Ever realized that "stressed" is
"desserts" spelled backwards?!? 
If you ask me, it's not just by chance. 
It's not a conspiracy, either.  It
really is one of life's most important choices that we face: do you go with
'stressed,' or do you go with the desserts? 

This idea of giving experiences rather than things is evergreen, and especially relevant this time of year when so many of us honor the spirit of gift giving.

 

I'm a game changer. Not in the cliche way that the phrase "game changer" is used in the office, but in the literal sense. By and large, I’m a rule follower. I view the speed limit as a limit so I am more than comfortable driving 60 in a 65. If my office hours are 8-5, I hyperventilate if I’m not in by 7:55. And when it comes to games, I’m a stickler for the rules. Rules in a game set the boundaries and ensure fairness among the players so I like to make sure the rules are established before anyone starts the game.

After three months of "sabbatical" (aka, unemployment), I'm back at work. And it feels so good. I feel like a whole person once again. Now, the fact that work makes me feel like a 'whole person, as if being a wife and mother - and person - isn't enough, can be debated, good, bad, otherwise. But if I learned anything in three months of contemplating my work life, my professional self, and the meaning of work, it's that it's all very personal. Notions of "fulfillment" and "purpose" are as individual as people are. We each measure contentment in our own way.

Hey there - remember me?

The BadAssMama has been MIA for the past week or so. Things have been a bit hectic with the busy-ness of Thanksgiving, entertaining the kids while they were home from school and dealing with a brutal case of food poisoning (nothing like a mystery stomach ailment to kick off the holiday season!).

For the past several weeks, I’ve watched Facebook friends update their statuses, each day naming the things for which they are thankful.  There is a theme that runs throughout these posts of love for kids, spouses, siblings, and aging parents. Nobody posts that they are thankful for new cars or big houses. It is our families that matter and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on that.

Letting Go is a process.  Letting Go means to stop giving attention to particular person or past experience and to focus on the here and now.  We hold on to the past because of our emotions.  It may be painful or joyful memories.  When we hang on to the past, we are clouding our view of the present.

And we all do it!

I received an unexpected gift from The Hubs this morning.

When the bus pulled up to our lane, the kids yelled, “Oooh!  Look at your house.”

Looking out the window, we saw nothing but a curl of smoke where our house once stood.  Exiting the bus, mouths gaping in disbelief, tears streaming down our faces, my brother Lee and I ran, trembling, into the waiting arms of our Grandmother.  Our house burned to a pile of smoldering ash while he and I were at school and Granny, our guardian, was visiting her sister who lived a few miles away.  I was eight years old.  My brother was six.

As we began to return to the semi-normal pace of life this week after the storm(s), I realized that I was WAY behind in my holiday shopping (meaning I hadn't even begun to THINK about it). As I opened the spreadsheet from last year (yes, I do keep a spreadsheet...), something just didn't sit right with me. How could we spend money on relatively thoughtful but truly unnecessary items for friends and family when so many around us had lost so much?