Pause
I love holidays, mainly because they allow us to pause from our hectic daily lives and surround ourselves with family! There’s nothing like bonding and sharing some down time together.
We were so thankful for the weather on Saturday, which allowed for an end-of-the-school-year pool party. This is something we did every year when my oldest daughter was in school, and we are blessed to be able to do this for our youngest now, too. My 13 year old worried over this party all week long, but in the end, a great day was had by all. I had several giggling teenagers in my pool splashing around, then they headed to the hot tub with pizza in hand! And I sat amongst them enjoying every single minute! I found myself throughout the day just smiling and laughing, which is good for the soul!
Blessed.
That is what I kept thinking during the whole day.
Oh, how blessed we truly are to gather together with family and friends.
And how is this possible? Because of the freedom we have in this great country. Freedom that was not given to us without strong men and women fighting every step of the way. There are a lot of things we take for granted. This should not be one of them!
I hope you took time to remember all of the fallen Soldiers yesterday on Memorial Day, but not just that. I hope you remembered their family and friends who are left without them. There are no more memories to be made with them, as their time on earth has ended. All they are left to cling to are the memories of days gone by. So when you pray, lift them up. And when you bow your head, do so with grateful appreciation in your heart for the freedom you have because of them.
Stuck
I’m late to the game, but at least I’m here!
The Five Minute Friday word of the week is: Stuck
Ah, Facebook! I love the memories you bring forth daily of days gone by. Most are happy memories, like my sweet mother’s birthday, which was yesterday! I got to see all of the previous birthday wishes and pictures shared on Facebook from the years before. At times, the memories are sad, like the passing of my mother-in-law a year ago on April 25th, and the days prior where I posted of her struggles and asked for prayer for her and the family. There’s some funny ones in the mix, too, like the time my youngest daughter declared she wanted to be a werewolf when she grew up. Or times like these that I was reminded of this morning from two years ago:
Dear rain and thunderstorms,
Don’t you know we want to ride today? While I think the distant sky lightning is pretty,
I’d prefer no streak lightning nor roar of thunder while on horseback.
But alas, the rain shall make my beautiful flowers grow in my garden.
And this is the perfect opportunity to snuggle with my loves.
So I’ll enjoy the fresh scent of rain with my favorite beverage on my front porch
while watching the birds play at my feeders. Riding will wait for another day.
I guess you’re not half bad after all.
It just depends on our outlook.
We tend to do that, don’t we? All of us get stuck in our negative mindset from time to time. I honestly don’t think it’s something we set out to do. Like, we don’t get up in the morning when our feet hit the floor and proclaim, “Today is the day I’ll be negative.” It just happens.
It’s when we change our outlook that things start to improve.
Turn
Five Minute Friday Word of The Day: Turn
We aren’t sure how things will turn out in life, are we?
The past couple of days, I’ve been out of sorts. It was something we couldn’t quite put our finger on. Until today.
Today is my grandmother’s birthday. She passed several years ago after struggling for two years, in and out of hospitals and just going through so very much toward the end.
And these were the last days of my mother-in-law’s life this exact time last year. It haunts me to this very day.
Just when you think you’re doing great and nothing can bring you down, you’re hit right square in the face with memories. I’d love it to always be happy, joyous memories. However, that is not always the case. You have to endure days of pain to appreciate the joy that comes in the morning. Or, you go through the storms to appreciate the beautiful rainbow that appears after the gray skies clear and the sun begins to emerge yet again.
I’m not choosing to focus on all of the negative that this time of year holds. In the middle of all of this, there have been great moments of pure joy. We celebrated my daughter’s boyfriend turning 20 years old, and one of my nearest and dearest friends turned 51 on the same exact day. I’ve laughed, smiled, and shed some tears this week. I’ve been a big ball of emotion, so hard to handle being in my own skin at times. I cannot imagine what people think that have had to endure all of this right alongside me this week. But I thank them for not giving up on me or turning away when I needed them to pull me out of my funk.
I didn’t want to tell my husband what was wrong because I didn’t want him thinking of his mother’s last days, if he wasn’t already there mentally and emotionally. So I held it in, often shrugging my shoulders when asked what was wrong. I was not withholding to be mean. I was thinking of preserving his feelings.
But there are brighter days ahead … another friend’s birthday is approaching … and my dear mother’s birthday is the very last day of the month.
SO I feel the feelings … and I turn the page.
