fill your life

celebrating!

it’s here!
my birthday has arrived!

and you know,
i’m thinking there REALLY should be a lot more celebrating
for everyone’s birthday!
because, truly, what better gift do you get than to be alive?

it’s just before 6:30 a.m. as i write this,
and i am already feeling like i have had a full day!
i woke at 4:00 too excited to sleep!
being out with the sky as it lit up this morning just filled
me with such gratitude. and it’s gone on from there.

we have the most gigantic gift of all right here.
our lives.
let’s celebrate them today!

i’ve got a birthday newsletter that has a birthday podcast in it!
ha!
want to see?
you can find it here.

toasting life with you today!

i keep thinking about this…

been intentionally living fully
these last couple days.

my gosh.
it feels wonderful.
and whenever i seem to be wandering from that goal,
i keep reminding myself –

knock it apart!

i gotta say,
i really do love being around this guy energy that i’m around.
well, mostly.

i find myself saying things like –
‘go crush it!’
or smiling when a car roars by showing off.
things i really wouldn’t do without these guys of mine influencing my life.

so i noticed something this weekend.
that i don’t think i would have noticed before.

it was at a farm.
on one of their outbuildings that holds tractors and stuff.
the walls were cinder block walls.
and at the entrance, they had knocked out a few of the pieces of blocks at a certain spot. to me, it looked like they wanted to have room for something to go thru there. like maybe one of the things they pull with the tractors had a long sideways boom kinda thing they’d need to pull in and out.

now, of course, i don’t know.
but that’s what i’m goin’ with.
cause i sat there and looked at it and loved it.
and thought – yeah! if something’s blocking the way, knock it apart!

knock it apart!

and i got to thinking about obstacles in life.
and i smiled.
seems a pretty good strategy –
KNOCK ‘EM APART!

today is a gorgeous day here. honestly, couldn’t be any prettier.
it’s cool, breezy, the sky is to die for.
i finally got caught up on my sleep.
and i’m just grabbin’ the day.
problems get in my way today?
well, by golly i’m gonna do what i am now calling ‘the cinder block method’
and knock ’em apart!

ha! yes!
it’s that kinda day today!

appreciating your home, your life…

while driving with the man this weekend,
we drove thru a beautiful area –
lovely homes in beautiful settings.

every time i see an especially gorgeous home,
i think ‘i really hope they know what they’ve got there.’

and sure enough,
that thought went thru my head again as i we drove past a place of wow.

the idea of someone having all that and not appreciating it just gets to me.

in a flash,
i turned the thought on myself –
‘i really hope you know what you’ve got here, girl.’

in my home, yes.
but bigger than that too –
in my whole life.

‘i really hope you know what you’ve got.’
and for that moment, i just stopped and held it.
i knew.

it’s birthday week here for me.
and the gift of my life is big on my brain.

the focusing on the things that are missing or lacking is all too easy to do.
the seeing the gift that our life is takes more awareness, more focus.
at least, for me it does.

my gift is so huge.
i don’t know why it is i forget that sometimes.
but driving by those lovely homes this weekend brought me to the awareness that i so want to keep.

appreciating what we have –
yeah.
such an important thing to do.
something i’m filled with today.
which feels perfect as i head into birthday week.

mother’s day

ahhhhh i happen to know,
there’s a lotta people out there
who really don’t like mother’s day!

you one of ’em?
well, you’re not alone by a long shot.
in fact, a whole lotta holidays REALLY
need some revamping, don’t they?!

i wish it was called ‘nurturers day’ –
wouldn’t that be cool?!
it would be so much better.
i’d like to take a moment and honor ALL nurturers here!
the world needs you so much.
thank you for all that you give.
you definitely make the world a better place!

and for those who feel they lacked a nurturing mom,
and are feeling sad about it…
i wanted to pop up a reminder that we have the power
to mother ourselves now. and that’s such an important power.

in fact, i think that all of us should hold it as an intention this weekend.
no matter what your upbringing was.
EVERYONE can mother themselves!

offering ourselves nurturing and love is always a good thing.
and what better weekend to concentrate on that?!

let’s turn this weekend around and make it a beautiful one for ourselves!

happy mother’s day to every single of us!

struggling? here’s a thought…

it’s been interesting around here lately.
lotsa stories.
all in a row.

but seein’ as how they’re about more than just me,
i gotta just leave it all vague.

here’s the thing though –
there are moments when i get to see how lucky i am.
you know…where it’s so darn obvious that you can’t
be distracted by all the things life distracts you with.
and you just see it.

i had one of those moments this morning.

and the beauty of my life now just took my breath away.

and i see that i wouldn’t be here,
in this incredible spot,
if it wasn’t for the dark stuff
that i went thru all those years ago.
divorce, yes.
and all kindsa hard stuff that came with it.

it’s not just that i’m past that now and have a different life –
it’s more than that.
it’s that the struggle itself,
the darkness,
the finding my way,
the emotions that fueled the deep drive to find healthy,
the loss and the grief, and the recovery process –
all the muscles that have been formed along the way,
all the work that has been done –

there’s a pay off.

there. is. a. pay. off.

wow.

and i’m living the pay off.
and i know better than to just sit back and say i’m done.
i know to continue onward with awareness and willingness
to work and to grow.

this morning i want to take a moment and honor the pay off.
shout out loud my gratitude.
cry as i type with awe of how lucky i am.

and remind anyone who is in their darkness right now –
keep going.
struggle. work. cry. fumble. get up. do it again.
there is a pay off.
there is such beauty in making it through and rebuilding.
and finding yourself.
and being surrounded by those who not only allow who you are,
but who encourage you and celebrate you.

what a feeling to hold this birthday month.

mother’s day coming up…

i have been getting sentimental all week,
thinking about when my guys were boys.

i think one of the coolest gifts i could ever get
has been given to me this week by josh.
just watchin’ a few things goin’ on in his life
where i get to really see him be a man.

wow, huh?!

where you really see it.
and you know your work is done.
and you get to watch something amazing goin’ on.

sure, this stuff goes on with all of them constantly.
it’s just it’s with mother’s day comin’ up and all,
and the particular things that are goin’ on –
well it’s all coming together so beautifully.

last nite i got to watch him and my husband together.
and i just felt like i was given the best gift ever.

a whole lotta times i think of the little boys that i miss.
this week i am over and over again reminded of the men
i get to watch.

life.
it can be such a glorious thing!

e-cards

just wanted to do the shout out thang here –

yes, we have free ecards!
and yes, we have them for mother’s day!
and yes, we have them for all kindsa days!

come on by and check them out.
you can find them here.

such a heart…

i saw my son, josh, for a moment this morning.
and he looked a little off.
i asked about it.

and with sadness, he mentioned the passing of one of the elderly
gentlemen he had met at one of the nursing homes he works with.

the man had moved out of state at this point,
and in true josh fashion, josh was still in touch with his family.

josh’s relationship with joe was astounding to me.
he had told me about him, how he was big into music
and how josh had asked joe to assist him when he did his dj gigs there.
and how joe would pick out the music and be right there with him.
and how josh would go up to joe’s room and visit with him a bit.
and how he had helped him get more access to music.
and how the pair of matching red suspenders he bought was for
him and joe when they did their dj stuff together. and yes! there had to be special christmas suspenders as well!

he just casually said to me that joe had had a stroke and had some trouble
with his speech.

i happened to stop in this place during all this.
and i met joe.
joe didn’t just have some trouble with his speech –
he had TREMENDOUS trouble with his speech.
most of us couldn’t understand him.
and because of the muscle damage and that kinda stuff,
he had trouble with a lot. stuff that makes it hard to interact.
i’m guessing most of us wouldn’t know what to do with him,
and would avoid him.
and there was josh, seein’ the musical genius inside him,
and asking for his help.
there was josh, seeing the man inside the struggle.

it takes a certain heart.
and josh has one heck of a heart.
and while that is so beautiful,
a heart like that is gonna hurt when he hears the news of joe’s passing.
a heart like that is gonna carry such sadness.
a heart like that is gonna show thru his eyes that it’s just hard sometimes.

that’s the way those kinda hearts work.

as i drove away after saying goodbye to josh this morning,
i had tears in my eyes.
i wish there was an easier way for us all to travel on than this dying stuff
that we do. i wish we could all just know whoever it is we love is just down
the hall and there didn’t have to be the physical pain and struggles that there are. and that it didn’t hurt those that were left behind like it does.

the fact that we keep loving even tho we can’t change endings is pretty amazing. and the fact that josh can see the person behind the hardships is equally as stunning to me.

it takes a certain heart.
and he has that heart.
i wanted to stop and take a moment today to honor both these guys –
joe and josh.

i didn’t know joe.
all i know is he had a hard road at the end.
i am sitting here imagining him in peace now,
listening to his favorite music.
maybe helping the angels spin some heavenly tunes.

and josh, i am seein’ him in sadness now.
kinda wishing it was easier,
but so grateful he offers himself in spite of it all.
his heart is our gift.
and i am treasuring it today.
and wrapping that heart of his in light.