A Family Motto

We've joked in the past that things haven't been easy for the Edwardses.

If things can go wrong, they have gone wrong.  Flood, fire, pestilence, sickness, finances, infertility a ghost... everything!  You name it?  We've touched it.

But we have always managed to come out the other side relatively unscathed. 

We'd like to think that it is because of the strength of our character, and our perspective on life. I know those aren't things you are supposed to say about yourself, but I'll be bold enough to do it.  

We've done a great job of weathering the storm.  Our lives and our marriage are stronger for it.  Shawn does it intuitively.  He's as solid as a rock and one of the best human beings I've ever encountered.  Those that know him would agree.

I'm not as intuitive.  I have to work hard to be easy going.  I have to anguish to let go.  I get mired in the stress.  I do well under stress.  I excel in crisis, but I usually collapse on the other side.

We have learned to take things in stride, and make the best of what we have been given.  Hence the first of our family mottos:  Nunquam Securus (a poor reverse google translation of "Never Easy").
Shawn has a hat that says it.  We joke about it often.

It dovetails into the two Miller family mottos:  "Do Poke the Sleeping Bear" (yes, you read that right... not don't... do), and "Suffering Builds Character". 

The Millers have always been able to roll with the punches.  We moved.  Often.  We made new friends and went to new schools.  We had changes.  But we had each other.  We laughed early and often.  We bugged the shit out of each other.  We didn't rest on our laurels.  We suffered together.  It built character. And we all turned into pretty awesome people along the way.

And now we have two great kids.  They seem to be "good" babies.  Are we that lucky?  Does the universe owe us?  Are we amazing parents?  Have we suffered enough and had it not easy enough that we are due?  Am I jinxing it all by typing out these words?

What's your family motto?  Do you have one?  Should you have one?  Does it affect how you act and the choices you make?

Anna Helen has been studying up.  She'll get back to you.

 

What?  It's Naked Tuesday up in here.