Will You Join the Celebration? (A Dream in the Works)

We only get one shot at this life. One chance to make the most of it. One chance to live in the moment. If we aren't careful, it is easy to become tattered and worn and even a little undone.

Or we can choose joy. Happiness is a choice. We can wallow or we can celebrate.

When I first started teaching, I had a friend who always had a hysterical story to share at the end of the day. In fact, after the students cleared the building and hall duty was finished, you'd find a group of teachers gathered around to hear her daily tale. I wondered why she was the one who always had funny things happen in her classroom.

Then one day it hit me -- it wasn't that she had a magic wand to conjure up funny things, but rather she knew how to notice and remember funny situations.

The same is true for finding things to celebrate. More good stuff isn't happening in one place or another. There aren't some lives that are more worthy of celebration. When I think back to a dark time I had after adopting our daughters compared to these months after our most recent adoption 9 months ago, I realize there isn't more good now than then -- I'm just positioning myself to find joy.

It's an intentional choice I'm making. It's a choice that makes a difference.

Celebrating Writers is a book about choosing to celebrate throughout the daily grind of writing and in the publication. Friends at #litconn13 shared how they want to be more intentional in choosing to celebrate. They began wishing and imagining for a place to share the celebrations happening in their classrooms.

They pushed me to dream too.


Other friends helped me to see celebration is the heart of my Favorite Bits posts each week. I'm not the only blogger celebrating -- Pirnelle Ripp, Colby Sharp, and Holley Mueller all wrote celebration posts this week.

Celebration is one of those slippery things -- we can let go of it and not even realize that it's missing. We can talk ourselves out of its importance. However, celebration makes the difference between energy and apathy, excitement and disappointment.

Let's get together and celebrate each week with a CELEBRATE LINK UP on Saturdays.

I'll be sharing a few guidelines this Saturday (which are modeled after the Pirates' Code, being more guidelines than rules and somewhat optional) and then we will officially begin with the link-up on Saturday, October 19. I hope you'll consider joining the CELEBRATION. Below is a code to grab the Celebrate This Week official link-up button.

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