'm wondering how-when kids are always just changing, changing- do I not have more memories with them?

Time (and place) are strange little mysteries sometimes.  I'm glad today slowed down for a moment to celebrate a four year old girl and the discovery of a blastercorn.