My Turn

Today is 12/31/17. I am not one to stay up to bring the New Year in. I'm not a huge party-er and I have to work at 7 am. So I am just sitting here, bundled up under the warm fuzzy blankets on my sofa, watching YouTube hiking videos and deep in thought about plans for 2018. In May, our youngest son graduates high school. He has been accepted to VMI and he is also considering enlisting in the Marine Corps. One way or another, he is leaving the nest. I am excited for him and very excited for my husband and I. I have been sitting here thinking about the year ahead, my mum business, paying down debt and maybe quitting my day job?? Earlier this month (in December) I found a list on a 20-something blog of all places, of 18 things to do in 2018. I never set New Year's resolutions, and I am still not going to call this list "resolutions," but they are certainly goals. And all totally doable. The original list is in bold and struck (stricken?) through. I had to alter ...

My boys are athletes and we take their health very seriously. I researched nutrition for athletes so that they perform at their peak. I know that practice and preparation and training are the foundation upon which success is built. I am viewing hiking the AT no differently. So when I began to think about preparing, here is my flow of thought: 1. We have gear, I wonder how much of it is usable for hiking The AT? to 2. I wonder kind of shoes I need to look for? to 3. How do I take care of my health on The AT? to 4. What kind of preventive measures can I take to prepare for The AT? which leads me to Training schedule. I work a fairly physical job. I help stock grocery store shelves. I pick up heavy things, I have to pay attention to lifting and bending and turning and I am on my feet for a lot of my day. I average 4 miles a day at work, in the grocery store. Instinctively, I don't feel like I need to join a gym and start weight lifting. What I feel is most important to do is ...

I am obsessed. I have been watching videos and Pinning and reading articles like a mad woman. I can barely focus on anything else. If I am fired from my job it will be for watching AT videos in my office while I am working. I add "while I am working" because I am still doing my work. But technically, I shouldn't have my phone open on YouTube with AT videos going. One of my ideas is for each of the boys to join me for a section. I would love for Sam to join me and maybe he will on a section that is not strenuous. I am resolved that it is not likely. So, I told each of the boys individually, of my intention. Usually when I have something to tell them, I send a group text. But this time, I wanted to get individual responses. I told #3 first. #3 is a 17 year old junior in high school. He smirked at me. I told him that I wanted him to join me for a section and he said he would. Because he's a good boy to his mama. Next I texted #1. His response was that this time nex...

When I started this little blog, my intent was to begin sharing my thoughts as a mom whose nest is emptying. For myself, blogging is cathartic. I have come to many realizations about myself in the process of blogging. I posted here a couple of times and then not again for a whole year. SO This new-ish blog is a sort of mid-life crisis chronicle. I mean... I don't think it's a crisis, per se... but a professional may term it differently. Life is a series of choices and living with those choices and hopefully making the best of the results of those choices. I admit that I have not necessarily made the best of my choices. Many times, I have moped and whined, feeling like things were happening to me and that I had no control. I was not really seeing or trying to make the best of a situation that I have choices in. I married at 19. And every choice I made for the last 27 years was for my family.  Which was the right thing for me to do. I look back and I feel successful. Ou...