Abbey is with us again today sharing her lens and insight on how to reach our goals and stay committed to what's important to us after the feeling has passed. Her commitment to always be learning about herself while extending grace is so inspiring to me. -------------------------------------- In an earlier blog, Becky wrote about the idea of having a word for the year. I absolutely love choosing what will “be my lens for the new year”. I’m still waiting on my word, but as my husband and I …
Dear 2020,
Each step that I’ve taken, person I’ve met, story that’s unfolded has led me to your doorstep. The journey here has not been without fault or heartache but it’s been an honest effort and one I’m damn proud of. The path has been full of grit and resilience. Full of bravery and endurance. Full of learning forward and trying again. You feel different. Your arrival was surprising almost. Last year was a whirlwind of self discovery and uncharted waters. How could time feel like it both stood still …
Great Expectations
I lost it. I was tired. The kids were tried. And the three of us do not do tired well, individually or as a team. We had packed way too much into one weekend. We didn’t just push the limit we pushed past it and I was paying for it. Complaining, short fuses, fighting, negative attitudes and no one was listening. It was Sunday night, and most definitely bed time. We still had dinner to eat, showers to take, homework to finish and bags to pack for school the next day. I was admittedly short …
The Loop
It’s so familiar I don’t even notice it. The cadence runs in the background as it wraps around my daily thoughts and actions like a snake choking out its prey. The loop runs on autopilot navigating my decisions without me even realizing it. Somehow it’s convinced my thought life into believing the loop is for my own good, my protection, my safe keeping. It’s narrowed my vision and thrown my gifts to the wayside. It takes roughly 40 times of hearing or saying something for a belief to form, …
Best Self
The salt hung sweetly in the air as I took a full breath in and slowly let it out. The waves gently crashing on the shoreline were enough to drown out the noise of the passing conversations that traveled up and down the beach. As the sun kissed my face, I felt my soul being revived from the longest, harshest season I could have imagined navigating. Cliche, certainly, but the ocean was bringing me back to life. It had been two months since Daryn passed. I couldn’t remember the last time I sat …
When Silence Speaks
It’s 6:03am. My alarm is sounding and taunting me with the snooze button. My bed is warm, my eyes are heavy and the sun is barley even awake. “I’ve got to go to bed earlier tonight! Do I have time to take a nap today?”, I think to myself most every weekday morning after turning off my alarm. I stumble to the caffeine and wait for my brain to wake up and my eyes to come into focus. As the caffeine reaches my blood stream my thoughts start to form and I run through my agenda for the …
Rock Bottom to ‘Top of the Rock’
I stood at the base of the Rockefeller Center building and looked up the 67 floors to the top. This tower is a prominent feature of the New York City skyline. It was hard to really understand how massive and complex this building was. My son, Dawson, and I walked through the revolving glass doors and made our way to the ticket counter. In celebration of Dawson’s 10th birthday, I let him choose a destination to visit for a few days, just the two of us. I had read something years earlier …
Overgrown
A few evenings ago I found myself in a rare situation, I actually had an hour of ‘free’ time before my Uber services for the kids were needed again for the twelfth time that day. It was a perfect summer night an hour before dusk. The sun was lowering and the subtle breeze had shifted slightly cool. The neighborhood streets were quieting as the kids were being called inside to wash off the leftover sunscreen, smears of sidewalk chalk and grass stained knees before bedtime. The early evening …
Missing Pieces
Widow. I despise that title. I don’t like how it sounds. I don’t like how it looks and I most certainly don’t like how it feels. I thought ‘widow’ was reserved for women in their 90s that lost their soulmate peacefully in their sleep, not for a 33 year-old women, single mom of two sans her childhood sweetheart. I avoid using that word at all costs. I flip stories, make detours and duck out of conversations that might include that ‘title.’ I want nothing to do with it. To me, widow …
Too Much is Too Much
I find there are two types of people: compulsive ‘keepers’ and obsessive ‘tossers.’ Which one are you? When you have items on the counter top or clothes busting out of your closet do you have the urge to purge or do you hold on tight to your possessions? I’m constantly sorting items that aren’t useful anymore and filtering them out of the house. Stacks of papers, mail on the counter, files on my desk, I pitch it. Clothes that don’t fit right or no longer suit my style land in the donation bin …