Tag Archives: a better life

Hear Myself Living

It’s okay to change your mind. I change mine over something almost every day and I think being adaptable smooths the rough edges of change.

Even though I didn’t plant any flowers in the ground this year, it didn’t stop me from having flowers. There’s something inside of me especially this time of year that just needs to see bloom. I went to a local garden center to see if my friend had anything in stock that sparked my heart. She knows my yard is shaded and helps me choose plants that will be happy here. She pointed to a flower basket that was pretty in it’s simplicity, but I wanted two that matched. She looked around and found one more and they were the only ones there, so I purchased both.

Working from home, I need a reason to step outside each day. There’s just enough to tend to in the yard where I spend a few minutes rather than hours like previous summers and that’s a refreshing change. Summer is a busy time of year for a lot of families, but I’m grateful to be in a season where I get to slow the pace. Yes, my darling…this is the summer I want to hear myself living.

A Life Worth Watching

This video was in my FB memories and I still love it! It exemplifies the relationship between parent and child, on into the child’s adulthood. I learned recently that even though our children may already be adults they are still watching how we live our life.

Over the weekend I rearranged the den furniture trying to make a space for the Christmas tree. I’ve been thinking about the Christmas tree since October! I have several options where the tree can stand, but I know better than to give myself too many options. Just because the kids are grown and have left the nest doesn’t mean our lives become any less beautiful. If anything it gives me free reign which is slightly terrifying! I can only imagine all the holiday glitter choices.

Live a life worth watching, not only for the people in your life, but live it for you.

Follow the One Who Knows

I’ve been consistent with my daily walks and noticed the sky was cloudy, but stepped outside anyway. Once I rounded the corner from my street to the next, it began to rain. Normally, it doesn’t bother me to walk in the rain, but I’d already done that this week. I was caught in a downpour while out running errands and my t-shirt became soaked. I’m a little bit past the wet t-shirt contest era, so I turned around and came back home.

I felt a twinge of disappointment for not completing what I’d set out to do, but knew to try again later. Within seconds of being home, the sun came out and that irritated me even more, but I smiled and acknowledged that God can change any circumstance in an instant and that includes the weather. I’m wrestling with a feeling of discontentment today and told God as much. I’m truly blessed in so many ways, but there’s always been this little piece inside of me striving for better. Things don’t happen fast enough, or they happen all at once. While whining to God, I heard the words, “Have you done the last thing He told you to do?”

Nope, but I’m working on it and making progress in decluttering and downsizing my belongings, but there’s still a ways to go. It’s a process going through a 4 year collection of items, but there’s no doubt in my mind it’ll happen. I’ve given myself to the end of the year to see a difference and then the wintertime it’ll become more serious, so by next Spring I’ll receive some clarity of whether to stay put, or go. Yesterday, there were eight kids screaming in the yard next-door, so that tipped the scale toward go. Not that I have anything against children, but feel past that stage of life as well.

This surmises what’s past, but uncertainty of what’s ahead. There’s a feeling of togetherness here, but we can always return to what’s known. For me, it’s to stay steady along this path and to follow the one who knows.

The Door of Possibilities

I slept in this morning and the large clock hanging on the bedroom wall said, 8:00, but daylight saving time kicked in and it was actually 7:00 am. That’s the only downside to having a real clock in every room. I’ll be turning them all back an hour.

Friends have been asking, “What are your plans now that you’re an empty nester?” In October I’d planned to get my passport, so if I decided to visit friends outside the US, I’d be free to do so. You are asked to turn in your birth certificate along with the passport application and I have no idea where that might be. Yesterday, a friend told me the easiest way to find it. He encountered the same obstacle while applying for his passport, so I was grateful to have seen him on my walk.

I came home and looked up the website he’d referred me to and it looked pretty straightforward. After filling in all the information, I had a choice to make. I could pay $49 plus another $10 fee to download the document and mail it in, or for those who don’t have a printer they charge $89 plus additional fees to mail me everything needed to be filled in and mail it back. From what I gather this company would be creating a birth certificate for me, but that’s not what I was looking for. I wanted the original.

Another online search took me to the Register of Deeds in the county where I was born. This website had a vintage search engine to look up vital records. Typing in my mother’s name and the date of my birth, nothing was found, so I replaced her name with my father’s and a record of my birth came up. It was funny that my father’s name was listed first, but back then it was the proper way. I printed out the document and will fill it in to mail to the Register of Deeds with a $10 check per copy wanted of the certificate.

I had laid the whole passport thing aside because of the hiccup with the birth certificate, but I believe in my heart God wants me to have one. Where He wants me to travel to, I don’t know yet, but a passport certainly does kick open the door of possibilities.

Feature Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash

Dream Up A Good Life

Over the years, I’ve used Facebook to post things that resonate with me. Kind of like a virtual scrapbook because of their memories feature. This time of year being pumpkin everything, it looks like I used to visit Starbucks…a lot.

Quite a few posts have become reality in my life. What I post are photos or memes reflecting what’s in my heart of how I see my life becoming, or being. Recently, I gave away my desk even though my original intent was to sell it. I called a neighbor to help move it outside so I could take photos to list it and leave it outside for pickup. He took a picture of it and sent it to his girlfriend to see if she wanted it and she did. We loaded it into his vehicle and I’m happy it went to a good home.

This is what I’m doing with a lot of my belongings by walking them out of the house. Some will be sold and others given away, but I’m clearing existing energy to make room for new, considering I’ve had some of these items for 20 years or more. There’s one thing I’m holding space for and it’s the large, wooden kitchen table for my daughter.

Since giving away my desk, I’ve been sitting at the kitchen table to work and write, but it was surprising to see this photo pop up this week in my FB memories from 5 years ago. It looks just like what I’m living today except the woman in the photo is younger, but her table is sitting by a window just like ours.

Five Years Ago

I’m not sure where this path will lead, but I do know to keep following my heart. The heart knows how to dream up a good life.

Get Disturbed

It’s refreshing to look back over your life and see how far you’ve come. My daughter will be 21 in August, but when we started this adventure, she was 13. I didn’t know what our new life looked like, but I did know, there had to better.

It was one of those agonizing moments of, Which will be worse? Staying where we are, or leaving?

The first part of making a new life for yourself is making a decision to do so. Once you decide, you can act. Are you disturbed with your life?

I was, but then I became complacent. There was the proverbial list of excuses for staying. Sometimes it’s easier to stay put, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy my darling. I had to let it disturb again. I had to let it bother me to the point of leaving.

Disturbed is not angry. Disturbed feels like a steady burden of unrest.

Is it time for a better life? Then it’s time to get disturbed.