Kadee Carder
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Insurrection (Book 1) >
      • InsurrectionReviews
      • Insurrection Chapter One
    • Incomplete (Book 2) >
      • Incomplete Reviews
    • Indelible (Book 3) >
      • Indelible Reviews
    • Here Be Dragons (Book 4) >
      • Here Be Dragons Reviews
    • Earthshine (Book 5)
    • Ignite
    • Kingdom Come
    • Gift Certificate
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Freebies
    • Gift Certificate
  • Purchase

Rallying seekers to thrive in their stories.

The Getting Up

8/27/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
It’s go time. That’s what the writing on my shirt read today when I mowed the lawn. That’s right.
​
This one time in high school, my dad made me mow the lawn, because he’s a good dad. All girls should learn how to do those ‘boy’ things, like changing the oil in the car, and mowing the lawn, and building furniture, and sawing boards, and hammering, and lifting heavy weights. Because this world is full of adventurous tales, any person should be willing to try any task at any time. So that one time I helped change the oil, switched out the tires on the car, helped build a pool deck, painted rooms, and mowed the lawn. I hated mowing the lawn.

I haaaaaated tugging that ridiculous cord thing over and over and over again to no avail. Just a tip, don’t make a girl tug on something over and over and over again or she will walk away. That’s a life lesson. Freebie.

But once I got the mower going, I mowed in straight lines and finished up the job, vowing that my job in life would be to not ever mow again, and the guy I ended up with would know it was his job to mow, OR ELSE.

However. These past few weeks have been rough. With summer gaining the heavy hand, my hurricane toddler able to talk back and come out of bed swinging, and with the shifting of schedules as school begins, I’ve literally lost my footing. After tripping over a cord of annihilation at the park, my hands have hurt all week, as well as my right leg, and I had to quit a workout early because I couldn’t bear the weight on my limbs. Bruises abound, inward and outward, but it’s time to get up. It’s go time.

Are you there? Are you fighting it too? Are you overshadowed, roughed up, and absorbing the thick humidity of the earth?

We watched the movie Creed last night. Since getting married, I’ve watched way more boxing movies than I ever imagined I would. Sometimes I enjoy them. I liked “Here Comes the Boom,” with Kevin James, and “Warrior,” with Tom Hardy. How do they get their neck muscles so bulgy? Anyway. What’s amazing about boxing is that these guys KNOW they are about to get hit. They’re swinging. They’re ducking. They’re dodging. They’re getting smacked in the face; they are pummeled by punches. And they get up when they fall down. They’re motivated to get up as fast as they can, or else the other guy gets the round, or even the whole shebang. Ain't nobody wanna lose the whole shebang.

As a girl growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I was taught that girls—proper girls—didn’t get their hands dirty or swear or sweat hard or wear too low-cut shirts. Proper girls walk gracefully, wrap their children in loving embraces with their soft hands caressing their children’s smooth, shiny, tendril-like hair, in their jean pencil skirts, while sewing jumpers for the family and matching everyone accordingly, right before cooking a homemade meal and tucking everyone, washed and dried, into crisp, neat beds that had been made that morning.

I’ve never one day of my life been able to be a proper girl.

And now that I’m in my thirties, feeling like maybe I’m doing everything wrong, because I use a Roomba instead of vacuuming, order pizza like a boss, love a heavy workout, and can’t sew clothing to save my life, I’m realizing I’m going to have to adjust my strategy. I have to take out the freaking trash. Almost every day. I have to gas up my car. I have to brush the kids’ hair, even if they scream. I have to dig in, carry on, push harder, climb higher, and walk onward, even when I don’t want to, even when it hurts, and even when I vowed I wouldn’t do it. I have to get up. I'm a mom. I'm human. I'm here, filling this space. So are you.

The getting up is the harder part of the falling down, yeah? Falling down is basically easy. You just allow gravity to win. The getting up, that’s the part where YOU fight the laws of nature, and overcome. Getting out of bed in the morning, standing from a sitting position, starting a new race, a new challenge, a new day, that’s sometimes the hardest part, because it’s engaging forward movement.

Sometimes even forward movement feels like a standstill. That standstill is where I’ve been treading these last few weeks, repeating the same thing at the same time with the same people and the same naptime and the same children who want the same cartoons and the same nonsensical language and the same stores in the same streets and the same samishly sameness of samity.

Dead.

The thought of rolling out of bed yesterday almost seemed too much. I ate a plate of egg whites, two chocolate poptarts and a bag of Pirate’s Booty for brunch, along with three cups of coffee. I put my hurricane down for a nap ten minutes early. Both children went to bed half an hour early at night. I walked on a treadmill for forty minutes then got a movie from Redbox. And through it all, my palms and shin ached. And I need to potty train the toddler. Dead. Yall. YALL. #boring #thisisit

So this morning, when the hubs sighed and moaned, “I have to mow the laaaawn.” I put down my cup of coffee and was like, “I’ll do it.”

Son.

Yeah I did. I mowed that lawn like a boss. There are rules for mowing lawns, and you want straight lines and watch out for sticks and don’t go backwards and don’t cut off any limbs. Screw it. I’ve been editing papers and novels and eating a lot of salad and drinking a lot of water and walking 10,00 steps everyday and driving the speed limit and showing up places on time and wearing makeup and clean underwear and screw rules. I yanked that lawn mower all over that lawn, because tree roots, yall. And pot holes. Our yard stinks. We got weeds and random bricks buried in the ground and awful divots and I found this mega-long vine thing, I think it was lettuce. Yall, I think I was growing lettuce in my yard. Don’t care. Mowed it down.

Mowing the lawn took over two sweaty hours, tidal waves of salty water pouring into my eyes and down into my socks. Don’t care. My hands, they are numb sacks of squishy soreness now. Thumbs won’t stop shaking. Don’t care. Mowed that lawn like a boss, yo. Fist bump; let it explode.

One of my friends ran by on her Saturday jog. I waved with a big, goober-y smile. I weren’t none embarrassed. Many people over the years have helped us with our lawn, being some awesome friends from church and my brother-in-law. Bless them and their putting up with our stupid, holey lawn. (It’s a very large lawn.) Single mom friends who do this all the time, you rock. Way. To. Rock. It. Most of my neighbors pay someone with a trailer and a riding mower to landscape. All those guys who whip out their trailers and forage through the neighborhoods, you change lives and you don’t even know it. My next door neighbor probably puts everybody to shame—she’s in her plus seventies and mows her lawn every other week, all by her onesie. She inspires me. She inspired me this morning. If she can do it, so can I.

See, I wasn’t afraid of mowing the lawn, I just didn’t want to do it. Don’t let those self-imposed limits stop you. If you’re feeling the pain of falling down, or even sitting down, well my friend, get up, and do something you think you don’t want to do. Maybe I was afraid. Afraid of getting dirty, of having to wash grass out of clothing afterwards….maybe even of getting really sweaty (I’m lazy, yall), maybe trepidation hunkered into the picture, dressed as snobbery. But it was a limit and I thought I was too good for it. You’re never too good to explore. Exploration is what brings the adventure back to your own realm. Rule your realm, make your own rules, and knock it out. Get up. Fight for your life. Fight for what you want. Fight for what you don’t know you want. Fight for the adventurous spirit within that crippled soul of yours. You are magnificent. Maybe it will take getting sweaty and dirt-covered to find the strength, the fire, that you need. Don’t be afraid of the dirt, or the rocks, or the maybe-lettuce. Don’t be afraid to make a fool out of yourself. Ain’t no real rules for mowing, anyway. It’s cutting grass.

If you need a takeaway on how your creator feels on this issue, here’s one: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9b). I mean, it was said to Joshua, but I think it applies to us as well. God doesn’t need quivering ninnies. He can use them, but it’s easier when we’re willing to get up and get our hands dirty.

Yeah?

Maybe you need to learn how to sew, to cook homemade meals, to brush your children’s hair (no judgement), or wear higher cut necklines. Maybe you need to take out the trash, change the oil in the car, fix a flat tire, or build something with splintery boards. Maybe you need to get your hands dirty. You probably do.

Get up!

Let’s do it. Like a boss, son.

I’m right there with you, and, if you notice, your patient Creator is too. There it is, in the way the wind lifts the sweat from your neck, and in the hushed quiet of the evening sunset, in the soulful hug embracing you, to the spoken words and inspiring actions, and in the way your lungs continue to fill with air. It’s in the getting up. Time to crawl, time to scrape those knees up from the dirt, time to swing those fists. It’s go time.

1 Comment
Dad
8/28/2017 07:14:48 am

I remember those days of you mowing the yard and working with me on your car. It was awesome. You are awesome!! Keep on being awesome!

Love you

.. Dad

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    via GIPHY

    Picture

    Subscribe!

    * indicates required
    Sign up here to receive an email notification about new blog posts and news! Let me come to you. I promise, no spam!

    Please note that you will receive a confirmation email. Simply click the "Yes, subscribe me to this list" button to begin receiving updates from me.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    20 Questions
    90s Punk
    Addison Multimedia
    Adventure
    Advice
    Amy Purdy
    Animation
    Audiobook
    Azores
    Believe
    Believe In Yourself
    Bethany Swafford Author
    Bob Morris
    Book Lists
    Book One
    Book Review
    Books
    Book Trailer
    Boredom
    Brave
    Brigid Amos
    BW Morris
    Cadenhead Kinetix
    Cardio
    Celebrate
    Challenge
    Chaotic Courtship
    Chapter One
    Chapter Two
    Christmas
    Clean Reads
    Cliche
    Coming Of Age
    Commitment
    Connection
    Contest
    Cookies
    Courage
    Crave
    Create
    Creative
    Criticism
    Dauntless December
    Debut
    Decisions
    Doubt
    Dystopian
    Earthshine
    Eddie The Eagle
    Eli Celata
    Ellie
    Employment
    Empower
    Encourage
    Epic Summer 2017
    Facebook Group
    Faith
    Fantasy
    Fear
    Fiction
    Fitness
    Free
    Freedom
    Get In The Rink
    Girl Power
    Giveaway
    Giving Up
    God
    Good News
    Here Be Dragons
    Heroine
    Historical Fiction
    Holiday
    Hope
    Incomplete
    Indelible
    Inspire
    Instagram
    Insurrection
    Interview
    John Theo
    Jordan Elizabeth
    Kingdom Come
    Krista Johnson
    Krysten Lindsay Hager
    Law Enforcement
    Legos
    Lieze Neven
    Life
    Lightning
    Lists
    Magic
    Making It
    Maze
    Meaning
    Memorable
    Military Life
    Mindset
    Mom Life
    Mystery
    Natural Disasters
    NeedToBreathe
    New Release
    Novella
    Numbers
    Ownership
    Peace
    Perseverance
    PitProm
    Pizza
    Podcast
    Possibility
    Promo
    Publication
    Purpose
    Quiz
    Reality
    Release
    Risk
    Roller Skating
    Romance
    Sao Miguel
    Sara Turnquist
    Saylor
    Science Fiction
    Sci Fi
    SFF
    Sidelines
    Six Pack
    Skating
    Spirit
    Strong
    Superheroes
    Team Messy Bun
    Teen
    The Christmas Room
    The Write Way
    Tips And Tricks
    Training
    Travel
    Trilogy
    Truth
    Vocation
    Volume Two
    Waiting
    Wisdom
    Work
    Writing
    Writing Ideas
    Writing Tips
    YA
    Young Adult
    Young Ault

    Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion

    RSS Feed


Copyright © 2018 - KadeeCarder.com
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Insurrection (Book 1) >
      • InsurrectionReviews
      • Insurrection Chapter One
    • Incomplete (Book 2) >
      • Incomplete Reviews
    • Indelible (Book 3) >
      • Indelible Reviews
    • Here Be Dragons (Book 4) >
      • Here Be Dragons Reviews
    • Earthshine (Book 5)
    • Ignite
    • Kingdom Come
    • Gift Certificate
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Freebies
    • Gift Certificate
  • Purchase