My son Liam lost another tooth yesterday.  He now looks like he plays hockey “FULL TIME”.   I love it.  Every smile from him spreads life and warmth into my soul but these new smiles add a little laughter too-adorable.  Where does the time go?  I look at his hand as I hold it and wonder how did this get so big?  His fingers now able to wrap around my hand to grip.  I wish sometimes I could contain these precious moments and relive them over and over again, yet I am so proud of all his accomplishments.  I don’t think I will ever be prouder of a word than when he writes his name-still after a full year of being able to do so.  And, he assures me that “even when he is grow’d up” as he calls it, he will still be mommy’s boy, always.  Ahhh, pure peace.
 So we had one of our “momma I ask you somethin” talks.  This one was about big teeth and how they have roots.  He asked how come his teeth now didn’t have roots and when would he get some?  So, like a mommy does, I explained…
 I explained that roots take some time to develop, to grow, and that they have been doing that since he was born and are getting ready to “build”.  Like his new tooth coming in, his “major” tooth-he now has 3 of those in the works J I told him about trees, how they are big and strong but underneath, there are roots that are stronger, holding the tree up, allowing the tree to be fed, to live.  And we went on and talked about flowers, how they bud and blossom and look so pretty but when you pull them from the ground, they are attached to roots, the things that “do the work”.  He liked this analogy and smiled as we then picked out everything that has roots on our ride to karate.  Liam shared some important facts with me also-I learn so much from a 6 year old, the important things that keep me grounded.  I am so blessed by my son-daily.

SO today I decided to share what I learned by talking to my son yesterday about roots with you….
Roots Rock!

While we are given roots naturally we can also make roots-that’s awesome!  We have roots in family, roots in education, roots in our faith, roots in where we live etc.  What if we all grew our roots in the things we wanted to accomplish, our health, the way we want to live our life? What if we made a conscious effort to strengthen, feed, grow, our roots in our foundation. Create roots in the foundation we want.  Our Whole-Body Wellbeing-Complete wellness combining all we need to grow -Our Emotional, Spiritual, Mental, Physical and Nutritional needs.  We would become stronger, more firm in our goals.  We would have more of a foundation to draw from when things get tough, when we have a bad day, and when we wonder “if we can do it”.  Our roots will stand strong and firm in reminding us that “We can” and they will “Give us Strength” to do so.  By strengthening our roots we will empower our bodies and our minds to accomplish, to grow, to be fearless to move ahead-and, give us the encouragement to do so.  How amazing!! If we eat healthy and feed our body the way it needs to be with proper nutrition-we feed our roots, like water to a plant.  If we make an effort to move our bodies with exercise, we will be turning our soil to encourage new life. If we focus on only the things we can control and strengthen them with only positive thoughts coming into our head and do not pay attention to the negative-we feed our roots, the ground that holds them with water, sunshine, and food.

We have the power inside us to grow our roots in whatever it is we want in life, to make them deep and make them strong.  Then I realized this is what I have done my entire life that has made me successful in staying alive!  I have grown and strengthened my roots in the things I wanted.  When the, shall I say "crabgrass",  started to form like weeds around me in my soil,  I strengthened my roots with positive thoughts, holding tight to my dream and belief I could be an athlete, moving even when it was only 2 minutes at a time.   I fed my roots-I watered them with visual pictures of who I was to become, I fed them with whatever movement I could give them each day, I kept my roots firm and after my lung transplant, I sprouted that dream of running and being an Athlete.  My roots are still strong and have weathered many disruptions in my soil-yet they, and I, stand tall.








Feed yourself the things that you need to grow your roots and if you do not know what they are right now, ask for help to educate yourself on what they are and how you can grow them.  No one can decide what your passion is inside, only you can.  Make that spark inside you take root…..feed it, nurture it with what it needs, grow your roots to raise from the ground into something spectacular-I know, and so does Liam, you have it inside you……
LIVE LIFE FULLY, 
Dottie (and special guest for today, Liam)