Tired in a good way is how August is leaving. Still squishing in a bunch of things before big September arrives. Dividing and conquering the last bits of summer in five different directions. It wasn’t perfect balance, but the best I could do. Progress not perfection is the new motto. I am not ready for pumpkin spice, I don’t really like it anyways. I do love the next season, so no hard feelings, summer isn’t over yet. Someone needs to tell the stores that!

My mind keeps racing ahead, and I keep pumping the brakes. Live in the moment! September is my new year, goal setting, planning etc. Who wants to plan in January? Brrrrr! January, I go to sleep for three months! I hate the thought of putting on socks and shoes again. I really don’t want to pack up summer and take out fall yet. For that reason, I will be mostly unprepared. This year, I am okay with that.

It has been a little over a year that I removed news from my radar. I know about things, because people talk about them. It isn’t my language anymore, family, friends and community, that is a good enough circle for me. It was a very important shift for me, here and now, forget the rest. Filling up on good things! Worry does nothing for no one! Every new day is one to enjoy!

School will be starting again, the debates and negotiations are going on within the walls of every home. Expectations are set, clothes, supplies, arrangements, scheduling for all the upcoming changes in the fall. For some the internet gets turned back on and some are just arriving home from lengthy vacations. Sleep schedule’s have to be reset, making lunches again and again and again. It is exciting for a few days and can wear off quickly.

The big day arrives and you send off your tater tots hoping for the best. For the newest little, it is a new world. If you have a boy, teach them about urinals, if you have a girl, a full jumpsuit with buttons and zippers might need some practice first. If they can’t tie, maybe velcro would be better for a bit. Educators, educate, sure they assist your children, but 15 kids needing their shoes tied, does nothing for nobody. Lots of kids arrive not able to manipulate their thermos, coat zipper or looking for a microwave that often doesn’t exist. A little rehearsal never hurts.

A little etiquette goes along way, your teacher is not your bruh and skibidi toilet ohio stays with their YouTube friends. Have a conversation about kindness, you don’t want to play with someone, that is your choice. I make those choices for myself everyday, but you don’t point, whisper, run away, and make others feel small, inadequate or worthless. There are enough rulers in this world, do some role play and teach empathy. I see the cutest little buttons, being the meanest little muffins. A true leader is inclusive. We need more kindness in this world and that starts at home.

We can’t predict our futures, it is a life mystery. We can go in a certain direction, but outcomes are different for everyone. I have always been conscious of the future, more than some. Unknowns get to you and I think that’s why a like to dabble in the past. Looking at genealogy and history brings things full circle. Your future is deep rooted in your past. Repeating patterns, learning curves, anxiety, cause and effect mar or provide clarity going forward. Possible outcomes for the future is not something you should dwell on, life is unpredictable. Goals are always good, but live in the moment.

What is on your horizon? To be and let be is a laid back approach we should all adopt. I remember learning about CPR and the ABC of life saving, so first step is the airway and breathing, in my mind just keep breathing. When you have a baby, breath through the pain, lack of oxygen equals more pain. When dealing with stress, deep breathe. Panic attack, in through the nose, out through the mouth, slow. Breathing is a major coping mechanism. You can survive the bleeding if you are still breathing.

Remove obstacles and change your challenges to opportunities. Live today, don’t waste energy on worrying about tomorrow. Life is a symphony, keep it as a melody, when the symbols get too loud, know that it will pass. Enjoy the music in your story, get excited at the highs and lows. If it all becomes too much, just breathe!

When it doesn’t work out, just start again. I don’t know how many times I have had to pivot. Trying to achieve the balance of a bird on a wire is hard work. Being everything to everyone and keeping self in front is the best musical you could ever be a part of. Toe tapping, happy feels, forward motion, that is the goal. My son told me about the full moon that came last night, It was called the blue moon, because it only happens, once in a blue moon. I saw it shrouded in clouds, not blue, but low and huge. I love the full moon.

The season is slowly changing, the deer have returned to the roadways in early morning and evening. The sunset is a little earlier. The air is also a little more crisp in that part of the day, but still hot when it needs to be. It really has been a fabulous summer and it isn’t over. Don’t start that, pumpkin spice stuff yet, enjoy all this season has to offer, time goes fast enough. I’m not ready to trade in summer dresses and strappy sandals for sweaters and cute boots.

My father in law used to say, “ I’m not as young as I once was, but not too old to have fun.” I love that! If that is where you are in this lifetime, do that. If you are younger than that, eat this world up, it waits for no one. I have to keep reminding myself that the eighties isn’t twenty years ago, it was forty years ago! For all my vacationing friends, remember to relax, you don’t have to fill every minute. Give yourself time to refocus too! Smell the roses!

Do you think Celestial events affect us? Apparently the world beyond us has had a whole host of things happening this year, eclipse, northern lights, meteor showers. Do they have any bearing on our internal selves? Moons and planets aligning, horoscope, hocus pocus and all the other things that happen, how does it impact us? You know when you get the feeling it’s going to rain or the sky looks like the season is changing, is that something we are born to know? This year has been so different. I don’t want it to stop, maybe it is just personal growth, but it is awesome.

I have adventure in my steps, wandering and wonderment. I have no idea why, the dreamer is a doer. Spontaneity has come back that seemed to have been lost along the way. Little self challenges seem to work for me. A little, “Je ne said quoi!” Letting things go, enjoying moments, removing worry, it’s lovely! I feel free and full. I have done nothing but everything at the same time. Another wish to bottle and sell for everyone to enjoy. The changes you make to yourself, to spill out for others to acquire.

I would like to think it’s not the season of the year, maybe just the season in your lifetime. Take good things you get in this world and keep it close and discard the rest. Roll in others happiness and spread it around, we need more of that in our lives. Lift each other, don’t watch others get knocked down, be the good thing. If it’s not your way, change it. Take the steering wheel back and set your course in this life. I will root for you, I will start the standing ovation, I will be proud of you, be proud of yourself you will come out the other side of it a better person!

Cloudy or not, here I come! I am an empath and all energy affects me, I can sugar coat that to make myself feel better. I have built compartments and still succumb to guilt for some of my motivations. I gift wrap the compartments so dealing with them are more appealing. I close the boxes sometimes to give my heart a break and let my mind takeover. This is my learned strategy, is it avoidance? Maybe more of a recess. Whatever it is, most of the time it works for me. Different times of the year, week, day, work better for me and I at least recognize that.

I would never want to be perceived as an absent friend, sometimes it is only my ears that I can offer. If you need me and reach out, I do my best foot forward to be there. If you know, you know. I can not always be physically where I am needed, but my thoughts have you in my cradle. We are human and most of us strive for the best we have to give without sacrificing boundaries and mental health. When in turmoil, we tend to have tunnel vision and can only see our own path.

I am in the sunshine mindset, whether the weather be, whatever the weather is. Vibes ablaze with all the good things! Can’t let the clouds and rain put the fire out! Try to take what you can from what is available, it truly is liberating, waiting just robs you of time. Worrying just adds years to your available time. Another month and a half of summer, don’t waste it!

I didn’t see the stars rain down last night, but I watched the sun rise. Whether you are up late or early, take the best parts and claim them for your own. Do the small things to grow sanity, peace, happiness, allow your heart to be full. You are the one in control of all of it. Let other people help you, you don’t need a solo show. Things will get neglected, laundry, floors, the dishes and that is okay. Give yourself permission to just be.

When your plate is full, eat what you can and scrape it into the garbage. Rinse your plate, let other people be your dishwasher. Chew your own food, there is nothing wrong with letting someone else help you clean it up. It means nothing to give up control and check all the boxes, it isn’t an exam, it’s not cheating to get help. My hope is everyone has a ying to your yang. It doesn’t have to be a partner, go external, a friend, aunt, cousin, professional.

My heart and mind buckets are full. Sometimes the buckets get spilled and you have to determine what the best method is to fill them. If you are not being real with yourself, you can’t pinpoint the problem. If the bucket is filled with dirty water, change the water. It is easy to get stuck, hyper focused, and have tunnel vision. It is okay to break out of this spiral with help. Let someone else rinse your plate.

Yoga is cropping up everywhere, like it was just invented. I remember in the 70’s one of the early morning shows was a lady that did yoga.. I think it was by the beach. Now I guess there is yoga with goats, it’s outside, inside, retreats, camps. I have one for you, yoga with wine. I mean core strength and balance could offer extra motivation if a wine glass was in one hand. All the poses with wine! Then maybe when the moves with the block, you could set it on the block, but couldn’t change to next position without picking the glass up with a different body part! Perhaps the glass should be some kind of chilled silicone in case you fall.

It is funny how things do trend though. Then it all changes and twenty years later it comes back. Personally I like what I like. I don’t judge others style and I don’t give a flying fig if someone is judging mine. I was actually just contemplating getting a perm. There tends to be a lot of matchy, matchy style out there. I like unique, maybe it’s eccentric at this stage of the game, but I don’t care. I still put in mini pigtails, I wore my leather jacket to death, love high boots, paisley, love big scarfs. One day I am in a blazer and another in a jean jacket. I won’t give up my hoop earrings or my last pair of thirty year old jeans! Young kids are into Crocks and I still have the same pair that my daughter got me when she was sixteen, almost 20 years ago!

Personally I love things that have quality and perseverance. I have bought things that last a year and things that have lasted forever. This year I would like winter wear that actually keeps me warm, because some of these claims to fame are full of it. Good for minus forty! Lies! I want some minus forty stuff AND something that actually keeps the bugs away, haven’t found a complete sure thing yet in either department. I will say though my UGG boots are the warmest things I have ever owned, no grip on ice what so ever, but the warmth has never let me down! I bet wine would keep me warm!

Stuff can build up, not bad things necessarily. Overflowing with happiness, hyperactivity, boredom, anything can just have you at a low boil. Keeping things mediocre and serene, doing the tiptoe, to keep everything calm and carry on. What if you let it out? Just run through your house, slam dunk laundry into the machine, make vroom vroom noises while you scrub the stovetop again, slap together a sandwich like you are in a hurricane and gotta make it before it all blows away. What will happen? Maybe the pets will slouch off into a corner or the wee ones will stare at you like you are nuts. Channel it and let it out.

What’s wrong with being fun as a grown up? Are we teaching our kids to harness all emotion and walk through life tight lipped and … and what? Have some fun with your life! Get off the tight rope, let your hair down, put lipstick on your eyebrows, do the moonwalk, sing loud. Well the expectation is… being civilized and setting the example. For whom, if it isn’t real? We are not robots, cry when you’re sad and laugh when you can. We get stale, wandering around in our own heads. I have made friends in a line up, stating things that pop into my mind and then out of my mouth. I had an elderly lady come up to me in the grocery store and thanked me for singing along to the music, because now she didn’t feel alone. You are not alone.

While you are thinking everyone is judging you, there is regret. While you are curbing your thoughts and actions, someone else is too. Say and do all the kind, fun things aloud. I climb grocery shelves because items I want are on top and I can’t reach, sure I get weird looks, once I got applause. Who cares? My long angry fuse doesn’t get time to start when I just be me. The little girl that learned to be quiet doesn’t need to live here anymore. Be your grown ass self! Live, do good things and enjoy your life!

I was stuck in a drive thru this past weekend. I went for someone else, so I was obligated to a forty five minute wait. I had a chance to observe a family obviously traveling from another province. The SUV was packed from top to bottom. They had three children surely under the age of eight. Momma had her hands full with the youngest and acquiring all the items needed for their pit stop and dad…. well was doing dad things. The oldest took on the role of caregiver to the middle child, Mr. Middle was a toddler. Clearly the age of understanding but doing as he pleased. This was a parking lot and the oldest was doing his best. Mr. Middle did not want to rejoin the family and his brother had squatted down to lay out the plan. At one point he looked towards mom for guidance, she clearly had her hands full. With a bit of tugging, he was able to get his brother to his feet and coax him to the car without much force, he even maneuvered him into a car seat.

I was impressed, and relieved. After being relieved of his duties,the oldest, simply turned back into the child he should be. I reflected on my own family during the rest of my wait. My oldest adoring her sister and then the two of them fiercely protecting their brother. They would override me in situations they felt were unsafe, they taught, they helped, they loved. Not saying this was always the way, there definitely was some pummelling going on over the years too. Siblings are extra arms. My oldest was my right arm for a very long time. I recognize that and am thankful. We don’t just raise our children, they raise us as well.

Families are a unit, a force to be reckoned with. All of it, the fighting, arguing is necessary but the pay off. Someone in your corner hopefully for life. Ones that will remember with you the moments after parents are gone. One that can call you out, insult you, but defend you at any given moment. They can call you anything, but nobody else can. As a parent that is our hope, that this unit is indestructible and will be a forever bond. Sure time and distance changes things, but in a crunch, they will have each other. When you don’t have a big family, the memories end with you. After matriarchs and patriarchs in family is gone, there is a loss. Hold on to ones that love you!