In recent years, I have given a lot of thought to what it really means to “show up and shine.”  I have wondered what my life would look like if I stepped into being who I am - not choosing any actions driven from a place of scarcity or fear or needing acknowledgement and acceptance from anyone other than myself. Just being the person who walks through life as the real me who “shows up and shines”. When I witness babies, I know that it is indeed natural to the way we enter life, but somehow over time we are taught to cover over this part of ourselves and do things that make us “acceptable” to others. How do we find the inner strength and courage to make that deep dive and go within and then make all the changes necessary to unlearn all that was molded and sculpted in order to fit in and belong?
 
Yesterday was ECIC’s annual Star Power event. Over 3,500 children, parents and interested community members gathered to talk with their legislators and show their support for the important investment in early childhood systems building work. It was a sight to behold - the sea of yellow T-shirts “shining” all over the Capitol lawn in Lansing. Whether I walked through the legislative meeting tent, the advocacy tent, the children’s activity areas or the lawn where groups were lunching, I could see in the faces of the people just how much they were enjoying themselves and doing something that mattered to them. I knew I was in the middle of an experience of what it feels like for a large number of people to collectively show up and shine.
 
What I discovered in that experience is just how much joy, excitement and BIG FAT FUN it is to shine! So now I know, when I am present to my life and walking “shiny,” this is the pleasure I will experience and just how beautiful and rewarding that feels.
 
To all the children, parents and community members who were with us yesterday at the Capitol, I say a big THANK YOU! You continue to teach me and help me remember what a privilege it is to be a part of such an important growing movement.