we are all about the ordinary

When Jocee emailed me asking that I join the team in the making of this project, I found myself faced with an array of emotions. Me? That homeschooled iowan girl with no interesting life whatsoever? You want me? I was astonished, at most, and overly excited just the same. When I signed in on the project, I had no idea what was in store. (which was probably a good thing since I most likely would have screamed my mind out waiting for it to all come together.) The friendships built through this project already bring me -- what is probably too many -- smiles and bouts of laughter. With the launch of this project upon us, I can only imagine and dream about what An Ordinary Utopia will become.

Me? well, I'm a fourteen year old ninth grader, homeschooler, and Iowan. Number three of five children. Fingers splotched with ink scribbling away, or otherwise tapping at the keyboard. If there is ever a moment when I haven't got my camera in hand, my brain has a mini freakout moment where I go ecstatic until it's three feet away or closer. I have on the spot creative abilities which my closest friends take advantage of by asking me to either give them ideas or sing them nonsense songs on various subjects. I'm the technology consultant of my friends, and am looked at whenever anything writing associated is mentioned. I'm the author of two unpublished novels and a crazy blog. A perfect day in my mind includes journaling, talking to and praising God, reading (preferably harry potter or the hunger games, but I'll take pretty much anything), photo shoots, adventures to places I don't often go, sketching, and plotting my next move in my novel. To say my mind's always busy would be an understatement. I take whatever God has in store for me and strive to praise him through thick and thin.

Life has been a wild ride for me. There are so many little things, though, that have made that chaotic mess wonderful. Those tiny happenings -- digging a hole in our back yard for a makeshift pool, collecting wildflowers, soaring through the sky with my favorite imaginary friend -- those things made me who I am. I am merely one person affected by a million little things. Those things blend together creating a marvelous thing called life. Mine's just an ordinary life, but for me it's a wonderful one. And yours is just as wonderful. Trust me. It's crazy, sometimes we disapprove of it, and sometimes we just pure love it. But think of how different we might be without it all -- even the imperfect.

Confession time: Sometimes I read those "life is wonderful" posts on popular blogs and a beast of jealousy begins to roar within me. I am constantly feeling like my life doesn't measure up to their loveliness. And that fills me with disappointment.
Then I realize two things. First that these posts are cloaking life's imperfections and smothering it in blown up proportions of good. Second is that although their life is different and at times seems more up to par that mine, the things I find ordinary are the absolutely, breathtakingly wonderful things.



Here at an ordinary utopia, we strive to post the raw, pure, real life things. We feel that these ordinary things? These are the things which should be posted about more often. We are not putting our lives up on a pedestal for you to droll over and wish for. Our goal is to not only discover the ordinary in our own lives, but also to encourage you to discover those things in yours. Here is where we're all about real life. Here? We're all about the ordinary.

xo.
megan