Welcome to What We Learned, a regular practice we engage in together as we learn the value of looking back before moving forward. No lesson is too small to share in this space, as you will quickly see when you read my list.
Here are 6 things I learned in February:
1. I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert: I am allowed to be here.
I didn’t know I had been denying my own personhood in certain areas of my life. It took this piece of art-work to expose that bad habit and begin to transform my perspective in that area.
2. Grownups don’t have to finish books if they don’t want to.
I know many of you have learned this one already, but I have this thing about starting books and feeling like I need to finish them. But this month? I have decided to stop doing that – or at least to stop letting it bother me.
3. Jessica’s Theme from The Man from Snowy River is just as lovely today as it was in high school.
The summer after 10th grade, I spent hours learning to play Jessica’s Theme on my upright piano. The song came to mind a few days ago and within minutes I printed the sheet music and sat down. My hands remember a lot more than I thought they would.
4. Water in Canada tastes different than water in Greensboro.
I had tap water, bottled water, and water at a restaurant – it all tasted the same, as if there was a layer of something coating it. I brought a bottled water home to John and made him taste it too. Hmmm…it tastes thick. Yep. Is this a thing?
5. Amelie’s French Bakery never closes.
I went there for the first time with my sister and some friends a few weekends ago and learned that the NoDa location in Charlotte never closes – not once! 24/7/365! So it’s basically just like the Waffle House except it’s French.
6. There are some great books releasing in 2016.
A large percentage of the books I’ve listed here focus on living life right where you are, embracing the small, and slowing down. I smell a trend and I like it.
Devi says
February 29, 2016 at 7:15 AMIt’s so funny that a French bakery is open all the time, all year round – that is so very un-French (they love their holidays.. up to 8 weeks paid a year, I think). Thanks for hosting the link up, Emily. I enjoy the discipline of keeping track of what I’ve learned.
Mary Geisen says
February 29, 2016 at 8:53 AMThank you for this beautiful community and link up. I smiled when I read your comment about water tasting better in Canada because I am so particular about drinking water. I thinking need to go to Canada. I also have read your list for new books coming out in 2016 and I realize I better carve out some time to start reading. So many good choices! Blessings on your week!
emily freeman says
February 29, 2016 at 10:07 AMYou’re so welcome! And to be clear – the water in Canada tasted worse to me, not better. I’m sure it’s great if you’re used to it! But I’m used to water having no taste and the water I had there definitely had a taste and I did not prefer it.
Mary Geisen says
February 29, 2016 at 11:00 AMOoops! Well, we both know how we like our water!
Gabrielle says
February 29, 2016 at 9:17 AMI’m loving paying attention to what I’ve learned each month, thanks for encouraging us to do this! Also, I’m so with you on pulling out piano music I played in high school. It all comes back somehow and it’s so fun to replay it.
Linda Stoll says
February 29, 2016 at 9:29 AM#2 is right on, Emily. Sometimes we need to close the cover and move on.
You just KNOW when …
;-}
Ellen Cole says
February 29, 2016 at 11:36 AMI reminded myself of #2 just last evening! There are more great books in the world than I’ll ever have time to read. If a book isn’t holding my interest, it needs to stop taking up my time. Maybe it’s for someone else. It’s not for me. NEXT?
Jen E @ mommablogsalot says
February 29, 2016 at 11:37 AMThis grown ups not finishing books thing seems to be a lesson I have to learn constantly.
Kristen Strong says
February 29, 2016 at 11:43 AMOh my stars…The Man from Snowy River! How many times did my sisters and I watch that movie? Too many to count. We adored the soundtrack, too. I love to write to soundtracks, so now I’m gonna look that baby up.
Thanks for the little jaunt down memory lane. xo
K Ann says
February 29, 2016 at 12:04 PMI’m also responding to your interesting experience with water in Canada. You see, I’m a Canadian married to my American husband, and have been living in Massachusetts for over twenty-five years. So my answer is, “No; it’s not a thing.”
This is a surprising observation, and one I’ve never noticed (even upon returning to my “home country” for visits). I’m wondering (and probably assuming), that it’s particular to the area you visited.I don’t know how that can explain the bottled water taste, but it’s just a thought. Or perhaps it’s a northern “thing” (explaining why I haven’t noticed much difference here in New England).
Now I will be paying more attention to the taste of the water next time I go to visit my parents. 🙂
On a different note, thanks for sharing your “what we learned” post, as well as the opportunity to link up on this page. I’m a new blogger, and am going to consider writing this type of post for two reasons; it seems like a valuable read both for my own personal growth and for my (few) readers, and it looks like a great opportunity to connect with some other great bloggers.
Amanda says
February 29, 2016 at 1:02 PMLinking up! Love the what I learned posts, Emily. They encourage me to reflect on look back rather than simply forging ahead to the next thing.
Dolly@Soulstops says
February 29, 2016 at 2:31 PMEmily,
Oh, that is strange about the water. I could relate to your first two 🙂 Thanks for hosting 🙂
Caroline Starr Rose says
February 29, 2016 at 3:34 PMThe Man From Snowy River! I was lucky enough to see that movie my year on exchange in Australia. Thank you for the reminder of this lovely music.
Abbey says
February 29, 2016 at 4:26 PMYes. The tap water is very different than it is here. I live in Raleigh and I used to visit Montreal with my mother when I was growing up and I always disliked the water there because it tasted weird. Now that I think about it, “thick” is probably the best word to describe it. I don’t know exactly what they put in it. But something makes it taste weird to foreigners. They probably think our water is weird-tasting too. I wonder if it is the opposite for them. Maybe ours is too “thin”. Hmm…
Greer Oharah says
February 29, 2016 at 5:48 PMRealizing I didn’t have to finish a book if I didn’t like it has been one of the most freeing experiences of my adult life thus far. Thanks for the list and the link up – it is such a helpful way for me to keep track of the months!
Rachel says
February 29, 2016 at 10:11 PMI walked down the aisle at my wedding to “Jessica’s Theme!” My family loved that movie and the soundtrack growing up!
Also…it took me awhile to be okay with quitting a book, too. 🙂
And I’ve never had water in Canada, but when I was in Haiti we had well water that had been treated so it was safe. It tasted “heavy” to me, didn’t like it very much. Weird. I was thankful for the Gatorade and flavored stuff I brought to add to it.
Beth williams says
March 1, 2016 at 8:19 AMEmily,
I love listening to music all the time. I learned this year that I’m stronger than I thought I could be. God can get us through any major trial!! I also learned that co-workers can be great friends and confidants!
Blessings 🙂
Leslie Gallimore says
March 1, 2016 at 8:31 AMEmily, I just discovered your “What I Learned” ….looking back before moving forward. It touched me deeply. My 87 year old father has been working on the idea of a study course that encourages people to look back and recognize where the Lord has been working in your life, in order to provide encouragement in moving forward, strength to continue to look toward the Lord in tough times and assurance of the Lord’s working all along even in the times we don’t “see” Him. This has equally turned into my father’s own journeys. He was already very strong in the Lord, but he has grown exponentially during his writing. Our whole family has been encouraged by his experiences and his walk with the Lord.
Joylynn Rasmussen says
March 1, 2016 at 11:48 AMHi Emily,
I fell in love with the music from The Man From Snowy River back in high school/college (my dad insisted that I watch the films – did you ever see the sequel?) that I purchased the whole piano book, and wow, what beauty. You’re inspiring me to sit down sometime this week and play through the book – although it will have to be when the kids are out of the house because it’s impossible to play anything without them taking over the piano as soon as I sit down on the bench;)
Greetings from Saginaw!
Andrea says
March 1, 2016 at 12:13 PMWhere were you in Canada? Exciting! Maybe not? Water-wise—-as is the US, Canada is a vast country and I think/maybe even know, that water is a regional thing and water in one community or city will be different than another. Our water from a well at home is different than city water 5 mins away and different again than water in Vancouver. When we visit family in SW Virginia, blah on their water. They have a water softener so that may be it. Some regions in Canada add fluoride to water. That may change the taste. But the bottled water?? That’s interesting. I know Canada has some of the same bottled brands as in the US. In the end, the water cycle is all inter-connected and cycles through the same skies, rivers, oceans–the universe! But taste is very important to me too.
Susan Shipe says
March 1, 2016 at 1:07 PMAmelie’s…I’m Googling now – my daughter and I must visit! And, we’ll be sure to stay out of public restrooms while in Charlotte.
Anita Ojeda says
March 3, 2016 at 2:05 PMIt took me 45 years to figure out I didn’t have to finish reading a book ;). I’m glad you’ve figured it at a young age!
Kristin S says
March 3, 2016 at 9:41 PM#2 – Yes! That hit me two summers ago. I had a long list of books that had been recommended or had been on someone’s list somewhere and I started requesting like crazy from the library. I was home for the summer. I had the time to read. Well, within days I didn’t love many of them. Where I used to press through all books, that summer I stopped. It’s freeing!
Bethany says
March 3, 2016 at 10:23 PMI played Jessica’s Theme in high school too! In fact, my piano teacher let us record a cd of our best songs each year and I recorded two Man from Snowy River songs. That soundtrack is the soundtrack of childhood days at the grandparents’ house where my cousins, siblings and I spent hours galloping around their house to the sound of their vinyl record pretending to be the horses in the movie. Great memories!
Courtney says
March 6, 2016 at 9:19 PMMy husband and I visited Montreal last summer, and I had to hold my breath while I washed my face and brushed my teeth! Blech! (I admittedly have an insanely sensitive nose, so I figured it was just me. I’m relieved to know you noticed it, too.)
I wrote my February post on the sixth of March, so I missed out on the link-up. But I wrote it! I’m counting that as a win.
Rachel says
March 7, 2016 at 1:01 AMMaybe you need to visit a different part of Canada? The water in Moncton, NB, Saskatoon, SK, Edmonton, AB, and Vancouver, BC taste about the same to me. Regina, SK is metallic and anywhere rural south of the shield is pretty awful if you’re not used to it. I wonder if anyone’s gone on a water tasting tour…