It’s Time for a Simply Happy Summer.

This past 10 months have been anything but simple. Injuries, hospital stays, and physical therapy along with major (and majorly unplanned) home repairs made for a hectic, stressful, and not always very happy time. I had to “drop the ball” more times than I care to admit. I had to learn to do new things and admit that I couldn’t do other things on my own more than I care to admit. It’s been rough …

But … I’m coming out of that tunnel now. We are healing. Our home is healing. Our family is healing. Things are beginning to look up, and inspired by a wonderful friend, I think it is time to revive my little blog and my little Simply Happy Facebook group. I need an infusion of happiness and a big dose of simplicity in my life, so I’ve decided to focus on enjoying a Simply Happy Summer.

This summer has some limitations though.

• There is still work to be done on the house. Rebuilding fences isn’t exactly happy work, but the finished project will be a relief.
• Hiking in the summer in Washington is amazing, but leaving my still-not-too-mobile husband at home is not. Hiking will likely not make the list this year.
• I work. It’s not exactly my happy place, but I’m planning to make the absolute best of it this summer.

Here are a few things I will enjoy to the fullest …

I will cook and eat outside as much as possible. Food tastes better when it’s cooked outside and eaten outside. It’s also better when you share that time with friends and family. It’s basically my favorite part of summer.

Fresh air makes me feel alive. We’ve had all the windows open for a bit now, and I hope to be able to keep them wide open until it gets chilly again in September.

My back porch is my happy place. I have small plans to make it cozy and comfortable for the season.

Summer is supposed to be laid back. I plan to not plan for every day and every minutes. I plan to relax and enjoy the weather, the food, the friends, and basically not much else.

What will you do to make this your perfect Simply Summer?

Word of the Year: Surrender

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions anymore. I have NOT lost weight, NOT quit smoking, and NOT eaten healthier more years than I can count. Of course, I have also spent many years NOT remembering my word of the year past March, too, but I’m giving it a go one more time.

I thought of several words that might be fitting for 2019.

Construction … because parts of my house are quite literally torn apart right now.

Love … because my husband, children, and community could use more of that from me always.

Simplicity … because I always feel most in control of my world when there is simply less to be controlled.

But with each of those words I feel like I am focusing on the problems – the water damage, the missed family time, and the mess – rather than the solutions, and with each problem I have faced AND SOLVED in the past I realized there was a single commonality.

When the world has seemed darkest and when I have felt I have nothing left … no ideas, no inspiration, no strength to keep going … there has always been one thing left for me.

God.

In my weakest moments, I pray for strength. On my most anxiety-ridden days, I pray for calm. In the saddest of hours, I pray for peace.

In other words, when all feels lost, I turn my heart to God and say, “I have nothing left. You take over. Give me what I need. Show me the way. Steer me on Your course.”

It’s easy in the good times to know that God has greater plans for me; it’s really hard to remember that in the tough times. It’s hard to see his Grace when I feeling that everything I am doing, I am doing wrong or in vain.

But in 2019, I will strive only to surrender. I will surrender to God’s will on the good days and the bad. I will surrender to God’s plan even when I think I know what is best.

The greatest message I have ever received from Him is that His plan for me is greater than anything I could imagine, and I hope that in 2019 I will trust that more than ever.

Happy New Year!

When a Simple Life Gets Complicated

I haven’t blogged in a while. A looong while. Here’s my excuse: Life was getting busy again – with work, school, activities, an injury that laid my husband up for a while, and then a promotion of sorts for him that led to time away from home and now even longer work days.

So I did what I do when things become hectic. I take a look at my calendar and my daily to do lists, and I ask myself, “What can I put down for now (or sometimes forever)?” This blog, and the Facebook group I had created, were the most-likely suspects. It wasn’t a hard decision because I know my priorities (did I ever write that post up?), and I knew that this could easily be either a for now or a forever, and either would be okay.

But I’m back today … at least for today. Not because life slowed down again. Rather because life seems to be a bullet train with pit stops in over-busy, exhausted, and stressed out right now.

Because that’s okay.

Life ebbs and flows.

Sometimes relationships are great; sometimes you want to choke your partner out.

Sometimes work is amazing, and sometimes you find yourself scrolling job ads online.

Sometimes kids are loving and responsible and sweet-as-pie, and sometimes you smile and consider reform school.

Ebb.

Flow.

I am in the midst of an ebb right now.

I love my job, but I am busier than I have ever been there and feel a ton of pressure to get things right.

I love my husband, but we are both busier than ever and not connecting like we need to.

I love my children, but right now they are just a lot to handle.

I love my home, but right now … well, that’s a whole other blog post entirely.

Ebb: a flowing backward or away. That pretty much sums things up. Things feel a little backward right now.

I am stressed. I am worried. I am over-busy and over-tired, and I wish like hell I could get a break.

But I reassured to know deep inside my soul that this is just an ebb, and the flow is inevitable.

 

Summer

Summer came to my house last night, and it was wonderful.

I know the season normally hits on June 21st, but not this year. Yesterday we put chairs around the fire pit. We welcomed the best friends into our backyard for burgers and potato salad and s’mores. The kids stayed up past their bedtimes, and the adults talked and laughed until midnight came and went. And then instead of saying good night, we said, “When are we gonna do this again?!?”

THAT’S summer to me.

The last few weeks months have been busy and crazy and hectic and at times quite frustrating, but that’s all okay because … summer.

Summer is a slow down.

Summer is a relax and enjoy yourself.

Summer is jumping on the trampoline for hours and then snuggling up on that same trampoline with your friends and an iPad to watch a movie.

It’s beers around the fire.

It’s good friends and lots of laughs.

It’s sunshine and some rainy days but more sunshine on the way always.

Summer came to my house last night, and I have big plans to make no plans and enjoy it.

Why I love the ocean

I’m visiting my ocean this weekend. It’s my second annual “mom-cation.” One night, 24 hours, alone in a hotel room by the ocean. The hotel room is … well, it was really cheap, and you get what you pay for.

But my ocean … my ocean never disappoints.

I drove just under three hours to get here, and my very first stop was Pacific Beach State Park. I almost ran across the dunes to get my first up close glimpse and breath of it. It was windy and chilly of course because PacNW-beaches, but it was glorious.

That’s my new favorite word … glorious. It’s the only word I can find to describe something that is so beautiful and wonderful and amazing that it absolutely must be a gift from God. 

Anywho, I walked the beach for about half an hour. There were lots of broken shells mosaic-ed across the sand, crab shells strewn about by the tide, oh-so-much-driftwood, and there was the sand, and the ocean, and me.

As I walked I felt a loosening inside my chest. I felt like I had been bound with ropes for a really long time and then magically set free. If it hadn’t been so chilly and if I hadn’t been hugging my arms so tightly around my shivering self, I might have tossed back my head and shouted, running down the beach like a child. It is the single most amazing feeling of my life.

And it’s always this way when I can be near my ocean.

I remember the first time I felt that kinship with the ocean. I was staying my first Jersey Shore vacation with my husband’s family, and our first day on the beach had been so lovely. So hot and sunny and the water so cool and refreshing. As everyone else began to file up to the house to begin showers and get ready for dinner, I hung back alone for a few moments.

I just sat in the sand, watching the sea. I was and still am intrigued by its enormity. Its vastness.

When I am near the ocean I feel very small. My world feels small. My problems and worries and anxieties for a brief moment feel small.

The ocean is my touchstone. It gives me perspective on life. It reminds me that no matter what I have going on my life and no matter how big and scary it feels, it is tiny really and manageable and nothing I can’t handle.