most successful

The day after we found out we've got a baby on the way, my husband and I decided to finish unpacking all the boxes that were piled in the baby's room so we'd have a place to put this kiddo when he/she arrives! Because apparently, these 8-pound bundles of joy come with about 800 pounds of stuff.

Some of the boxes in there were boxes I had retrieved from my mom's attic on my last visit to my childhood home. Amongst the "treasures" contained therein was a plethora of medals & ribbons & trophies & plaques…most of which had not enough information on them to indicate why I had ever received them. So I had my man snap this shot of me wearing ALL of my medals before putting them in the "donate" pile. I posted this shot on facebook with a caption along the lines of "who knew I ever needed this much affirmation when I was a kid?!"


Of all the trophies & plaques that I uncovered that day, however, the two below are my favorites. Click to embiggen and enjoy all of the retro/cheap award details.


Can you just see my five-year-old self dashing 50 yards…and possibly even passing other five-year-olds on the way? Part of me wonders if there were more than two contestants, though! I love the typewritten peel 'n' stick label on the block of wood that was probably cut and painted by hand in a teacher's basement.

The one that really makes me laugh, though, is the one that deems me "Most Successful." There is no specification regarding this success. I have no idea if this was a sports trophy, an academic trophy, a bible club trophy…or what.

At this point, it doesn't matter to me what it was for. I'm keeping it, and I'm going to display it prominently where I can see it.

If you know me, you know that I'm not anywhere near being a type-A, driven, accomplished person with huge goals and checklists and a clean desk and a filing system. I rarely feel "successful"…like I have my act together…like I've accomplished all that I could have today. (Remember when I said I was going to try to post every day this month? I only managed 50% of the days of the shortest month of the year. UN-successful!)

I have come to terms with the fact that I am not a very productive person most of the time…I make lists and then do things that aren't on my list. I wait until the very last minute to do pretty much anything. I'm not a planner, and I have total ADD when it comes to cleaning or organizing or running errands or even just gathering what I need before I walk out my door. I'm very easily distracted from my (loosely defined) goal.

But now I have a reminder that I was, at some point in my life, Most Successful.

At something.