Waiting To Exhale: COMING TO PEACE WITH MY GRATITUDE & EXHALING

COMING TO PEACE WITH MY GRATITUDE & EXHALING

July 19th, 2016 (late again)
GRATITUDE WEEK 3

Gratitude Week 3 ~ FAMILY: July 10th ~ July 16th

My FAMILY …
The people who love me unconditionally …. the people who catch me when I'm falling … the people who love me RIGHT WHERE I'M AT and never waiver … the people who challenge me to be better … but NOT for them … they want it for me. They are the people who embrace me and make me feel safe … they make me feel truly loved without conditions or expectations. They are the people that let me be my authentic self, and accept me when I make mistakes … and celebrate my victories. My family … my husband, Hayes, Faith, Robby, & Hope. THEY are my family. They taught me what a family is supposed to feel like … what it was supposed to be ... I had no idea until I had them. I think they saved me … to have this kind of love … I never experienced anything like it. You don't know what you don't know. And then WHEN you know …. sometimes it can be incredible … and heart breaking all at the same time. Because then … YOU KNOW … you know what it should of been with others … you know what a family was supposed to be … and how people were supposed to love you and treat you. YOU KNOW …. and as painful and as difficult as it can be to confront it … you do it … because you need to move forward …and you need to DO BETTER … BE BETTER … for yourself … for your partner … and for YOUR CHILDREN. So when I say my family … my chicklets saved me … they opened my eyes and my heart to a brand new beginning …. they allowed me to start to find myself again and figure out pieces of who I probably should of been a long time ago. The LOVE is SO BIG … the JOY is SO BIG … my heart is FULL … and there are no words that can precisely describe how grateful I am for them. I will make mistakes with my children, and I'm not perfect … but I will ALWAYS make them a priority. I will respect them … I will accept and celebrate who they are and who they are becoming … I will savor them … I will acknowledge them … SEE THEM … I will BE THERE … ALWAYS whenever they need me … I am their mother … I am their MAMA … and I TREASURE and CHERISH them ALWAYS. And yes, we have a college fund and a therapy fund for them … doesn't everyone do that :) !?!

I am beyond grateful and appreciate the extended family and friends that make an effort to be present in our lives …. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Truly the people that go out of their way to love my chicklets and just want to spend time with them … want to know them … sit with them and play games … talk to them … love them unconditionally and are almost just as fascinated as us as parents ...watching them grow, learn, and become the people they are. WOW ... THANK YOU for wanting to be in OUR LIVES. Hayes & Hope adore you … love you so much. THANK YOU to those of you that acknowledge Faith & Robby … EACH and EVERY YEAR … for giving donations yearly in their honor on their birthdays, and at Christmas time … AMAZING … and I can't begin to describe how special and meaningful it is. Not only that you acknowledge them at special times, but then you also donate to their memorial fund/foundation so we can buy and gift mommy necklaces to other families that have lost a baby. THis is their legacy living on … helping other families. My heart can never express how much this means to us. There's lots of people that aren't there anymore, but I have to say the people that are in our lives now and are PRESENT …. INCREDIBLE … LOVE YOU ….. and THANK YOU for loving my children.

No family is perfect. But if you are fortunate to find your people … whether related OR not …. LOVE THEM … EMBRACE THEM … CHERISH THEM. Life is too short to spend your time on people who wouldn't do the same for you. I'm am still always amazed that people think being a blood relative gives them permission to have entitlements and to make demands of someone that they wouldn't do the same for … with no investment or devotion. With really … no relationship or effort to have one. There has to be an actual relationship for reciprocation and for people to have an authentic exchange and for it to be REAL. I get that lots of people don't like to be in the real … they like the surface. We just can't do surface anymore … at least not with folks that think we owe them a relationship with no effort on their part. And while it's been sad at times, and beyond disappointing. We know the REAL now …. and there is PEACE in THAT. Life is EASIER with that…

"When people make you feel unwanted, don't leave to make them feel sad or guilty, they won't. Leave because you no longer have a reason to stay. Sometimes you have to be strong for yourself. What's meant to be will end up good and what's not - won't. Love is worth fighting for, but sometimes you can't be the only one fighting. At times, people need to fight for you. If they don't, you just have to move on and realize what you gave them was more than they were willing to give to you." ~ unknown

Living out loud … living my truth… and trying to have courage and being fearless all at the same time. I'm telling my story. If it can help others … isn't that what we're supposed to do in this life?