My Nest is Empty

Last week we moved our youngest into her dorm room at the University of Texas at Dallas.  We are officially EMPTY NESTERS!!  Wow!!  I can’t believe this day has come so quickly.  Sooooo, now what?  I have been a stay-at-home mom for over 22 years!!

Pondering this question, I came up with many things.  Reconnecting at a deeper level with Dan, my hubby of almost 24 years.  Digging in and getting serious about my new business venture that has really been more of a hobby for the last two years.  Cleaning up and cleaning out our house. (I kind of feel like I am nesting, not unnesting.  Yes, I am calling that a word!)  Making ME a priority!  And I thought I would give this blog thing a try.

Let me first say, I am not a writer.  Math and science was always my jam!!  🙂  I am also not a college grad, so my vocabulary will not wow you.  I hope we can just connect on a real, vulnerable level and share life.

My hope is to share some love and lessons learned (most of which I learned from my kids) leading up to my empty nest and maybe touch a heart or encourage a struggling mom.  Let’s face it!  Mom life is tough!  I wouldn’t trade a minute of it, but it’s tough.  We put our lives on hold.  We put our bladders on hold.  We put a shower on hold.  Many of us put our careers on hold.  We can’t use the potty without knocks on the door or fingers reaching under the door.  We make decisions and pray they were the right ones.  We do the best we can and hope that with God’s grace our little nestlings will one day spread their wings and soar with the eagles.

I also hope to learn how to do this empty nest thing and share what I learn along the way.  I hope that you will engage with me and share your best tips and suggestions as well.  Let’s do this!!

Since I absolutely LOVE my essential oils, I will also share an oily tip or recipe with each post…..because, well they have literally changed my life!  That being said, the oil of the post today is Release.  Why Release?  Because I just dropped off my baby and I am now an empty nester.  Waaaaaahhh!

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The Adventurer

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

-Mark Twain

 

I was especially touched and inspired by my mom last week as she pulled out to begin her next adventure.  It led me to question if I was still living a life of adventure.  I know I used to.  I moved 1200 miles from home when I was nineteen.  In my twenties and early thirties, I was a skydiver.  Racking up 1300 jumps and teaching freefall with my jumpmaster rating.  When my kids were young, well that was always an adventure!  Real or make believe.  I lived a different life.  We were always traveling, discovering and just being adventurous!  I am still so grateful for my husband and his hard work and sacrifice that allowed me to be a stay at home mom all those years.  That being said, I have to ask myself if I have been adventurous over this past year since my youngest went off to college and we became empty nesters.  I did start a new business and I guess I could argue that has been an adventure, but I have been inspired to want more.

 

My mom is a 77 year old warrior!!  She is a two time breast cancer survivor, a heart disease survivor and in 2015 she had a major brain bleed that left her hospitalized for three or four months (that whole year is kind of a blur).  Shortly after returning home from the hospital, she informed us that she was going to sell everything she had, buy a travel trailer and GO!  When we asked where, she said she didn’t know….wherever she wanted.  As you can imagine, I initially thought this was a horrible idea.  After losing my father three days prior to her hospitalization with the brain bleed and nearly losing her, I was not ready to let her out of my sight, but I soon came to accept her decision knowing she had to go.

 

“You can’t keep her in a cage, 
clip her wings, tell her lies, 
say that fragile birds were never meant to fly. 
Watch her live behind a rusted door, latched tight,
her spirit slipping away
so you can keep her in sight.
Beautiful creatures 
cannot be confined. 
Her wings will grow, she’ll find the sky.”

– Christy Ann Martine

 

I have learned many lessons from my mom over the years and perhaps one of the most valuable of these is to be adventurous.  With Mother’s Day approaching, I just want to say thank you and I love you Mom!

 

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

-T.E. Lawrence

 

Live BIG!  Dream BIG!  After all, life is an awesome adventure!

 

 

Find your inner adventurer and Live Your Passion!!

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Make your passions become a way of life with this citrusy, sweet, and woodsy scent. Re-center your focus by diffusing Live Your Passion or apply the oil whenever you need to inspire passion, desire, or promote inner confidence.

Mom Fail

Today I am going to share what I think is one of my biggest mom fails and valuable lessons learned.  I’m going to get vulnerable so be kind on the judgement.  🙂

It was Halloween night, 2003 and my BFF was throwing a Halloween Party.  If you know Jennifer, this lady does nothing small.  Oh my goodness, I love this gal on SO many levels!!  We get to the party a little early so maybe I can help her get things ready but of course in true Jen fashion, she is ready to roll.  The families start rolling in and it so fun to visit with friends and see all the kid’s costumes.  There is a myriad of activities going on.  A costume contest, a hayride, a scavenger hunt, a zip line, and probably ten more things I don’t remember.

What I do remember is that zip line.  Many of the kids are zipping over and over and having a blast.  My daughter, who was only five at the time (this might be where that judgement creeps in), wanted to join.  I analysed the situation and decided it was okay.  After all there was a seat to zip on, many older friends who were willing to help her, she was a scrappy little thing and I would stand right there and supervise.  Wow!!  They had so much fun!!

As the sun began to set and I stood there chatting with my friend Kathy, I got that twinge in my tummy, that tickle on the back of my neck, that (God) whisper in my ear.  I thought to myself that it was getting late, Sydney was likely getting tired and that I should tell her it was time to find something else to do.  But gosh, she was having such a good time….and I was having such a good conversation.  Maybe just a couple more zips.

The very next time she reached out to grab the rope attached to the seat, she fell.  My heart stopped as she fell in what seemed to be slow motion.  For at least a month that image replayed in my mind every time I closed my eyes.  We ran to her and she wasn’t breathing.  I yelled for someone to call 911 and they were there in minutes that seemed like an eternity.  By the time they arrived, she was breathing (probably just had the wind knocked out of her, but not what I was thinking) and she was crying and so scared.

She and I both had our first ambulance ride that night and she cried all the way to the hospital as I prayed over her.  The short story to the happy ending is that she checked out perfect!  They ran tests and did CTs and didn’t find a thing.  The ambulance guys hung around to check on her and told us that the 10 foot fall is considered a “fatal fall”.  God had His hand on her that night.  She was quite sore the next couple of days but that too soon passed.

So the lesson I learned?  It was not that I should have told her no…..even though maybe I should have at five years old.  The lesson I learned was to listen to that little voice….that tickle….that rock in your gut…..your intuition.  Whatever you call it, respect it!!  That horrible, long night did teach me this valuable lesson!

This post is brought to you by Gratitude.  I am grateful God was with my baby that night even though I was not listening when he was clearly talking.  Be grateful!  Be tuned in!

Kids Get Arthritis Too

Today is World Arthritis Day. This is the face of arthritis. These pictures were taken shortly after my son, Joshua, was diagnosed. Kids get arthritis too! Let’s raise awareness.

Courage

This quote really spoke to me today.  First, because I thought of all the people fighting to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey stole from them.  He took so much from so many of my friends and neighbors here in Texas.  He took possessions.  He took homes.  He took the feeling of security.  He took lives.  It breaks my heart that so many lost so much.  But this tragedy is about so much more than that!  It is about courage.  The courage of those who came from near and far to help.  The courage of the families who walked away from everything they owned.  The courage of those who opened their homes to strangers.  The courage of those who let go of their ego to ask for help.  My heart aches and rejoices at the same time.  Weird how that can happen.

After shedding another tear or two for the hurricane victims, I started thinking about all the things in life that take great courage and how much we would miss out on if we just played it safe.  Don’t play small!  Have courage!

Courage to start kindergarten.  Courage to ask someone to play with you.  Courage to ask for help.  Courage to say “I don’t understand”.  Courage to admit you were wrong. Courage to ask for forgiveness. Courage to forgive.  Courage to be kind.  Courage to sit with the special needs child.  Courage to sing or dance.  Courage to invite.  Courage to share your faith.  Courage to ask for that first date.  Courage to not cave in to peer pressure.  Courage to do the right thing. Courage to hold your friend’s feet to the fire when they do the wrong thing.  Courage to love.  Courage to leave. Courage to marry. Courage to bring children into the world. Courage to be yourself.  Courage to tell the truth.  Courage to let go.  Courage to never let go.

Let’s try again tomorrow.  Let’s be courageous!!