Core Truths

I remember when we were younger, much younger, and our children were younger, too.  I would look ahead while sitting in Mass.  When I wasn’t picking up spilled cheerios, or wiping a snotty nose with a receipt I found in my purse, or sniffing trying to figure out if that dirty diaper was coming from one of ours, I would look ahead.  I would look ahead, sort of in both awe and envy, at the pews filled with families of older children.  All of the kids with their hair brushed (I would imagine their teeth were brushed too), the mom stroking the hair of one of the kids, the dad with his arm around the mom, the bigger ones on the end nudging the other to sit up.  I would just look ahead while hubby had his arm around the diaper bag ready to bolt if the pacifier didn’t work on a baby that was about to lose it, while I gave the “if you do that one more time” look to the two toddlers. I can’t say I really wished for the kids to hurry and grow up, but that other pew s...

It was summertime…nearly the end of summertime…and quite frankly, my kids had been driving me crazy.  I know, that’s pretty common, but really not for me.  I typically really enjoy them home and do not even want to think about it being time for them to go back to school.  And really, it wasn’t that I wanted them to go back to school at the time, but my goodness, I was about to pull my freaking hair out! All summer long it’s like a truck stop here at night…kids roaming around, flushing toilets, getting snacks, opening loud chip bags, watching annoying shows at ungodly volumes. And then my mornings, well they start early with the little kids.  They’re usually so hungry when they wake up it’s like I need to stop what I’m doing right then to get them food, yet they decline each and every option I can come up with.  Finally, I get to the point that when they ask, “Can I have chicken nuggets?” I say, “Yes!”  Or, “Can I have a cookie?”  “Of course ...

As we get ready to start back to another school year, I am enjoying looking back over one of my favorite stories from this past summer. Summertime and watermelon, what better combinations exist?  But let’s back up…to the day before….when I took 4 of our 5 kids to the grocery store with me.  It all gets cranked up in the parking lot with which buggy we are going to use; the enormous car buggy, the less enormous car buggy, or a regular buggy which really is all we need.  Due to the rain and the car buggies being all wet, we chose to use a regular buggy (whew!).   We then made our way through the produce section when the kids spotted it…the watermelon! Now let me tell you, the last watermelon I bought, I cut just the way they like it, and I found the biggest storage container imaginable to store it in.  After cutting it, they each had one piece, then placed the enormous container in the garage fridge, and that was that.  No one ever mentioned the ...

Well, here it is…my first blog post.   Quite possibly one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Like any dream, this one started years ago.  For most of my life I have crazy enjoyed sharing my heart and my thoughts with others.  As a student and later as a teacher, I had ample opportunity to just sit and listen and visit and share with other people.  It wasn’t until I quit my job and started the full-time stay-at-home-mom gig did I miss that everyday interaction and sharing with other people.  Like, I really, really missed it, like a part of me was missing and not being fulfilled. Two years ago I had the opportunity to meet with a Life Coach.  Ok, it was a friend of mine that was working to complete her Life Coach certification and she offered a free session.  I was excited to help and excited to learn from her.  It was in that meeting that I verbalized something I had been thinking and feeling for a long time….I wanted to be a publ...