Encouragement

First Grade, The Real Tearjerker? First Grade. Maybe I’m the only one here but I feel more emotional over my daughter starting the first grade than I was about Kindergarten. It’s possible that I could simply be grieving the end of summer: the movie nights, the slow Friday mornings, the days spent in the sun with my littles creating little tan lines and memories. For some reason I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that the coming of this school year marks an unrecognized milestone. Kindergarten was such a big deal, first day of “big school,” first time riding the school bus, first time shopping for school supplies and lunch boxes. The first time she tried on her little...

In my house, I'm the glue that holds the family together. I do not mean this in a prideful way because I would love to give someone else this title, at times, just so I can breathe. I have to remember, I am used to this role. I'm built for this role with almost all of my working career being in a management role, but some days I want to scream. After my 12-year stint in management in radio, I went back to work the newsroom briefly, taking on the role of an assignments manager. This manager is the brain of a newsroom and gets pulled in many directions, daily. Assignment editors work in a newspaper office, or radio and TV...

Summer Is Almost Over, Are You Ready? Heading back to school means new chaos, new schedules, earlier bedtimes, new homework, new friends, new beginnings. Back to school shopping and uniform purchases, completing summer reading, and keeping your fingers crossed that your kiddos didn’t spend so much time having fun and unexpectedly mushed their academic brains. While this next chapter can be exciting, it is certainly a time of transitions, and you’re probably hyper focused on prepping your little ones with encouragement, expectations, and enthusiasm. But inside of your head, if you’re anything like me, you’re also in need of your own affirmations, strength, and serenity. It's easy to fall into this next school year and, like other years before, unintentionally lose...

Getting Ready For School Orientation Preparing Myself for about Back to School Orientation: We’re getting closer and closer to Back to School orientation and I have butterflies. It’s like the last few weeks of summer are speeding by. I’m doing my best to soak up every last minute with the minis before it’s time for them to head to school. Meeting the teacher makes me a little anxious. What if my kids don’t like their teachers? What if … their teachers don’t love them? I want their teachers to know what wonderful kids that they get to spend time with. I want my boys to enjoy spending time with their teachers. What if their teachers don’t push them? What if they push...

To The Overwhelmed... I know you are overwhelmed right now. Simple tasks are pushed aside and your anxiety seems to fill the room. Laundry piles up and to-do lists grow longer. You wonder how you let it get this bad and if it will ever feel like you aren’t drowning. I know it takes everything for you to get out of bed some days. To face another day after another sleepless night. A simple shower seems daunting. You feel so broken and unrepairable. Dear Overwhelmed, I see you and I’m here to walk beside you. You are not alone. I’ve been there. Waves of depression and the heaviness of keeping the mask up in public. Avoiding responsibilities, walking around in a zombie-like stage of...