LSL {The Lovely List} - Keep Calm & Carry On

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You know these posters. They are everywhere. These Keep Calm and Carry On ones. They are iconic with their simple text and sweet saying. I first gravitated to them when I saw a stack of these posters in a tea shop in SF and fell instantly in love with the bright turquoise reassuring poster. And at only $20 I quickly scooped it up. I have had it framed and in my room since late 2008.


At the time of seeing these sweet posters, I was going through a rather difficult period. I had just learned that I needed to have major surgery on my ankle. It started with going to a referral appointment by myself, thinking it would just be a routine check up. That my ankle had been hurting an extra lot those last couple of months, but that there wasn't much they could do for me. Well, as it turns out, what I thought would be a simple 20-minute office visit turned into a 3-hour one that included two different doctors offices (including a trek thru a parking lot to rush over to another office), three separate x-rays, and a CT scan all hastily and very abruptly thrown in there. There was drawing of pictures by residents of what would be happening during surgery, all types of medical jargon I did not understand, kurt and insensitive surgeons lining up around me to give their "two-sense" on my situation. There was forecasting of surgery timing, hospital stays, and recovery years. (YEARS!) Learning this all of this, all at once, and all by myself was definitely an overload on what I thought would be a simple appointment. I left thinking my life as I knew it, was over. I was feeling so overwhelmed and scared with a mind full of questions that I didn't have the answers to. How am I ever going to walk again? How am I ever going to dance again? 


Now looking back on this day, I know that I was completely overreacting. (I should have bought the poster "freak out and call your mom" cause that's definitely what I did) Of course everything would be fine. My friends and family would be there and continue to be there to support me. Three years out of that surgery and I can walk, dance, and limp around with the best of them. But, in that moment the only thing that kept going through my head amid all the chaos was, just "keep calm and carry on." I knew I just had to keep going. 


Now, you are probably wondering what the reason was for bringing up that moment in time and these specific posters. Well, I saw this very lovely video, posted by a friend, about the history of the Keep Calm and Carry On posters and it triggered that memory. I hope you enjoy this video and history much as I did!

via Youtube

xo,
L