Blissful
Christian. Wife. Mom. Disney. Crafts. Kids. Gatherings.
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
When a mama's baby turns 10...
Saturday, September 12, 2020
We may feel like we are sinking and YET WE SWIM
It must be this time of year. Although the feelings are always there, bubbling around throughout time and over the years. But, it must be this time of year that they start to bubble over in a way that they have to come out. To be addressed even if in a hazy, allusive, meandering kind of way. Just last September I wrote a post about the Dichotomy of a Hot Mess Mom. Today my thoughts have been wondering around the various corridors in my mind, exploring all the feels.
Tonight, as I stood in my kitchen (late again of course) making dinner, I looked around my disheveled house. I observed the unfinished projects months in the making, the cluttered stacks of "stuff" in places they don't need to be, the pile of files from the office brought home to work on this weekend, the vision board with so many incomplete visions. I thought about the jabs and critiques of my parenting from those near and dear to me, the struggling, if not failing, friendships I have been trying so hard to not let sink, all the things I just knew I would do with my kids that time has passed by and will never be done. In an oddly smug way, I thought, dang I really really am a hot mess, but I keep trying and trying. That's when it hit me though. I KEEP TRYING.
Maybe many others have it so much more together than me, but I have to imagine plenty of us have had the feeling of sinking. YET WE SWIM.
As I stood there in my kitchen, I felt moved to share. Maybe my post will go unread. Maybe one person will read it and feel a little better. Maybe someone will smile and say to themselves, YES, I KEEP TRYING and know that we can live life in moments. We can say, I put one foot in front of the other and I kept going and that is a victory and in spite of it all, I am amazing. This is for you. Every last one of you. You are amazing. Keep going. Keep trying. When we wake up every day and put one foot in front of the other and move forward we are victorious in that moment alone.
I want to be more for these two, but I also know I continue to go on for these two. They are my why. Our why can be anything though. Ourselves, our loved ones, our furry friends. This world needs us. All of us.
By the way, earlier today my husband and I talked about creating a vision board, redoing the one that I have. I think that is a fabulous idea. In case you didn't realize, I have a bunch of unfinished projects and lists that need to be completed....
Saturday, August 22, 2020
2020: The year a virus brought the world to its knees.
As everyone is making the decision on what their child/ren's school year will look like and declaring such, I really hope that people keep in mind that it is not a one-size fits all and just because one family chooses something different from your choice, they are not wrong just the same as you are not wrong. They are not less loving as a parent or less protective as a parent or a lesser parent in general. Kindness goes a long way...
Friday, June 12, 2020
Race Relations: Part II
It's an important time to educate ourselves and also not be so defensive. The Black Lives Matter movement is not stating other lives, including law enforcement, do not matter, but it is the basic premise that All Lives do NOT Matter IF Black Lives do Not Matter (too). I know many people are talking about the parable of the sheep, but it is because it may help to open our minds as to the reasoning. In Luke Chapter 15, a shepherd leaves his flock of 99 sheep to look for his 1 lost sheep. It's not that the 99 didn't matter, it's that the 1 is in danger.
As uncomfortable as it is, real change cannot happen until white people stand up to racism as well. It is not enough to just not be racist ourselves. This is a hard one for me as a business professional. There have been many times I have sat at a closing table and have had to hear the most hurtful racist comments and just sit and take it in stride. I don't know the answer on how best to combat that. I do have pictures of my family on the front bulletin board to display proudly. Clearly, that in itself, I am sure is not enough, but it is a weary fine line to tread. One more reason so many people feel at the breaking point. (do not get me wrong, my employers and employees are not a part of that mentality, I am blessed to be surrounded by compassionate people every day)
I have witnessed a parent talking to Keegan (and then backtracking) about their slave owner ancestors in a jestful way at the end of soccer practice one night. I painstakingly admit that I just blew it off (and thankfully Keegan didn't seem to actually take in what was being said). Another mom reached out to me who was there as well. She wanted to be sure we were okay and she was horrified and it is one more realization that I myself have been part of the problem, even if I am not a racist. She definitely did not mean to shame me, and her concern that night elevated my respect for her a thousand times over, but I feel shame.
This week I watched a one hour special on CBS with Gayle King called Justice for All. I cried for that one hour. Even the commercials had me in tears. I pictured Keegan as the young college athlete who was brutally shot or the young man who was on the corner of a street and shot at 41 times, who never so much as had a traffic ticket and finally earned enough money to go to college as his dream was. I pictured Caelyn as the little girl in the commercial who was told she was "pretty for a black girl." I cried for over that one straight hour and I have been crying a lot for some time now and I am sure it is only the beginning.
Maybe this is a much needed awakening of sorts.
This is a conversation our country has to have and that is only the start. This should not be a political issue or a bipartisan one, but rather a human rights issue, a matter of humanity.
I wish I knew what to do to make a difference. How to speak, what to say, to have a bigger platform to be heard. But, for now, we must educate ourselves. Stop with the defensiveness and, as hard as it is, stop with the silence.
This is a hard time for our family in ways that others may not and cannot truly understand. We also acknowledge, it's an even harder time for many others in ways we can't understand. For me, it is an awakening. It is something we have to deal with and our dream is that our family can be a beacon of hope and love for many.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Race Relations: Part I
Race Relations. I’m going there. Even if just briefly. I have to.
There has actually been people messaging my husband that the latest events aren’t really a race issue (in regards to him posting his feelings on the recent events).
“There CANNOT be a moving forward until there is an acknowledgement systemically of the problem.” - Oprah
Even I myself have tried to see “both sides of the story" in headlines of the past. Even I, whose love of my life is a Black Man and whose most precious three children are beautiful Black Human Beings (including a black son). Even I, who has been with my husband through the years when pulled over and car searched for no reason and no probable cause, who a police officer (who thankfully seemed nice enough) came to our honeymoon destination because a neighbor called about a black man entering the house. Even I have tried to placate my husband with “just do as they say and maybe we will show them black people are like them and change their views.” Even I, who knows we cannot just vacation in any community or area throughout our country without thinking it through or move to any town without thinking about the dynamics. Don’t think I don’t thank God every day that we live where we live, even though I still have to preface it with, “because “most” of our town and county is diverse and accepting.” Even I try to not think about it too much, because most people are good.
BUT These last few headlines (Ahmaud Arbery, Christian Cooper, George Floyd) there has been a camera so now you can see it and you can’t pretend that you didn’t see it. You can’t pretend there were justifications of some sort. I can’t pretend anymore either.
I have cried a lot these last weeks.
There are a lot of good people in this world. And more importantly, this country still has a lot of racial divide that needs to be recognized not justified.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Full Out Mini Van Driving Soccer Mom
My kid, who happens to only be nine, can spout off knowledge of the game like the pros. He's been playing since he was three and part of an academy for several years now. I'm learning there too. I've even schooled some dads on the logistics of offsides and a build-out line in 7 v 7 games. I mean, it took me all of last (last) year's season (that's August through May in the travel ball world down here) to begin to grasp it, but I'm getting there.
Being a Soccer Mom is a lot of things. It's chaotic and exhausting and dirty (um, laundry!) and intense. But, it's also fun and exciting and relaxing and quality time. I work a high-stress 9-5 (sometimes well after) job and it is SO NICE to sit at the fields in the evenings and just relax and breath in the fresh air. It's how I unwind and when we are on a break, I miss it. Tournaments and games and training and triumphs and losses. All of it. I miss it.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The "Mom Feels"
- excited for him
- worried for him (will he be happy, with friends, do good,
enjoy it...)
- proud of him
- a little sad that he is somehow this not-so-little boy
anymore who can venture out and not need his mom so much