| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | courage, nerve |
| Synonyms: | backbone, determination, doggedness, fortitude,gameness, grit, gumption*, guts*, intestinalfortitude, mettle, moxie*, pluck, resolution, spirit,toughness, true grit |
goole image....now this is Spunk or Moxie!!
Recently I heard someone describe life after 50 as the years that women regain their "spunk" which is a characteristic of young girls. For some reason that has just stayed with me as I mauled it over and over again in my heart. I let my memory go back to the age of unrestricted "spunkiness". Some of you have never left it behind...your blogs always show "spunk". I, however, allowed it to slip through my hands as the balls of life I was juggling filled my hands to capacity.
One of my words for this year is just a fleshy, fun word - Spunk.
Do you know when you are feeling "spunky"? After I heard this thought on my age, I started to see when I felt "spunky". As I felt it, I started to become acquainted with this again.
I felt it start to crawl up my spine as I got up from my seat at my friend's daughter's wedding to join my friend on the dance floor. We are in our 50's and share similar backgrounds of having been in the drill team in high school. These shared experiences has brought us to laughter many times. I have put away my dancing shoes (and my teaching of dance), years ago, so for me, to venture toward a dance floor was a pure spark of "spunkiness". We both joined the group in a line dance with giggles and laughter, while celebrating the marriage of her daughter. Here I felt a little spark.
The following week found me downtown Grapevine at night. Grapevine is known as the Christmas Capital of Texas with its streets lined with lights which blink to the sounds of Christmas Carols. Along main street is a large white gazebo where you could see people dancing to the music. Benjamin said, "let's dance, Mom!" Now I have to admit dancing in my home with my children yes!, but dancing out in a public gazebo - it hasn't happened, until I felt that "spunk" set in. I grabbed Benjamin's hands and danced him around the gazebo.
I was starting to recognize "spunk" again when I ventured onto the sunlit basketball court with my teenage son. He has been in a slump in making baskets. I strolled onto the court as if I knew what I was doing and asked for the basketball. Now remind you I WAS NEVER IN SPORTS - I danced. I took the basketball and challenged him in a shooting contest. I started to shoot the ball and low and behold...it went into the basket! In fact, it went into the basket nine times in a row. I was winning...it took him a couple of tries before he could beat my record of nine baskets. There it was, my "spunk". I knew when to leave the court when other teen boys came to shoot...so I stepped aside and cheered from the sidelines...again acting more like a girl than a mom.
Now one of my words for this year is to get my "spunk" back. I don't know what forms it will come in...and I am sure there will be times I look silly. I just think it is time to let that little girl back into my life.
Okay are there any of you who need to add some "spunk" in your life? Those of you that have it...well, I am watching you!
28 Joining in with more words:
Delightful! I love it! Good for you!
And I'm so impressed with Benjamin asking you to dance with him--in public, no less! I suspect that the experience meant a great deal to him, too, and that it's an event he will remember even when he's an old man. What lessons did he learn from your dance together? I wonder.....
Thanks for the smiles this morning,
Linda
I need some spunk! Thanks for the motivation :0 My kids get so excited when I show just a wee bit of it.
Yes I do, thank you for reminding me!
The past few years have bogged me down with all life's junk and I am ready to shake off the past and start a new year, maybe a spunky new year!
Thanks!
I feel the spunk coming on me as well! God bless you as you seek out more opportunities to display your spunkiness.
Janette--if it's any encouragement, you've always been spunky every time I see you!! =) But I do love that word. A combination of spunk and joy and you will have a rich life!
Yes! More spunk! That's what I need too. Thank you for sharing this encouraging post. Though I'm not quite 50 yet (getting closer every day), I can tell I already need more.
what a great post! spunk. hmm. I don't know if I ever left it behind, but I do know I rarely show it unless I'm with people I rEalLY trust!
Hey, how did you like using butcherblock? Did you put it on all of your counters? I really love it and keep coming back to it. Not sure about 'resale' appeal, but hey, what the heck. Maybe I'll be spunky!
I just have to call you Spunky.
Nine baskets in a row just calls for the name.
You call it spunk. I can is sassy.
What ever it is, keep doing it.
Your post (word pictures) was fun to read.
Oh I think you are definately finding some spunk...actually I always thought you had it.
So funny you should write about this, Janette! I've been feeling the "spunk" return myself lately. Like you, I had to reacquaint myself with it first (sad, huh?)-- but I think I'm gonna love feeling spunky again!
Love, just love this post, Janette, You go girl !!!
Hang on to that spunk with all your might, and don't let go ever!! I am one of those young women living in an older body that belongs to someone else!
And that southern gentleman,Master Benjamin, is just the one to keep us both young.
Thanks for always inspiring me.
Love,
Sue
Let your spunk show! Spunk shows up after 50 because we lose some of that self-consciousness and allow ourselves to shine out with what we really are.
Well I have always thought you were spunky. Ever since I first started reading your blog, but I know what you mean, I keep hope it will come back. I have thought mine was gone until I ran into a lady I worked with when I was 20ish and she said,
" Well I see you still haven't changed your still as bouncy as ever." I was so happy and I still remember it with joy. She meant it as a dig, but after six kids, and she can say I am still bouncy, well all I can say is cool.
I just love that you street danced with Benjamin. So cool.
I can't even imagine you WITHOUT spunk!! It's been in there the whole time... what happens is that as we get a little older, we begin to shed some of the things that used to seem important, and there's some new freedom that comes with it. Dancing, shooting hoops... oh I just love it!
In my mind you are always spunky! And I think now that you are 'feeling it' for yourself again.... the sky is the limit! (If I turn on dancing with the stars and you are a contestant, I'll be cheering in the audience!) :)
Hugs to a YOUNG and spunky Janette!
Oh most definitely! A "sassy granny" cannot be without it.
I have concluded that spunk derives from a joyful, childlike heart. And hasn't the Lord asked to be as such? Thus, to be spunky is to be obedient :)
When I lose my spunk, it's because it's gone missing beneath dithering, or fretting, or lethargy (all signs of old age, IMO).
So spunk on, my sister!
Kathleen
I agree, Janette. It is time to recapture that youthful spunk and joy we once knew before responsibilities drug us down. Good for you, and thank you for inspiring me once again!
oh i hear it just a bubbling up Janette!!! may it overflow all over the place...
my husband's nickname for me is spunky...have been feeling a little less than of late.
xxoo
Oh, hon! I'm happy for your spunk! You even spunked up your header since I was here last! Just wait till you're 60+. Then you REALLY get spunky.
(...and by the way- referring to your previous post - I try to do one fun or out-of-the-ordinary thing every DAY!)
Go girl!!! I love spunk! :) "Keep dancing...even if the only place you have to do it is in your own living room"
(a quote from a commencement address by Chicago columnist Mary Schmich....too cool...check it out! You'll love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQlJ3vOp6nI
Me! Me! Me!
I didn't even see this post until now. I guess I never made it to "J" on my homepage without interruptions today. I'm so glad that I saw this before retiring for bed.
(Yes, this spunk-disabled person goes to bed at 9:00.)
Not only do I want to find more spunk this year, I want to help my husband recapture some of his. He works so hard and is such a good man. I think I'd like to cultivate contagious spunk.
I hope you post about your great spunk adventure so the rest of us can get some good ideas.
But now... whatever that spunk was that you had about five years ago, you can keep to yourself. I just don't have it in me for a mid life surprise.
Ahem.
Girlfriend, there's all levels of "spunky"....sometimes it's low like you've felt recently and then God starts to call into higher spunk levels and boy you'd better hold on...With spunky as your word for this year, you are headed for some adventures with the king of spunky because after all He wants you filled with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit is "spunky".......
Hold on girl....I can't wait to hear all about your journey with your new word for this coming year....
You're such a treat; I always love visiting you..You are a very special person.......
Sweet Janette,
That's great! I always enjoy reading about your adventures.
As for me and spunk...my children might say I have TOO much of it. :)
Hi Janette! I'm so glad I didn't miss this post!
I love your word SPUNK.
That picture of Meryl jumping on the bed is incredible. When I watched Mama Mia! I grew tired seeing her run up and down all those steps in Greece! All the more reason to continue to cut back on my food intake!
I danced, too. I loved it and still do. I have tried to think of ways to get my students up and dancing.
Three other teachers and I are starting our own little Zumba class in my room, after school. I'm sure there will be a lot of laughter!
Keep dancing, Spunky!
love love love the picture. Now that is total spunk. And I just heard that word moxie for the first time. We're watching an older movie the other night and the guy kept saying to the kid "you got moxie." Love that word too.
Hope that spunk and 'moxie' ignites in a powerful way.
YAY! Love this!
Spunk is definitely a quality worth pursuing! I'd like to think that I've re-found my *spunk* in my 50's. It's what keeps me alive and vital. I've always loved my inner little girl - she is a lot of fun!
So, now I'm going to be watching you re-claim your Momma Moxie - GO FOR IT!
(I personally think that the Holy Spirit is the Author of Spunk - just sayin'...)
GOD BLESS!
Janette, I am glad you got your spunk back! No matter how old we get, there's still that little kid inside of us hoping to get out. With certain people, mine comes out easier. And then I have fun! I know you would be a hoot to hang with. Keep shooting those baskets girl.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
Spunk away!
Love it! I find that the older I get the less I care what others think of the way I act or the things I say. Oh I'm not doing anything wrong, just being more and more myself, and if I feel like doing something spunky, then I do it!
My sister and I love to be spunky around our "20-something" daughters - it freaks them out when we're out shopping or in public, and we get spunky!
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