A few years ago, my sister-in-law planned a surprise birthday party for my brother-in-law at our house. While my husband took his younger brother out for beers, she snuck over to my kitchen and together with a friend we made roll after roll of homemade sushi. I decorated the windows with strings of paper cranes that I had folded here and there from the same stash of origami paper I've had for decades.
(In middle school I read a book about a young Japanese girl dying of luekemia after the atomic bomb attacks of World War II. She attempted to fold a thousand paper cranes. After her death, her classmates organized to create the Children's Peace Statue to honor her and other children who were victims of the Hiroshima bombing. The story resonated with me. I taught myself how to fold cranes, began collecting origami paper, and folded baskets upon baskets of the fragile birds.)
This week, I found the strings of decorative cranes and taped them up over our story corner in the boys room. They add more color to a room that is already bursting.
As I stepped carefully over board games, Legos, and toys to snap these photos, I realized how often my blog (unintentionally) perpetuates an idealized image of my life. I choose to focus on the positive in this space - you probably have enough negativity in your life without me adding a litany of gripes and complaints. But our home is rarely spotless and we are not perfect.
So I stepped back for a wider angle, to share a glimpse of real life here.
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