For my next 30 years....

Today is my birthday. The big 30. I have had some teasing, some even apologizing as I hit this number. Like 30 is a bad thing. Honestly as I look back over my life I am so very happy to be having this day and the life I have had up to this point. For a long time I was 100% convinced I would die young. My FMS symptoms started in my teens and with so many saying that it was in my head or that I was crazy I was truly convinced that I either was going crazy or something was so wrong but no one could see it because I was meant to die. So I never really expected to hit this birthday. I have had my share of heartache as well. Loosing my babies was probably the worst emotionally followed by the loss of my grandparents and my love's battle with his own issues. Those things though helped shape the beauty that is my life. They helped form the bounty that is my marriage. Many think I make up our relationship but today when I opened my birthday card J.W. had written, "It feels like yesterday you were 17 and I had just fallen in love with you. I know many years have passed but I promise to make each day feel like it was only yesterday." Yeah that is my guy. All day Maggy has been texting me "Happy Birthday" over and over so I know how excited she is that it is my birthday. My email has been beeping like crazy with messages and my facebook even has some sweet words. It is humbling and amazing to feel so much love from so many. I see all of that love and can't help but be excited to turn 30 and eager for the future. I don't know what it holds. I know there will be heartbreak, there always is in life. I also know that there will be joy and love and passion. Thank you guys for being a part of that even if I have been a bit absent lately!

50 Followers!!!!

So we are a bit horrible about celebrating the usual milestones. Blogiversaries and hitcounts and the like but this one just made me so tickled I had to share. We hit 50 followers. Sure I imagine quite a few gave up on us in our slump faze. I forgive them. But hello 50 is a pretty nifty number! (Yes there are 52 but Gracie and I don't count, haha.) So woop woop!! Thank you to everyone who reads us. Comment!! We love it and try very hard to respond when you do.  I know for me it makes me feel a little less lonely. Being home with my kids and the stories in my head can be a bit isolating at times. Add that our area is very transient and my health is so cruddy and I am not a very outgoing person and you are stuck with a pretty shy chick. You guys make me feel a lot less like the wall flower! Oh and I even added a cool little facebook button over there in our sidebar to my facebook so anyone who wants to can friend me there. I admit I am not on it much though lol though I plan to be more as I get my writing out there!! So anyway back to the purpose of this! You guys rock!! Thanks again for making us hit the beautiful 5-0 mark!

Uplifting news.

So I have been doing my usual news wandering. In all the crime, and economic, and depressing news a story I read really stood out to me. A man who had a heart transplant is competing in Ironman this year. How awesome is that? This guy has had years and years of illness and hardship. He beats one thing ad another jumped him like a street thug yet now he is so healthy that he is running one of the biggest races on the planet. I say 3 cheers for him and for others like him who continue to fight against all odds and come out winners. Even if all he does is finish before the deadline to me he is a huge winner!!!

Good news and blessings!

I was doing the daily news wandering when this headline caught my eye. It was hugely uplifting to read something positive in the news. CNN usually does okay at putting some good topics up but still it is so easy to get mired in the negativity. Today we are surrounded by violence and tragedy in our media. Newspapers, television, radio, and yes even us bloggers can get so consumed with the bad that we forget the good. We forget to mention the miracles, the joyous reunions, the beautiful laughter of a child because hate and greed and fear are much more potent feelings. So today I wanted to think happy thoughts and of blessings. I am healthy and happy in love. My children are growing and beautiful. My husband has a career he is proud of and a heart of gold. I have two women who are more sisters to me than my own family at times. We never want for anything. We bought a beautiful home! Those are only a fraction of the richness that fills my life. What are your blessings? What is your good news for today? What drives your laughter and lifts your soul? Remember always that even in moments of tragedy and pain blessings surround us. They filter through our lives by the touch of a friend, the kindness of a stranger and the love of a child returned to waiting arms. Hug your blessings close today and always.