As I sit and write every morning, I look at the wall in our makeshift office space. You see, I have to come up to the garage and our makeshift office space to avoid all distractions while I write. The bean has an uncanny ability to sense when I am writing and does everything in her power to distract me from my task. The child knows how to get to me, whether it is asking me for morning cuddles, something “healthy” for breakfast, or participate in some new game she has created, she knows exactly how to distract me. We have a greeting we use for each other exclusively when we enter the garage area and it always makes me smile and cringe when I hear her little voice before 7 a.m. As I quietly escape the house each morning, I check to make sure she is safe and soundly asleep. I would love to utilize my office but like a heat seeking missile, she detects the creative process and intervenes.
So, I sit each morning in a lawn chair at a folding table clicking out my thoughts and ideas on the laptop. We have hung all of Jordan’s art creations on the wall in front of the makeshift desk. Artwork, sculpture, and notes she has written us over the years. My personal favorite is her sculpture of her cat she fittingly titled: Jack My Cat, when she was in first grade. In the mix of the colorful chaos is a plaque Eric’s former boss sent to him. On this plaque is a picture of a fierce looking mountain lion, looking like a lethal weapon of protection, licking her cubs and the phrase: Protect what is yours. This plaque has always resonated with me and although his company has dispersed and his employer is no longer with us, I still continue to keep it on display and gaze at it daily.
I feel a kinship with this mountain lion and I feel very deeply the need to protect what is mine. Be it my bean, my bibbed wonder, my dad’s farm, or this little business I am nurturing and trying to get to blossom, I will fight tooth and nail to protect it and keep it from harms way. A very dear friend observed a change in my attitude after we got Jordan but before the adoption was complete. She said, “Tonk, you have always been kind, caring, and soft- hearted but motherhood has turned you into a lioness. That’s cool, go with it.” That has always stayed with me and I have tried to nurture my inner lioness. Surprisingly, the lioness comes very naturally to me when it involves something I care for deeply.
We all have our inner lioness laying in wait, ready to attack at the first sign of danger. Nurture that passion, cultivate that strength, fight for what is right and just, protect what is yours. God help the monster that comes knocking at the door. In whatever form it takes, I will indeed protect what is mine as should you dear reader.
As always, stay safe, stay smart, nurture your inner lioness, and keep washing your hands to protect what is yours.