Welcome! A Little Note From The Author...

Friends!

I'm so glad you found me!  Allow me to explain how this Blog came to be.

First off,  I have a confession to make...

When I was a kid, I didn't like many of the popular Disney Movies. 

This is a strange confession coming from someone who wishes they could live in Disneyland, but what can I say...I'm a complex woman. I'm not saying I didn't like them at all....in fact, the hopeless girlie girl in me was wooed by the singing princesses with their glass slippers and ball gowns.  I was all about the crowns and singing mice that sewed dresses, but for some reason, I just couldn't wrap my head around some of the more classical Disney storylines.  

For example, let's talk about Pinocchio.  First of all, I've been afraid of dolls coming alive ever since my friend Chantelle told me a terrifying ghost story in 2nd grade.  You know, the one with the china doll that comes alive at night, blah, blah, blah, killer doll.  Freaky.  Anyone know that one?  It's a classic. In fact, when I had children of my own who were elementary ages, they were told the same story by a friend, so I know it's still out there thriving!   Anyway, Pinocchio.  He's a puppet, which is a doll of some type....who comes alive...and visits a land with boys who turn into Donkey's that smoke and eat too much candy.  I'm pretty sure I still have some PTSD from the scene where the donkey boys get taken away from their mothers.  That is right up there with killer china dolls....CREEPY.  

Unfortunately, I continued to form negative opinions about many other classics, as there was always something in them that disturbed me.  What can I say...I was a weird kid.  

Here's the rundown:

Bambi- Uh, wimpy deer + weird story line + Mom get's shot= Traumatizing

Dumbo- Flying Elephants?  Magic feathers?  ( I could accept a pumpkin changing into a magical carriage, but an elephant who can fly?  Mind. blown.)

Jungle Book- Creepy snake, half-naked boy alone in the jungle being raised my animals.  No ball gowns, no crowns, no fairy Godmothers...Pass!

Peter Pan- I just couldn't figure out why that darn boy couldn't settle down anywhere.  His commitment issues bothered my analytical mind even at a young age.  And those tights and pointy shoes???  Disturbing.

Sword in the Stone- Too many things to list.  (But I have to be careful here because this one is my hubby's favorite!)

The Fox & The Hound-How is this a movie for kids??  Isn't there enough sadness in the world??  Let the fox and the hound stay friends for crying out loud!  

Ok, this could go on for some time, but I think you get the picture.  And at this point, you have probably come to the conclusion that I have some issues.  What can I say, you're not wrong. So it likely won't surprise you to know I had some issues with Mary Poppins as well.  But oddly enough I think it stemmed from the "Feed the Bird's" song.  For a young kid with attention issues, that song is like 10 years long and includes the word "tuppins."  Huh?  

So here is where I redeem myself and let you know that once I became a Mom and began introducing my kids to Disney Movies, I actually grew to like some of these movies, especially Mary Poppins and her mystical bag of tricks. I realized, as a Mother,  I now needed one of those for myself.  And you'll be happy to know  I finally understood what that darn bird song was about, which turned out to be kind of important to the story line.  Who knew? But the older I got, the more I realized why Mary Poppins is a fictional character.  That "Practically Perfect" thing is just down right unrealistic!  AND, harmful if someone actually believes they can, and SHOULD, achieve perfection.   

Now before you go "canceling" Mary Poppins because she is setting an unrealistic ideal for children that will stunt their growth and mental health, let's do the healthy thing here and use our brains to separate fact from fiction.  Being able to separate fact from fiction is an important life skill.  It may seem obvious, but often our minds have difficulty doing that without being aware.  We can easily get sucked into believing the two are inseparable, which forms unrealistic expectations.

So here we go....

Mary Poppins and her perfection are obviously fiction...and a fun character for an entertaining story.  Who doesn't love a good story full of magic and mystique?  It's what makes entertainment entertaining!  Now, let's switch over to facts.  The reality is that the ideal of perfection is unrealistic outside of the movies.  It's often a trap.  It lures us in, makes us think our value is based upon whether we obtain it or not, and then leaves us feeling hopeless. And worst of all, worthless.

Over the past decade of my life, I have come to love the word "mediocre."  Mediocre has a bad rep because it means average, common, and of moderate quality.  BUT, mediocre is attainable and possible and beautifully forgiving.  I can absolutely succeed at striving to be the best mediocre me I can be! 

Now, I can hear you screaming in your head "But I don't want to be average or of moderate quality!  I want to be something great!"  Well, good news.  YOU ALREADY ARE...right now, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, however you look....you are already great!   I am a woman of faith and I truly believe we are children of a God who loves us, and that means we already have worth.  So much worth that we don't even know what to do with it!  Then why do so many of us waste our precious energy running ourselves into the ground trying to live up to the ideal of perfection?  

I think it's because deep down we believe that if we can emulate perfection, it will show everyone else (including ourselves) that we have worth.  

May I offer some very profound advice?

Stop.

Stop trying to make yourself fit into the perfection mold, and just be who you are...and imperfect being striving to become a little better each day.

I have come to accept that I am practically imperfect in MANY ways...and I am (for the most part) ok with that.  This doesn't mean I don't have things about myself I want to change, or that I don't ever have a "fat and ugly" day where I wish I looked like (insert name) on Instagram.  I definitely have those days.  BUT, I now know that I have incredible worth, just because I am me.  And I can embrace mediocrity while striving for excellence, and being ok with the time it takes to "become."  Becoming is a process, not an event.  

So now you know why I consider myself "The Mediocre Mary Poppins."  And I hope you will come back and read some more about the experiences that are helping me grow.  Hopefully, you can relate because you are growing too!  

Unfortunately, I still don't have that Mary Poppins bag of tricks, but I have found I have something even better: a continuous flow of life experiences helping me become a better person.  

(But, I wouldn't mind being able to snap my fingers and clean up a room...just sayin.') 

Have a fabulous mediocre day my friends!

XOXO,

Becky