My first blog post… ever. Nope, no pressure! As I sit here in front of a blank computer screen, I keep thinking about the many directions this could go. What’s the one theme that keeps resonating with me like a song my kids listen to OVER & OVER & OVER & OVER again though? WHAT IS YOUR RIPPLE EFFECT??? WHAT IS YOUR RIPPLE EFFECT??? WHAT IS YOUR RIPPLE EFFECT??? This all started at a family funeral a few months ago when the priest talked about the ‘Judgment’ when you die. Of course I’ve heard of it. I’ve thought about it a little, then dismissed it, because I generally consider myself a decent person. I mean, my kids are pretty nice to others… sometimes more on some days than others. My marriage is probably just like most marriages out there… two really busy people moving in their own directions meeting up occasionally to sit on the couch and watch an episode of whatever we have DVR’d, until we fall asleep, delete it and go to bed. Occasionally we actually have time to enjoy each other’s company. With 2 girls under 6 and one in in her last year of college, life is busy. I mean, even when we have company, the house is a mess. My in-laws probably think I am the messiest daughter-in-law their son could have ever married… but it is what it is. We are married, busy and basically happy. Of course if my house was tidy and the clothes were put away and there wasn’t that pile of stuff to donate by the front door…things would be neater, maybe, but probably not HAPPIER. I mean, we are actually pretty happy in our little corner of the world. Messy, busy, lacking sleep 4 nights out of the week… but happy.

So what does this have to do with MAKING RIPPLES??? What does this have to do with a sermon at a funeral, NOTHING! It’s what the priest said NEXT that floored me. He said that at the ‘Second Judgement’ you are judged on what your life really meant to the world. Did you make an impact on the world AFTER you were gone?

Wait WHAT… did he mean years later??? Was he talking about more than the 15 minutes of time I worry about getting somewhere across town, through construction, on time? How many years later? He said, ‘‘it is in the second judgement that we are judged on, how our lives affected the world we left behind.’’   Hmmmm… I didn’t hear anything after that. My mind was racing, wondering how does one affect the world AFTER THEY DIE??? Mind you the priest never mentioned the Ripple Effect… that came later. Much like the ripples in a lake that come much later, after the splash of a stone hitting the water.

So here I sit. What is my Ripple Effect? Why am I doing what I do every day anyway? What does it matter and who really cares?

Pretty heavy stuff. And this is how I start my new venture, my new blog, my life today as it moves into tomorrow. Oh, and I forgot, I’m frustrated that I can’t find the instructions for a LEGO set my daughter wants to assemble… so off I go! I’ll worry about that Ripple Effect later.

Thanks for joining me! Hopefully together we can MAKE WISE CHOICES! Let me know what you think!

Tiki