Endless Pursuit for Mom of the Year

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~ Jane Howard --------------------------------- I’ve seen many mentions as we enter the new year of defining what you want 2018 to be in one word.  For a writer, one word is really hard. Before I tell you mine, let’s go back to 2017. This is something I have wanted to write about for a very long time, but could never quite find the appropriate words. I think I’ve finally gotten there, so here goes.  Looking back, I believe people often find one moment that seems to define everything that comes after it. My moment was early in the year when met with disappointment as a job opportunity for dad of the year did not pan out. In fact, that moment he told me this news is fresh on my mind like it just happened yesterday. It was easy to have emotions, so many emotions and while I had prepared myself for how I would handle this, it still felt...

Time is like the wind,  it lifts the light and leaves the heavy. ~Domenico Cieri Estrada  --------------------------------- I snapped this photo  tonight  then got an earful from pre-teen daughter of the year #1.  She didn’t like me taking random photos she considered “dumb.”  But to me it symbolized normalcy.  Her backpack lying on the living room floor with planner, laptop and binder close by.  Ah, a “normal”  Wednesday . She’s a good kid.  I don’t quite know how we did it, but dad of the year and I did something right with that one.  She’s kind, a good friend, helpful to others, and pretty darn serious about her school work.  We think she’s awesome but, as her parents, I guess that’s kind of our job. Recently, our lives settle into a slow pause every  Wednesday .  I feel myself barely breathing those mornings we head to the clinic to have her blood drawn.  She reminds me she’s old enough to ...

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.   ~ Unknown ------------------------------ Have you ever spent time reminiscing the past?  How about slowing down time?  The sad thing is, in youth we are in such a rush to grow up.  Ah yes!  When we are grown up life will be so much more fantastic. Yet the truth of the matter is, adulting is hard and by far less glamorous than my high school self's expectations. I spent time with a lovely group of ladies recently that made me think about life, myself, friendships, aging, loss, love, and genuine appreciation.  You know me, my thoughts always go straight to paper and what a better way than to pen a future letter to my daughters.  Here goes... Dear "Grown Up" #1 and #2, You've arrived! It's graduation and you are standing in cap and gown, eyes wide and ready to take in everything the world has to offer.  As Robin Williams said, suck the marrow out of life, just remembe...

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love;   the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come late, when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.   ~Jonathan Carroll --------------------------------- Dad of the year and I have been married 20 years today.  Wow!  Where did that time go?  It's been one heck of a roller coaster all those years.  Even though I tease you often, you put up with me.  At times I've been emotional, you've put up with me.  Times when I maybe made you feel inadequate, you put up with me.  People say this often but I can't really imagine my life without you.  So, here are 20 reasons why I love you (which was tough because obviously there are more than 20 reasons).  Here we go: 1.  We have been together since I was 16 years old.  I don't know of many other people who have known me through growing up, drunken college years, job hunting, child rearing and...

Sometimes I get so weird, I even freak myself out.  ~Unknown --------------- I recently took one of those leadership quiz type things and it described me as the "Maverick Leader."  Under the highest and best value of the maverick leader it says this:  You're independent, confident and perhaps a little eccentric.  We all have those moments that happen so quickly we're left reeling with the sensation of "why did I just do that?"  Well, chalk this one up as a reason to call me eccentric.  Daughter of the year #2 has struggled to get ready in the morning.  She just wants to sleep and I have tried every combination of laughs, pokes, outbursts, anything just to get her out of bed.  Every time I am met with sad brown eyes and the plea, "Will you help me get dressed?"  Ugh. She is at an age where she can certainly dress herself, she is just too tired in the morning to do so.  We made a deal on this day that she gets...

Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open.   Today is, where your book begins.   The rest is still unwritten.   -Natasha Bedingfield I've sat down to write so many times I've lost track.  I get started then stop.  Something was always missing. Wittiness. A lesson. Humor. An ending that made sense.  Something!  I would always leave that writing for another day.  Another day never came.  Time after time, I'd go back to it, then scrap it and start over.   Starting over.  What a funny notion.  An empty piece of paper, a blank slate, always clean and new.  Always. I mean, who would argue the best part of school starting was new notebooks.  No writing or markings, just waiting for fresh knowledge.  Ok, so I still love a new notebook.   Losing someone you care for always makes you reflect on things, on your own notebooks of time; your blank pie...

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.   ~ Judy Garland ---------------------------------------------------------- I wish I could give the best of myself every day.  Now, I know some of you are saying well, then just do it!  For me, it's not that easy. I'm human. I slip up. I get moody. Sad. And in general, life just gets in the way.  Most days, I wish I were super woman. Able to cook, clean, have a pristine house, and hold it all together while wearing a perfectly styled hairdo. It just doesn't work that way.  Mostly, it makes me sad to realize that my family never seems to get that best of me opportunity.  We exude it all day (or at least attempt to) with co-workers, gas station attendants, customers and generally anyone else we come into contact with.  Yet my poor family gets the leftovers.  I don't know about you, but I've never been much of a leftover fan.   I...