HI all!!  Well, of COURSE I HAD to start this post with my moose pic!!  So, this sweet girl was just chilling out as I ran by…the other morning.  She was so sweet…not that I went up and chatted with her…well, maybe a bit!!  Just kidding!  Actually, she kind of shocked me!  I was running along inside this golf community here,  I came around a curve and BAM..there she was!  Anyone who knows me, I get in my “run zone”…and this time I was actually singing..which may have been why she didn’t move.  She heard my voice and thought “well..here comes hell…that sound couldn’t be worse than hell…”!!  :-).

Look at this sweet baby…

Sweet girls watching us jump on the trampoline!

Coming out to the front yard to see what’s up!

So, first, she was in the thicket behind our house…about 5 feet from the trampoline…I think they all come back  at night and have a blast on the trampoline!  (at least that is what I have made up in my head!)  She wasn’t even phased!  The “butt picture” is her in our front yard..I mean..SERIOUSLY???  I want one to hold, love, feed…etc…but apparently, it is HIGHLY frowned upon…so…I’ll just keep hanging out in my yard!

Ok..back to the Joy of Honesty…I have been brutally honest with y’all…I mean…my letter to my girls, come on…that was my heart!  But, here…you get my head…(yikes!!!).

Honesty is a beautiful thing…when it’s wrapped up pretty with a bow..and in the south with a “bless your heart”.  So, I try to wrap it up as pretty as possible.  But, then, my inner redneck comes out and the pretty hauls ass our the door!  For example:  “you better go right back upstairs and change because I am NOT raising a hooker!!!”…Or…”Awe, honey…I love you…but absolutely cannot wear those shoes…they’re hideous”…Or “Wait…you want me to volunteer for WHAT?? With THAT budget?? You’ve lost your damn mind!!”…and…some things just slip out before I can think about it…like sitting in a meeting…and looking over and saying “wait…is this YOUR school or your KIDS school??  because I graduated in 1988 and have no desire to relive it..”  So, you see my mother, God rest her soul…said from the time I could talk that I had no filter…or tact…or grace…or class…Oh well!

So, the Joy of HONESTY…goes so much further than the stupid things that fly out of my mouth.  And, wrapping it up in a bow.  In these months I have been living in heaven on earth..I have had a great opportunity to really look at myself with TRUE honesty.  I don’t always like what I see.  However, the gift in this is seeing it…and tweaking it into something better for my girls and my incredible husband.

I have also had the opportunity to watch.  And, a lot of things I don’t like.  I don’t like our kids being pushed to suicide because they feel like they can’t fail!  Ask Einstein, Franklin, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, YOURSELF…how many times they/you have failed.  How can you succeed without failure??  How are our children going to know how to pick themselves up and move forward?  Would we have electricity if Ben Franklin decided after one time he was done because he failed?  Holy crap!!  And…for you younger peeps…what if Steve Jobs decided it was too “hard” to come up with the iPhone!  **GASP**… (I think I just heard it!)

Point being…failing is the key to success.  I am currently reading a cool book call “It’s Great to Suck at something” by Karen Rinaldi…I HIGHLY recommend it.  I try everyday to show my kids I am sooo not perfect.  (trust me..they know!!). I am perfectly imperfect…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Now…back to reality..I am human…I want to strive for perfection for my husband…for myself…and I have seen these last months that it could be robbing me of joy.  I WANT MY JOY…so I won’t let myself rob me of joy.  (did that make any sense??)

Don’t you agree???

I know I am a bit all over the place.  These are thoughts I have been thinking about for quite some time.  I can tell you…my kids will fail…they WILL suck at something.   Because, if they don’t, they will live in a prison of perfection.   I suck at so many things!  And, it’s humbling and great.  I love the piano…but I suck at playing.  I suck at tennis and golf..but I will practice just so I can play with my husband when we retire.  I suck at running in altitude…I suck at returning phone calls.  But, you know what I am good at?  Love…I can love more fiercely than a momma bear.  I can spread JOY…I can SMILE…and, I can LIVE in the moment.  And the BEST part?? I can share the JOY!!

Now, as we get ready to head back to the ATL…and all the crazy.  I will hopefully remember to live in the moment.  Remember the Joy of Honesty (Bless your heart)…and maybe tuck my redneck away as much as possible.  When the girls are in a brick and mortar school (aka not online school)….May is called “May-Hem”….its the end of the school year that makes us parents INSANE…as my joy of honesty comes out….I DO NOT MISS IT!!  I am spoiled rotten and sliding into June with a homerun and cotton candy! (zero stress…..haters gonna hate) Next year I am sure my besties (you know who you are) will bitch slap me when I complain!  Ladies…I forgive you now because I know I may not be spreading Joy…but, I promise to try and spread it throughout the year!

Now…It has been established that weird moms build character…so my sweet girls have enough character to carry them through the craziest of times.  And, I will be there to help them…push them down if need be…and be by their sides.  What I won’t do….pick them up..they have to learn to do that on their own.

Cheers to all you HONEST peeps!  Keep it up!  It’s not always easy…and I hope you can do honesty with more tact than I have….and spread JOY!!  Joy is FREE!  SHARE IT!

So..until next time…you know..

STAY WILD!!!

Momma..outside my dining room!

So…this is a pretty deep post.  See..our adventure semester is almost over.  And…I am very very emotional.

I wrote this letter to my girls:

Dear Girls,

God, I am so lucky to be your Mom.  How in the hell God, Jesus and the universe ever trusted me with you will never be understood by me.  I credit your father and the love of my life for this.  You are my heart I wear on my sleeve, my foot, my head, my everything.  You make me a better person every. single. day.

So, I know these months have not always been easy for you. You’re teenagers.  You want your friends, your malls, your social time, your gossip, your own life.  But, as your mother, these few months have been absolutely priceless.  I will never be able to thank your Father enough for giving us all this gift.  I have missed him like I am missing a limb, but, being with you both day in and day out…well…it’s worth it.

You both are incredible.  You are so different that is totally freaks me out sometimes.  I swear I am not worthy of either of you.  I am in awe of you going along with me on so many crazy things.  Then…not going along with me at all (stubbornness runs in our family).  And I get it…I really really do.  You have been cursed and blessed with a wild, free spirited, slightly insane mother.  But, I promise you…I love you more than any friend, word, boy or anyone ever could.  And, I love you without conditions.  You are mine.  Forever and always.  No judgement.  Ever.  Life is hard and short…and you can always and forever count on me to have your back.

I am not a conventional mom….I get it…I annoy you and I’m so in your business it irritates the crap out of you…but, I don’t care…as hard as it for me sometimes…My #1 job (besides loving you unconditionally) is keeping you safe…and if that means being in your business…get used to it.  It’s my job and I relish it.  I wasn’t lucky enough to have a mom that had the time be in my business…and I so wish I did..but, it gave me the grace to know what I wanted for my girls.

You both make me so proud to be your mom.  I love our crazy goofy times together…whether it’s making up stories on the chair lifts, playing silly made up games while driving across the country, jumping on the trampoline or just laying in my bed laughing uncontrollably!  I love how you both are dedicated to what you believe in.  I love how you care…even when you want to pretend you don’t.

Of course you both can frustrate the hell out of me too!  And, I know I irritate you both.  But, that’s life.  I have told you both many times that I am not perfect and I sure as hell don’t want to be perfect.  I am perfectly imperfect….and I will never expect perfection from you.  I expect you to try your hardest, be kind and know right from wrong.   I expect you to treat yourselves with respect…and demand that respect from everyone around you.  I want you to be strong.  I want you to be brave.  I want you to think outside the box.

So, as our time here in my heaven comes to a close…I will cherish these memories.  I will cherish this time I was gifted with you both.  I know when we get back to Atlanta, you both will scatter with friends and fun.  And, you MUST do that.  You are incredible young women with so much life to live.  I will continue to relish watching you both continue to grow.  You still have so much to learn and experience.  I want you to know, I will always be your safe place to land.  I will not judge you. I PROMISE you to continue to try and teach you.  I PROMISE you that I will LISTEN….I understand I can’t solve every problem..and I won’t.  That is why they are lessons…you have to learn to solve things on your own.  But, my arms will always be open, my ears ready to listen and my heart will always hold you close.

With that, my babies…we will bid farewell to this amazing place.  (Even though I will be back!!) But, our memories, our fun, our insane craziness will always be with us.  I pray that will help keep you afloat in trying times.

I love you.  Forever and Always.

Mom

**You see a bunch of rocks….I see a bunch of potential”~ it’s all about perspective…..