Amazing is not just an Adjective
Do you remember the television series Get Smart? The main character Maxwell Smart would say, “I missed it by that much”, as his response to a silly blunder. He would hold his thumb and forefinger up showing about an inch of space between them? He would shrug and move on. I know it is silly to compare my life to a sitcom, especially one from the 1960”s. But, isn’t it true, we all go through our lives doing things to our fullest abilities only to fall short sometimes, only to miss, “Amazing”, by that much.
Please walk with me metaphorically as we jump into the “wayback machine” and take a little time capsule journey through some of my memories. I believe this will show my solidarity with KariAnne’s, So Close to Amazing life. Let’s start with my friend Lydia who said, “Wow your cupcakes look amazing, how many did you bake?” I replied proudly,” 100.” “Why so many, Lydia asked? “for the school bake sale,” I replied. Lydia smiled and said, “Ummm it’s next week…” so close to Amazing”
Streamers are hung, balloons are blown up, coordinated hats, plates, napkins and gift bags await the little ones who will come and celebrate year eight with our daughter. Among the semi chaos, a leaking faucet in the kitchen has changed from drip drip to splash splash just 10 minutes before guests will arrive. How amazing am I, I just stopped a leaking faucet with a tube sock and some scotch tape. …”so close to Amazing.”
I kiss my daughter on the forehead and tell her to rest and that I am proud of her and that I love her very much. I follow the nurses as they congratulate me on being a Grandma. I watch as they put ink on the bottoms of our granddaughter’s tiny pink feet and press them onto paper. They measure and weigh her and then they step back and pass me a box of, soft as a cloud, baby wipes. I gently wipe away the remains of her home for the last 9 months, then I swaddle her in a sweet pink blanket and carry her over to our daughter’s bed.
Happy tears show proof of what is truly Amazing.
In the book, “So Close to Amazing, stories of a DIY life gone wrong…and learning to find beauty in every imperfection”. My lovely bloggy friend, KariAnne Wood from the blog Thistlewood Farm shares her humorous and truly Faith filled life’s adventures honestly and openly in her memoir. She shares how you can still be Amazing even when it’s just so close, “So close to Amazing “. If you’ve visited her blog Thistlewood Farms you know the enthusiasm she shares and that the, “have an amazing day” attitude and sentiment are true and straight from the heart.
KariAnnes infectious humor and Faith are on every page of her book.
You will discover instructions for DIY projects from her stories of renovations, decorating and life’s chaos too. Wait until you read about the skirt! You will find so many quotable’s in her book you will want to invest in a bumper sticker machine. KariAnne is the total embodiment of Faith and foibles and the kind of friend anyone would be blessed to have. She has been an Amazing bloggy friend to me over the years and for that I am truly grateful. I’m excited for her success (watch for more of KariAnne’s books and special surprises )and I urge you to follow her and purchase her book, you’ll read it in one sitting, I did. Most of us try all we can to bring Amazing into our lives. We fill our hearts with love of family, friends, accomplishments and our Lord and Saviour and it is without hesitation, that I declare that to be truly Amazing! What I really think you will take away from KariAnne’s stories is, you will find comfort in knowing we are all Amazing and that we can all relate to also being “So close to Amazing” at times. We can find comfort and laughter in unlikely places. But most importantly, with all our Faith, frailties and knowing God has a purpose for us, we can move mountains one stone at a time in an Amazing way.
if you missed my previous post about KarieAnne you can find it here
It has been my pleasure and privilege to be part of KariAnnes book launch team and I’m celebrating her official book release day today with a giveaway! ( the GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED)
Please leave your “So close to Amazing” story in the comment section. I’ll assign each comment a number then I will use randomdraw.org to pick a winner.
The prize-A signed copy of the KariAnne’s book and some pretty jewelry from yours truly. This will end on Sunday Sept 10th
I’ll see you all back here on Thursday for the TFT party and please make sure you are a subscriber so you don’t miss the new giveaway announcement on Friday!
You can buy the book from me! Please click the image below and then go out and have an Amazing day!
“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He let His grace shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-6:26 NIV
Sounds like a wonderful book to read.
What a wonderful read for me today! I needed the pick-me-up! My so-close-to-amazing story is this: In our early years of marriage, my husband and I would go home for nearly all of the “big” holidays except for one particular year. We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and I was thrilled to be cooking MY own FIRST dinner – even if was just for Hubby and me. I had everything for the meal, prepped everything, and was ready to put the bird in the oven. Was so proud of myself for getting my stuffing to be “almost” like my dad’s! I placed the turkey in one of those cooking bags and put the bird in to roast. Never checked back (rookie mistake, I know) until it was time to start the sides. I freaked out – I never turned the oven ON! So close to…amazing. We had all of the sides and no turkey. Sigh.
I love reading Thistlewood daily and am excited to read Kari Anne’s book.
This is very inspiring. I always try to do things just right, meaning things go wrong often and I am so disappointed. I will think on some “so close” stories.
Sounds like a wonderful book to read and thank you for sharing more about it here today. Hugs and Happy Tuesday now, Katie!! xoxo <3
The book looks and sounds wonderful! My story:
April 29, 2013, I got online to “check-in” for our upcoming May 12 cruise. I was so excited. We were leaving on the 10th and driving to New Orleans to have a day and two nights to see a few sights there before boarding the ship. I logged on and was ready to fill in the information from our legal identifying documents. We already had passports from previous trips and I knew they were both still within the 10 year validity period. When I opened mine, I was admiring my lovely picture, a-hem, and then, there, staring me in the eye was my PRE- MARRIAGE NAME! Travel documents must match names. I had of course changed my drivers license immediately after the wedding. I had also changed it with the Social Security Office. So, therefore, none of my identification documents matched my passport. And I had ten days before our trip.
I was so TICKED at myself!!! I was doing everything ahead of time, getting everything paid for up front, no loose ends…. was going to Carnival website to do online check-in, opened up my passport and saw the old name. I immediately searched online and found an expedited service that guaranteed to get it done within 2-3 days. So I paid the extra money and let them handle it. (Of course, I had to locate our marriage certificate first.)
Almost Amazing.
🙂 gwingal
I think most of us can relate to that saying….”so close to amazing!” I loved the story about the new baby’s feet, by the way. I have never heard of that happening before. How special. I’m afraid my earliest memories of so close to amazing, goes back almost 60 years, when I was a twelve year old, participating in the School Sports Day. I should point out here that I was always useless at sport, and PE. Anyway, this particular race, there were 12 potatoes laid out across the grass, in bowls. So you had to run to the first bowl, pick up your potato, and take it back to the starting line, and so on and so on, until you had reached the last potato. Well, to my utter amazement, I won. My name was duly called out over the tannoy system, and my team mates crowded round to congratulate me. Oh, what a heady moment. One that I had never had before! Then about ten minutes later, another message came across the Tannoy. The member of the blue team had only picked up 11 potatoes! Horror of horrors, that little miscreant was ME! So, in fact, I was relegated from first to last. The shame of it! BUT….just for those ten heady moments, I had been that “close to amazing!”
I bet this is a good book. I need to visit KariAnne’s blog! Thanks for hosting such a generous giveaway. I am the poster child for “so close to amazing.” :/ My latest one: I asked my husband to mail a card to my daughter in Baton Rouge. It was such an adorable card: perfect to encourage her as she begins her PhD program at LSU. [It was mailed before I had a chance to write anything in it….so when she received the card it was blank inside.] That’s just my most recent example.
I laugh because I would have likely done the same. I’m thinkin your daughter was very pleased and felt the silent hug. My kids chuckle @ same actions. thanx.