“Don’t go in Mom’s office, because there’s a bug in there, and it’s flying.”

Hahaha … I think I just found the way to keep the little loud ones out of here … 🙂

Thank you to the kids for keeping the door open last night and for the crane fly that flew in and found its way to my office.  Now I might be able to write in peace for a few minutes!!

I am sort of an introvert.  I love being home.  I love sitting alone and thinking, meditating, crafting, writing, reading, etc.  I am not shy … but I prefer to talk to small groups of people.  One on one?  I LOVE that.  And if you catch me in a one on one conversation I will probably never stop talking.  In a larger group I tend to observe and only talk if I have something important to say. 

I like to talk about things that feel important.  Generally talking about the weather, other people, busyness, movies, etc. isn’t super interesting to me.  I WILL talk about those, but I LOVE talking about life, and philosophy, love and unity.  Those things ignite a fire within me and when I talk about those?  THAT’S when I can’t stop.  That’s when I open up the most.  Those things feel the most “authentic” to my soul.

I also have a completely different side.  I love to laugh.  I love jokes.  I love it when my family sits around and the kids all joke with each other and we all laugh and it’s light and easy and fun.  I love to be silly and crawl around on the floor with my little ones … you can frequently find me chasing them and them running and smiling knowing when I catch them that they’ll get a HUGE hug.

I love to sing.  I’ve been singing my whole life.  I love to sit at the piano and play music and sing … I could do it for hours and feel perfectly at peace.  My kids tell me that I “sing song” talk to them … that I’m constantly singing.  🙂  I love music and I think it’s accurate to say it’s a huge important amazing part of my life.

I adore nature.  I feel so alive and free and at peace outside breathing in the air and connecting to the nature around me.  I love hiking … I could do it everyday all day and never be tired of it.  I love trees and mountains and ocean and beautiful views.  My “ideal” picture of peace and tranquility always includes nature. I am TOTALLY a tree hugger. 🌲💚

I feel like I lead a simple life … compared to many others.  We don’t go a ton of places, we don’t have a packed schedule of sports and activities, we stay home a lot.  We eat dinner together every night at the table and talk.  We spend evenings together.  We spend the weekends together and maybe we go hiking, or go for a walk, or just play in the yard … 80% of the time, when the kids aren’t at school and my husband isn’t at work, we’re all together.

I love life.  I feel SO alive and every morning, most mornings anyway, I wake up excited to see what the day will bring.  I spend about, I’d say … 75% of my time that I’m able to think and focus on my thoughts, thinking about life and the “bigger” picture.  It is who I am.  It is so much a part of me that I don’t know another way to be.  I talk about love and God and the universe and kindness and those types of things ALL of the time … my kids say that’s all I talk about.  What can I say?  I love it.  It is my world.  And it is a beautiful world.

I’m grateful to be me.  But I am always interested in other people’s lives and their experiences as well … I know that I am unique and I love to find out what makes other people feel alive and full of fire.  I love to see passion and life in people’s eyes and I think it’s so interesting and beautiful to find out what makes other people tick, what makes them feel joy, what they look forward to when they get up in the morning.

Each of us has a story to tell.  Mine is unique to me, and I have things that I can say that will teach you something … even if it’s just a new perspective.  Your story is unique to you and YOU have things you can say that will teach ME something.  I know it.  I love that about life.  It is a journey, and each of us has a unique journey that is full of beautiful, painful, interesting, everyday, things.

My story is mine and I love it, I own it, I’ve learned from it and I’m grateful for it.  So too is yours … you have a unique story.  Love it, own it, learn from it, be grateful for it, and ALWAYS know that it is valuable to ALL of us.  I can learn from you.  You can learn from me.  Together we make a fuller more whole human experience.

I’m so looking forward to continue living life and for the opportunity to learn more from others and from experiences and to just live.  Living is why we’re here … learning and growing and loving.  It’s fun.  It’s hard.  It’s joyful.  Life is full of ups, downs, highs, lows, goods, bads, joys, fears … it is a journey.  It is full of possibility.  There is only pure potential in the day, everyday.  The point of here, of life, of living, is experiencing.  Experience is how we gain knowledge.  It’s what helps us expand our understanding. 

So experience!  Look at each thing that comes into your journey as an opportunity for expanded understanding … and even if it looks “bad” to you … it is still experience, it can teach you something, and it WILL help you grow if you let it.  Let it!  Learn from EVERYTHING that enters into your experience.  Learn from EVERYONE that comes into your life.  Look at every new opportunity as a chance to love and to learn and to EXPERIENCE something new.  New is good … new brings growth … new brings life.

I, for one, am grateful for new.