RealMamaNoDrama

So, I heard this quote a while ago (I am no stickler for details so I have no idea where it came from but it definitely wasn't my brain) "Parenting: the only job you try to work yourself out of." Wow! For whatever reason that has stuck with me for a long time and I try to remember it daily. I also thank God daily that it's our job to work our way out of this job and they are truly His, because this nonsense can be exhausting!  It can be hard to focus on the big picture as the day goes on and we are all whirling around one another like something you'd see on Animal Planet. My mind can wander. Often it wanders to what these little people may be like when they are older. What type of person they'll be, what they'll be like to interact with, as an employer or as a spouse. Then I stop and think of all I have to do before sending these kids out to fend for themselves, and that can be overwhelming but also very centering. Because fact of the matter is I do

“Marriage is not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and your choice of partner.”― Amy Bloom The dance that began it all! This is the quote that was plastered on all two-hundred plus programs handed out at my wedding and that still hangs on the wall in a shadow box. I loved it then and I love it now but for very different reasons. You see, the girl that put that on her wedding program and the woman who reads it now are two very different people. I thought I knew marriage then and now I’ve lived marriage.  That will change you. It wasn’t conscious at the time but I believe that young girl put that lovely quote on there because it seemed wise and as if it proclaimed that her new husband and her had the skills necessary for the never-ending dance they were vowing. We thought we were perfectly paired and would make a great team but the truth is there was little balance to be

Many people in my life that have been dropping off social media or using it less and less because in one way or another they feel bad about something their lives, watching others seemingly “flawless” lives unfold. To be honest every time I hear this my first thought is, WHAT?!?!?! You don’t really believe that do you?  All I can think is, you realize that’s like rolling out of bed, morning breath, hair a mess, shamelessly dressed and  turning on the TV, to see a model at a red carpet event looking flawless and thinking, "that’s it I will never be as pretty as her today SO...I am just going to go back to bed," right?  Those are totally different things, as different as the FB snippets of ones life and then their reality. As different as your life and their life, as different as what God has prepared you for and what He prepared them for. What an unfair comparison you make of yourselves!  Why torment yourself like that? My second thought is that I find it terribly