What 10 Years Can Do

My birthday was this past weekend and I celebrated it with my sweetest friends. (Thank you from the bottom of my heart for spending your precious time with me. I love each of you dearly.) I had a great time, but it is so strange thinking that one day can make me a year older. I never realize that I am getting older everyday, but rather only on that one day does my age change. It’s a strange thought process for my brain. (Is it just me?)

Over the past couple of weeks my emotions have been all over the place. Not for anyone one reason and no I am not PMSing (for those of you that immediately go there). I have just had things bubble up over the past couple of weeks that I apparently swept under the rug, that I now need to deal with. It is not easy to deal with my past. It’s not that it is so tragic, it is just stuff that I don’t know why I did it, and I really wish I hadn’t. So now I am having an emotional roller coaster trying to figure things out and deal with those things. Life just sucks sometimes, and that’s okay. I will figure it out, but you are more than welcome to send up a prayer for this lady. ❤

Let me take you on a journey.. when I was 6 (starting here because I am now 36) I was in Kindergarten. It was the year my mom had my baby sister Rebecca, which she delivered with a mid-wife in my bedroom. I still remember hearing the noises and then the sweet cry of a new born baby. Me and my brother kept getting in trouble because we wanted to see what this baby was doing to our momma. It was a good year. I remember meeting Erica, a girl who later lived with me in 7th and 8th grade.

Fast forward 10 years and I am 16. (Wow that makes me giggle and turn red actually) I was in 10th grade, attending Trinity High School and working at (probably) Kroger as a cashier. 🙂 During this year I ripped my ligaments and tendons playing softball and had my first surgery, wore a cast and crutches the first 3 weeks of High School. I was dating a sweet guy that I dated for about 4 more years. It was a good year, lots of love, friends, and humorous times.  For the record, I quit the Kroger job over my answering machine. I was too scared to call and quit over the phone, so I figured they would be calling to see where I was when I didn’t show up for work, so it made perfect sense for me to leave it on my answering machine. However I did not calculate all of my friends calling looking for me and hearing the message. haha It went something like this, “Hi you have reached 817-545-4544, you know what to do, do it at the beep. Oh, and if this is Kroger, yeah, I quit! BEEP” Haha. That makes me laugh.

Fast forward 10 more years and I am 26. Gesh. New baby that was one year old in October. I’m pretty sure I lived at my parents house with her, and had just had her first birthday at McDonalds, where my husband actually showed up. (I don’t think he was high that day, so that was a relief) I wanted to complete school, where I had started right after high school, but stopped when I kept failing Psychology. (who needs that class anyways?!) I worked at Nokia Mobile Phones out in Roanoke, life was very hard, but I kept on trucking, knowing something had to change.

And finally we are here, I am 36. I obtained my Masters degree in May of this year, I had another daughter, and I live back at my house that I had purchased before I even met my ex. I teach which is a passion of mine, and I’m loving my life right now. I enjoy loving on people that don’t think they deserve it, but I know they do. I’m in a good place right now. And as I knew 10 years ago, I have to keep on trucking, because I know things will change. I look forward to the change, because it keeps you alive.

Love intentionally. Be intentional. ❤

Imperfectly Perfect Day

Is this day over yet? I hope so… I need to only speak to people that are 21 and up for the rest of the evening. Man, what a whirlwind of a day.

Have you ever had a day where you just barely made it on everything? Well let me tell you what I mean. This morning I woke on time (to the first alarm) and left my house early enough to stop and get coffee before work. Well…I needed to be at work at 7am and of course every freakin’ car wanted to get in front of me and go extremely slow. So I pulled into the parking lot and hauled into school. Got there at 7:02. #fail

Kids were wild at school today, which made me crazy for some reason. Normally it doesn’t phase me and I can get them under control, but today… not even a chance.

Glancing down at my phone to check the time, it’s 4:45pm on October 16th. Okay no problem I have plenty of time before picking up my girls (because they hate when I pick them up “early”, they prefer I pick them up after 5pm – excuse me) Wait.. what is October 16th? Holy crap! Dad’s birthday! (You didn’t even call your Dad today Patricia!) Dialing Dad’s cell.

Fast forward to eating dinner and trying to get out of the house to make it to our FIRST practice of the day. Right as I am fixing to take a bit of my gourmet pb&j I get a phone call. (Well I don’t know the number, but it looks legit, what the heck!) So I answer and its the Librarian from Irving that I have tried to get a hold of for 2 weeks. She starts talking my ear off and I’m now grabbing paper to take notes. 20 minutes later, cheer practice is starting and we are still at home. My sweet little girls are running madly through my house laughing about who knows what. We have got to go and now!! I get off the phone, and grab my decadent sandwich and now some fudge because it’s just been one of those days. (don’t judge me!)

Finally at cheer practice (only 20 minutes late, but who is counting), ate my sandwich, now cutting up the fudge. Yum.. fudge. Sweets. Cheer leading. CRAP! Surely it isn’t?! As I’m glancing frantically around looking for a cooler of drinks and snacks, I quickly calculate that zero coolers plus zero snacks equals 40 kids under the age of 8 upset with me in T-minus 20 minutes! CRAP! (just ask the coach, surely you are not the one that is supposed to get snacks tonight. I know I’m supposed to get them in October but surely it isn’t tonight) Yes?! It is me?! Okay excellent. Dashing to the closest store I grab random items that are completely not a healthy snack but at this point those midgets had better just be happy I am buying them anything. Practice is officially over at 7:15pm. At 7:14pm I am standing in line at the General Dollar Store listening to the 3 year old in front of me and the cashier discuss the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween costume she is buying and what the new TMNT’s say now. (really…. who gives a flying flip lady!) Pulling into the parking lot at 7:18pm and they are still cheering. Walking up with eyeball bubble gum, random chocolate candies and water, my sweet friend Leslie says, “There she is!”. HA! And now I’m being invaded by little midgets, all 40 of them. Yay me!

Okay so the SECOND practice, volleyball, is not going to happen tonight. It officially starts at 7:30pm and we are getting in the car at 7:32pm and we have a 15 minute drive. Not happening. (Sorry Harli-pie, it’s just not in the cards tonight sweet girl) Let’s call my Dad and see if we can crash his supper. (surely he wanted two sweaty girls and a mom that has about had it with this day to come over for his birthday dinner) They graciously let us crash and eat a slice of pizza with them, which works out because it caused me not to eat the rest of that fudge that I desperately wanted to eat because I might stress eat. 😉

Finally home. “Girls, go to bed.” is the only words I can muster up to my children. They know I’ve had a crazy day and they are totally fine with this. (on second thought, did they grab their i-Pods because they sure are quiet right now…)

Essential oils. Warm water calling me. Serenity… I hear you calling me… What an imperfectly perfect day. Nothing horribly wrong, just everything was wrong in all of the right ways.

Happy Birthday Dad, I Love You more than words can say! You are the very best Dad ever! ❤

Love intentionally! Be intentional. 😉 Good night folks.