Sweat, Tears, or the Sea

This year has been an emotional roller coaster. Yes, it’s only June, I know. Just when things have settled a bit, we get thrown for another loop. The most difficult being that one of Jon’s brothers tragically passed away. 

There has been grief coming from so many other places besides that. Grief changes a person. Everyone that’s been touched by the grief of losing someone too soon is changed forever, never to be the same again. 

Stress and other family drama just puts the cherry on top of this already strange year. Thankfully, we’ve been fortunate enough to have a few outs when things get especially difficult. We got to go to the Grand Canyon. We visited family in Colorado, and this week we get to go to Florida! 

I know you can’t run away from grief and other stresses. But having these little chances to hide away a little bit have truly been life savers. Times for just our little family to cling to each other, and to God. 

I joked with Jon that our marriage has got to be indestructible by now. All of the different obstacles and tragedies we’ve been faced with other the last decade have definitely challenged us in ways I never thought possible. But it’s also strengthened our relationship more than I ever thought possible. There’s no one else I’d rather do this life with. 

Spending a few days on the beach has come at the perfect time! Road trip, baby!!! 

As Women and Mothers...

As women and mothers we should never ever allow ourselves to feel guilty for weak moments. We’re so scared of what someone else will say or think if we expose raw areas of our lives that we keep those areas mostly hidden. We only post the bright and cheery stuff on social media. God forbid anyone should know our lives are anything less than perfect. We don’t talk about being abused for fear of being blamed or ridiculed. We don’t talk about how truly difficult dark times in our lives have been. 

Sure we talk about the surface pain; we talk about our hearts hurting or our feelings being hurt. But we’re so worried about looking weak, and being less than the next woman that we don’t allow ourselves to be raw and open with those that care about us. We close up our feelings, inadvertently causing hurt we don’t know were causing to ourselves as well as those around us. Shoving our feelings down, pretending everything is fine when we’re being eaten up about something...It just ends up smothering relationships that are otherwise inspiring and so very joyous. 

It can be like a domino effect. If we can lay aside our egos, our pride, and maybe a little dignity to talk about the hard stuff, others will see that hey this person is dealing with things that I’m dealing with, or this person is dealing with hard things and they’re having trouble, then maybe she’ll feel a tiny bit more comfortable divulging her own story, her own heartbreak, her own trauma. She’ll know she isn’t alone. 

Even though we might not have anything brilliant or profound to say, sometimes it’s just nice to have a hand to hold, a shoulder to lean on. Someone who is trying to understand even if they really don’t...they’re putting forth effort. That counts!!  We have to stop putting others down because we think their pain is less significant than our own. We have to stop treating our pain as less than someone else's. We have to stop treating other's pain as less than our own. 

I love this quote almost as much as I love bacon. Be bacon bits in the salad bowl of life!!