Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia
Thursday, May 3, 2012
I'm-back-home Mindset
There is this period of time when I get back from traveling somewhere, I feel like doing nothing! Bags and heaps of laundry will just lie out for a day (or two) before I do something about it! I have to get back into my I'm-back-home mindset and until then I'm useless. I cannot wrap my head around anything; including any work to be done. My favorite excuse is that I have to read through all my emails and it must take at least one whole day!
But then I get this burst of energy and go into "getting organized" overdrive and that is exactly what happened yesterday. I emptied, washed, dried and rolled away everything in sight and we can finally get from the garage to the family room without falling over several pieces of luggage! I pulled linens from beds and put new, soft and sweet smelling ones on; opened all the windows to let wafts of fresh air blow through the house and made a home cooked meal while listening to some zen flute composition on the CD player in the great room.
And since I was not going to get any work done at work, I decided to do whatever else I felt like and watered wilted flowers and fruit trees and even pulledweeds oak tree saplings from our vegetable garden and built a mental to-do list of all the other pruning, weeding and cleanup that has to be done around the yard this weekend, while wandering from flower to flower and marveling at small little fruits showing up on the peach and pear trees.
We love to travel, explore and learn about the world around us, but it feels good to be back home and to the familiarity of it all. The songbirds chirping away; sweet smelling gardenias lining our walkways; boats droning in the distance and big oak trees throwing peaceful spots of dark green shadows all over the backyard where we can hide from the blistering summer heat. It fills my heart with contentment.
But then I get this burst of energy and go into "getting organized" overdrive and that is exactly what happened yesterday. I emptied, washed, dried and rolled away everything in sight and we can finally get from the garage to the family room without falling over several pieces of luggage! I pulled linens from beds and put new, soft and sweet smelling ones on; opened all the windows to let wafts of fresh air blow through the house and made a home cooked meal while listening to some zen flute composition on the CD player in the great room.
And since I was not going to get any work done at work, I decided to do whatever else I felt like and watered wilted flowers and fruit trees and even pulled
We love to travel, explore and learn about the world around us, but it feels good to be back home and to the familiarity of it all. The songbirds chirping away; sweet smelling gardenias lining our walkways; boats droning in the distance and big oak trees throwing peaceful spots of dark green shadows all over the backyard where we can hide from the blistering summer heat. It fills my heart with contentment.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A Heart To Heart With My Daughter
As I was crossing the great room picking up toys and sweaters strewn about I heard soft crying overhead. I looked up and there she was hanging over the side of the catwalk; tears rolling down her cheeks.
"What is it sweetie? Why are you crying?" I said quite incredulous, because I swear we just read a wonderful bedtime story and hubby piggybacked her to bed and she was smiling and laughing all the way.
These moments happen without warning; often when least expected. It almost always catches me off guard, because I'm never prepared for the fact that my little girls are growing up much faster than I expect. I wish I could slow it down; sometimes stop it altogether. And often I don't even know the answers myself and I scramble through thoughts and words looking for something smart and insightful to say.
"Mommy, please don't ever leave me! Please don't go to heaven!! I don't want you to die!" she said, now sobbing loudly.
My heart skipped a beat because I think most of us struggle with this one, even when we are old and all grown up. "Honey, I am not going to leave until I'm old and grey!" (I know. Lets not get technical! I'm speaking with a girl that turned six years old last week.)
"How old was great grandmother when she died?"
"She was more than 90 years old!" I blurted out.
"But I'm scared! I don't want to lose you!"
"Fudge, by the time you are fifteen you probably will be wishing I was not around!" I said in an attempt to lighten up the conversation.
"That will never happen!! I want you to stay with me until I'm sixty years old!!" she protested vehemently.
"I will not leave until you tell me to, OK? I will be walking around with my rickety old cane squawking at you all day, until you tell me to get out!" And for special effect I walked around squawking and bent over with a pretend cane shaking back and forth. That at least brought a faint smile to her face.
After a few more of these exchanges I realized that this was one of those times I really have to have a heart to heart with my children. So as I got settled in between them; I took a deep breath and told them what I've learned the hard way.
"We have to have faith, girls. Living your life worried and afraid of all the "what if's!" is not the way God wish for us to live our lives. We all have some fears and concerns, but we should not let these overtake our thoughts and lives. It can make our bodies sick and deprive us of living full, happy and exciting lives! We have to lay these worries and fears down and choose faith, hope and love to envelope our hearts, so we can truly live and be alive.
Nothing has ever been accomplished with fear and worry. Still, I sometimes feel worried too, but we have to have courage and believe everything will be OK! And besides, you are not going to get rid of me that easily!"
"Are you really going to walk around with a cane when you are old?" my other daughter asked.
"Well, maybe I will get one of those 4X4's with the wheels! It might be a little easier to move around!" I said, grateful to see the light returning to Fudge's eyes.
"What is it sweetie? Why are you crying?" I said quite incredulous, because I swear we just read a wonderful bedtime story and hubby piggybacked her to bed and she was smiling and laughing all the way.
These moments happen without warning; often when least expected. It almost always catches me off guard, because I'm never prepared for the fact that my little girls are growing up much faster than I expect. I wish I could slow it down; sometimes stop it altogether. And often I don't even know the answers myself and I scramble through thoughts and words looking for something smart and insightful to say.
*******************
"Mommy, please don't ever leave me! Please don't go to heaven!! I don't want you to die!" she said, now sobbing loudly.
My heart skipped a beat because I think most of us struggle with this one, even when we are old and all grown up. "Honey, I am not going to leave until I'm old and grey!" (I know. Lets not get technical! I'm speaking with a girl that turned six years old last week.)
"How old was great grandmother when she died?"
"She was more than 90 years old!" I blurted out.
"But I'm scared! I don't want to lose you!"
"Fudge, by the time you are fifteen you probably will be wishing I was not around!" I said in an attempt to lighten up the conversation.
"That will never happen!! I want you to stay with me until I'm sixty years old!!" she protested vehemently.
"I will not leave until you tell me to, OK? I will be walking around with my rickety old cane squawking at you all day, until you tell me to get out!" And for special effect I walked around squawking and bent over with a pretend cane shaking back and forth. That at least brought a faint smile to her face.
After a few more of these exchanges I realized that this was one of those times I really have to have a heart to heart with my children. So as I got settled in between them; I took a deep breath and told them what I've learned the hard way.
"We have to have faith, girls. Living your life worried and afraid of all the "what if's!" is not the way God wish for us to live our lives. We all have some fears and concerns, but we should not let these overtake our thoughts and lives. It can make our bodies sick and deprive us of living full, happy and exciting lives! We have to lay these worries and fears down and choose faith, hope and love to envelope our hearts, so we can truly live and be alive.
Nothing has ever been accomplished with fear and worry. Still, I sometimes feel worried too, but we have to have courage and believe everything will be OK! And besides, you are not going to get rid of me that easily!"
"Are you really going to walk around with a cane when you are old?" my other daughter asked.
"Well, maybe I will get one of those 4X4's with the wheels! It might be a little easier to move around!" I said, grateful to see the light returning to Fudge's eyes.
*****************
Sunday, April 29, 2012
A Magical Birthday
"Ahhh, home sweet home!" they exclaimed while twirling around the kitchen floor, magic wands in hand. "It is so nice to be home again! Look how the vegetables have grown this week!" They even sound like they are one year older, I thought to myself.
Birthday cake for breakfast, a makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique,
lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table, street parties, a wild and crazy ride around Space Mountain, Mickey's Philharmagic, the main street electrical parade
and the Wishes Nighttime Fireworks Spectacular filled their birthday with magical moments from the time they got up at sunrise until 11:30PM when we finally called it a day.
Our feet felt like we've returned from the Trail of Tears but other than the hundreds of pictures and gleeful memories recalled, it was the only proof that this was not just a dream, but a wonderful reality, as well as the highlight to our trip visiting Walt Disney World resort this week!
Birthday cake for breakfast, a makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique,
lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table, street parties, a wild and crazy ride around Space Mountain, Mickey's Philharmagic, the main street electrical parade
and the Wishes Nighttime Fireworks Spectacular filled their birthday with magical moments from the time they got up at sunrise until 11:30PM when we finally called it a day.
Our feet felt like we've returned from the Trail of Tears but other than the hundreds of pictures and gleeful memories recalled, it was the only proof that this was not just a dream, but a wonderful reality, as well as the highlight to our trip visiting Walt Disney World resort this week!
Monday, April 23, 2012
And We Are Off
Knight has been following us around the house; tail twitching side to side. He was quite annoyed.
All the bags; the washing; the packing..........He knows something is up.
We dropped him off at the cat hotel this weekend. Finally we were off for some fun in the sun. Cannot wait!
All the bags; the washing; the packing..........He knows something is up.
We dropped him off at the cat hotel this weekend. Finally we were off for some fun in the sun. Cannot wait!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Spring Break Test Drive
This week has been a serious test drive for me. Like "lets push the pedal all the way down to the floor and see what this baby can do!" kind of test drive. The girls had a week long Spring break and I had quarterend deadlines at work. It was the perfect opportunity to try out having them around all the time while under huge time pressures at work. My opinion being if I can make worse case scenario work then we are going to be better than fine next year when homeschooling the girls.
And even though I worked one evening I will do so again in a heartbeat, because I got to
play hopscotch,
make some ooey gooey mud pies
fly kites, dance around the great room until breathless, eat ice cream, read books, make crafts and
go to a local ranch with animals galore to see, with our girls, when we felt like it.
The ranch was an absolute delight to them. A horse drawn wagon traversing a scenic, winding route with lots of stopovers to feed deer, oxen, ostriches, bison, giraffes, emus and alpacas.
To say they loved it is the understatement of the week. When we left they already asked when we can go back again.
I have so many ideas floating around in my head. I cannot wait to get started on this adventure.
And even though I worked one evening I will do so again in a heartbeat, because I got to
play hopscotch,
make some ooey gooey mud pies
fly kites, dance around the great room until breathless, eat ice cream, read books, make crafts and
go to a local ranch with animals galore to see, with our girls, when we felt like it.
The ranch was an absolute delight to them. A horse drawn wagon traversing a scenic, winding route with lots of stopovers to feed deer, oxen, ostriches, bison, giraffes, emus and alpacas.
To say they loved it is the understatement of the week. When we left they already asked when we can go back again.
I have so many ideas floating around in my head. I cannot wait to get started on this adventure.
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