Rubies and Pearls

I have been a sometimes follower of some friend's blogs since my girls were smaller. I love the simplicity of the layouts of those I read while that they allow for depth of meaning, sharing or teaching. I love the ability to capture the daily treasures of life through an on-line forum. I love the possibility of creating something for my girls to use as reference once they are older. I just haven't been ready to do a blog until now. It has felt that the personal is becoming public. So this blog will be an experiement for me to see how it feels. Facebook has opened the door with it's public viewing (even though I am a 'friends' only poster it is still very public)

While documentating via a blog is new, I have journaled for the girls since their births. And I will continue to use their journals for the more personal heartshares that I want to convey. I had Amara's almost 300 page journal bound and printed. Love it. Havana's first edition will soon be ready for hard copy. I love having something something 'real', something definitive, for the girls to be able to have something from me to hold and read. For if anything were ever to happen to me, I want them to know that which I think are the important tools and life lessons to navigate through this life time. And because memory can fail us so easily, I have also been relieved to document the most mundane details so that they can be recalled easily later on.

I have always loved the written word. Both writing and reading have been life savers for me. I have used both to help navigate both the inner and outer worlds starting with my first diaries as early teen. I kept journals throughout my teens years and for a time into college when sadly I didn't make the time any longer. There is something cathartic about writing. There is something powerful of letting the words flow naturally from the inner to the outer. In my work as a therapist, I often give clients homework to write letters and to journal as a way to help connect to self, to let go of old and painful emotions and to help heal. It is because of the power that writing has given me that I choose to keep journals for my daughters. I wanted to be able to not only document their lives and the things I wanted them to know but I wanted them to know me. There will be times, I am sure, when we may not see eye to eye or when they may want to understand their mother or their own selves through their mothers impact on them. I hope my journals and now their blog will be of service.

But enough of journaling! I am here, on my first blog, to document my girls lives and some of the amazing and the challenging moments we share. My girls presence in my life is the greatest blessing. I am thankful each day they choose me to be their earth mother (and yes, I do believe their soul choose me but more on that later). They are my greatest joy and my greatest teachers! I know most parents can feel the depth of those words about their own children.

I will start today with a brief introduction: Amara Pearl Josephine is my 4 1/2 year old. But if you tell her she is 4 1/2 she will be quick to correct you; "I am 4 and 3/4's old". That statement in and of itself speaks volumes of my (very) strong willed, energetic and most curious sweet monkey. Havana Ruby Modesta is my other most spirited daughter, who at 2 1/2, keeps my on my toes and keeps my senses on point. I have to keep an eye on her most of the time or an ear leaning in her direction! She has been surprising us as of late. She is more mellow in her temperament than her sister (much less tantrums, a lot more sensitive) but she is one "feisty gal" as they say in Jamaica (both parents lived there for a time and speak the dialect).

I think it is evident where the name of the blog comes from. I can say more later about the names; Rubies and Pearls. If or when Amara reads this she may not like that her sister's middle name was first but it rolls of the tongue a bit more smoothly. So RubiesandPearls Blog it is!