You see, before Christmas, I’d bought a handy little contraption in anticipation of all those holiday group pictures we’d be taking. You know, for the times when you don’t have any extra people hanging around who can serve as photographer or you try to prop your phone up against a book and set the timer. Well, those always end up looking like a lineup at the police station, which is never ideal for pictures commemorating Jesus’ birthday. Anyway, I decided I’d experiment with another option, so I ordered a small bendable cell phone tripod that could stand or wrap around just about anything and came with a remote control that would snap the picture. All of our photography woes were sure to be solved. 

At Christmas, every time we’d get together with a different group of family, I’d get it out and brag about how handy it was and how little I paid for it. By the 3rd or 4th time that I brought it out, my kids started finishing my sentence, “....and I only paid $20 for it- we know, Mom.” I couldn’t help that I was super proud of my contraption. 

I could only find one flaw in its design and that was when you were putting the phone into the tripod holder, it would, often times, trigger the emergency call feature, causing you to have to scramble to shut it off  before you unnecessarily disturbed the people over at 911. So, because of this unfortunate drawback, I inadvertently took a lot of selfies from my lap over the holidays as I frantically tried to disengage the emergency alert system. I’m talking rapid fire selfies. 

If you are 50 or over, I would strongly suggest you place your camera in your lap, switch the camera to selfie mode, and take some pictures of yourself. It will free your spirit from any sinful grip placed on it by the tentacles of pride and vanity. My neck and chin reminded me of when the headliner started coming unglued in my first car. There’s a lot of slack and billowing under there where slack and billowing once did not exist. 

This week, Motherhood and Muffin Tops celebrates 7 years of - well, whatever it is we do here. The “About Me” section of the blog is almost completely outdated now. When I started this, I had a daughter who’d just left for college and a son in junior high and braces. My age still started with a 4, the brain fog of menopause (or whatever this is) hadn’t set in, and I’m pretty sure my neck skin was taut and didn’t billow. 

A lot has happened in 7 years. Life is full of happy and sad moments and all those in-between changes to which we have to adjust. I could never thank you enough for spending some of your week listening to me carry on about stuff. I’ve worked through all kinds of things on here- grief, life stages, changes- and, sometimes, just laughed and snorted like a middle schooler about ridiculous things.  

Whatever life brings for us to talk about in year 8, I hope we can feel like we’re never alone here. I imagine the things you experience are a lot like the things I experience. My fears probably resemble yours and your hopes are likely similar to mine. I’ve always loved the quote by C.S. Lewis about friendship. I bet it applies to blogships, too.“Friendship...is born at the moment when one man says to another “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” Most days, the sun shines down on us and life feels so good, but, sometimes, the rain just pelts us in the face. It helps to know that other people understand what that feels like- the warmth of the sun and the sting of the rain. God promises to walk with us through it all. Let’s keep on walking, talking, and laughing all together. 

You’re the best and I appreciate you more than you know. 

JONI