Notes to My Loves

      S ometimes we all need to get away. We need to leave everything behind and take a breath, or two, or three. We need to readjust our perspective on those things  which are really important. This is not easy in the lives we lead. The lives filled with demands, responsibilities, and expectations. However, right now I am away. I was blessed to be given the gift of time. Time away from all that usually makes it hard for me to think. I am refueling my tank and taking time to process. I am breathing deeply and working on finding clarity.      While here I have visited with old friends. Friends who knew me long before I was a mother. Friends who I have no reason to try to impress. Friends who remember when life was far less complicated and demanding. Friends who listen and share in the same struggles of motherhood. It is a fold that I belong to. A fabric of who I am to have these friendships that have stood the test of time and distance. Picking up righ...

W hat are you drawn to? What pulls at the inner magnet of your heart? What calms your soul? Recently I have been finding myself drawn to things that I always have been, yet asking the question WHY? What is it about these things that soothe me? What inner mechanism makes me pulled to these images like a beacon of the soul? A magic magnet that was knit long that is rooted so deeply within that it is a constant pull of peace. For example, why is it that  when I look at pictures like this I feel at home?  I did not grow up living on the water. I did not go to the sea each summer and frolic in the sand as a girl. What is it that pulls my heart to pictures like this and makes my mind stop racing and my breathing slow. What is it about this image that calls to my inner soul and tells me that there is more than the repetitive living that I am experiencing today with the dreary skies and piles of laundry that are beckoning to be put away.       And what about t...

  R ecently, on one of my many Pinterest binges I came across a quote that stopped me in my tracks. It was simple, yet profound. Here it is.      This got me thinking about all the insecurities that we are challenged with. The ones that are loud and clanging in our ears like a brass gong, or perhaps they are the ones that gently whisper not so nice nothings. Either way they are simply annoying.      Here is Exhibit A: The insecurity that makes taking a compliment hard for us. The coworker who tells us that they like our new shirt, or shoes, or necklace, or whatever paraphernalia we were actually able to put together somewhat coherently while making the mad dash out of the house on our way to work while juggling three little love bugs and a dog. The dash that included using some choice words to the little loves who did not brush their teeth, or make their bed, or do what ever it was that you asked them fifty seven million times to do. ...

      We have a new dog. He is soft. He is cuddly. He doesn't shed. My children love him. They wanted him. They begged for him. I see the joy in their eyes. The love that flows, when they interact with him in their own individual ways, makes my heart smile. I know that it was God's plan to have him join our family. It was the right time and he was the right dog.  I love him! We all do. Even the hubby who tries to deny it has been heard uttering baby talk to him.  This dog is irresistible. Here he is. His name is Hardsun.      Here is the kicker. I also know that he will break our hearts one day. That little girl who is smiling so wide in the picture above, will grieve and her cheeks will be streaked with tears that I cannot stop. The joy that they have for him now, will lead to sadness. There is no way to avoid this. As my husband pointed out recently, "All relationships will end one day."      I guess there was one way w...

                                    " A nd though she be, but little, she is fierce,"                                                                                          ----William Shakespeare       Her eyes are that of marbles. The perfect mixture of green and blue. They gaze in wonder at the smallest things. A bug. A piece of lint. A black and white butterfly drinking nectar from a hot pink flower. She talks as if she has been a part of this world longer than her three years, and asks questions that make me laugh. She is both tender and tough. A combination of a princess who loves pink, and a jean loving, hair down and flowing type of girl. (Yup, ...

    I wonder. I wonder a lot.  I think of my life and wonder what it would look like if I were living it in someone else's skin. I think about all that I have in this world living in this country called America. I wonder if I am doing enough with what I have. Am I truly living a servant's life? If I was gone tomorrow would my life's work be done? Would I have used my time wisely?  Would I have done enough to really make a difference?      I also think about the fact that when we strip away all that anyone has, we are more alike than we will ever be different. I am so much like so many other women across the globe. I have a sacred sisterhood, with these other women. A bond that I share with women I have never met. It is thicker than blood. It can not be measured with man's mathematical equations. It can not be understood unless you have traveled its paths.      It is called motherhood and it cuts to the very heart of our civilization on...

F earless. Free from all fear. Brave. Courageous. Undaunted. When was the last time you felt this way?  What were you doing that gave you this bliss? Was it something new or something sweetly familiar? Did it take you to new exciting places or keep you safe in the warm comfort of what you know?     Today I saw fearlessness. I saw the sparkle in the eye of 9 . I heard the strength in his voice about something he was excited to do, yet had never done before. Something he has been asking to try and conquer yet had no background or parental guidance to do so. Today 9 decided to take on the world of snowboarding!      It amazes me how different children are. From a young age he has been fearless. This has not always been comfortable for a first time mom as I felt he would surely hurt himself at any given moment. I cannot even count how many times I thoroughly thought his face would be bitten off by every neighborhood dog he greeted a bit too close. However, a...