Lucy, Lucy, Lucy

Surprised Face!

Would you like to see my surprised face???? I received a note in the mail last week.....actually in invitation........summons to jury duty. I have never been invited and sometimes we get negative of the unknown. After pondering the whole jury thing......I began to feel a little stressed. We were eating dinner, Bobby and I, and he asked, are you ok?? Seem a little distracted......I said, with not the most enthusiastic voice... I am so dreading jury duty Monday. I expected that since I was talking to my mostly negative hubby....and the pesimistic one of the two......that he would feed my insecurity......he would be just as negative about this whole deal as I was being.......but to my dismay......he looked right at me....as I was munching on my salad....and said "you really need to embrace it, it could be an adventure something you have never done"! As I sat there....with my surprised face of shock........I realized that is what it is like to live with someone positive all the time. I said to myself....is that what it is like to live with me???? Someone always answering the negative with a positive. I said, you are so right sugar.....I need to embrace it as a new experience.

I arrived her at the Pasco County government center at 7:30 am........stood in a long line.......cleared security....and was sent to a room with about 278 others giving up their whole day like me. This judge came in, Judge Andrews and gave us an overview of what the day might entail. He asked, who is happy to be here.....and remembering my encouraging words from my wise hubby.....I quickly raised my hand with about 10 others. I opened my laptop.....loaded up all my favorite websites including AOL express! Low and behold my best buddy appreared online so we have been chatting to pass the time. I loaded FB My email and blogger.......so the dreaded time of getting nothing done.......is quit the contrary.

I pondered the fact that sometimes negitivity feeds from negitiity...which was what I was looking for from Bob and truely expected that I could find it in his response. INSTEAD he shocked me and reminded me that every day we live....we have the opportunity to embrace new adventures. I realized that we embrace a jet ski day.....we embrace doing our favorite hobbies......embracing the fun things of life how we seem to not want to embrace the things that we are not sure are fun.

I do not take the opportunity to commend my handsome hubby for reminding me that we all need to learn to embrace each moment that is given to us. We talk about embracing life alot in our blogs sometimes we just need to be reminded as the weight of life hangs heavy around our necks. Some of us have more on our plate then we think there is space....but remembering somethings we stress over....that we need to embrace as new experiences......like if you are negotiating with an insurance company you are learning something new....or if you are deciding to write a letter you have never written.....those are not the heavy things.......evaluate the NOT SO heavy stuff...and embrace the new experience....and save the worry for the BIG STUFF!

We all have big stuff we have to tackel when they hit us like a ton of bricks......but if we try to break down and prioritize the stuff that just takes time....like phone calls, emails, call backs, negotiatons.....once you have gotten those off your plate things do seem a little lighter.

So, word for the day! EMBRACE the not so pleasant things in your life....NOT everything you can embrace....but try to find the small stuff out of the big stuff to get rid of....even if it means it takes a few hours of your day....and try to eleminate things one by on.....until you are only worried about the outcome of the big stuff......you won't be waisting any brain power...and if you are like me I can use all he brain power I can get. Happy Blogging EVERYONE! Until next time........

Embrace Every Day!

Wow what a concept. I am here in Ga this beautiful Saturday morning....the girls are still sleeping at 10:44 and they decided to make today a down day. Staying here all day at the hotel to do just about nothing. We marched around Wild Adventure park all day yesterday to be shearly exhausted. I caught a few rays and the pool is caling my name today....so 11:30 I will be catching more sun as it is my down day too. As I sat here at my computer pondering on what to write about today......I found this beautiful saying of embracement. Many of us have many stressers in our lives right now....pulling us in every direction. We think that just when we have a moment to take a few breaths....another wave slams us again.....and at times takes us under. As we embrace each new day....as a challenge of life....I am reminded that not no one said that this journey would be easy. The strong truely are the ones that prevail!
I think of my many friends in my circle and myself...that just when you think you might have that down day...and plans to lay in the sun with no worries....then you get a phone call from a sick child at home...and you scamble to find her an urgent care clinic as you are 300 miles away...and she says, I am a big girl....I will be ok without you! What mom wants to hear that??? Not me........LOL Nothing like the mom who has raised her children the best of her ability....with the knowledge WE have at the time....and even though they think they have it all together....do they ever???? Maybe when they have children if their own......but until that day comes they never really know what it is like to truely worry about someone!
So as I pondered my little down day....as I spent the last two hours online looking for urgent care centers....talking to bcbs.....finding the best place for Nat to go.......and made her promise to call me in a few hours...I thought.....SHHHEEWWWW it will always be this way wont it??? Yes, I have determined that my life would be boring without the daily challenges of life...to keep my mind sharp! I am good at what I do based on the challenges of my journey. I am sharp because I have to be....I know computer research on things because of experience....HHHMMMM that might be another day for another blog......but today is EMBRACE whatever your circumstances might be!
Just like all of us....we begin every day....with the hopeful feeling that our day will be smooth and a day that nothing gets thrown in our face....however, that is not reality is it? Every day you and I have the opportunity to embrace whatever comes our way.....our hubby having a bad attitude maybe, sick children, homework not getting done, floors not getting mopped, melt downs from someone in our home....spending hours finding information online for a project or solving a problem.....you name it anything can be the culpret of our day falling apart....but whateve it is....I think if we learn to look at our day.....and embrace what we know might come our way....it might make it an easier stresser.
I challenge myself everyday....to embrace a new day. I don't always accomplish the embracement.....but tomorrow is a new day to try. I challenge myself...to take the "additional" stressers (the ones that I don't expect) and make me stronger and wiser. Knowing that what ever the journey has for me today.......maybe my experience will be that I can help a friend through the same thing when they approach that part of their journey.
So, happy blogging everyone....and today....I will take the embracement of the beach goer.......I will tackle what I can in the time given to me today....and work on what is left another day....prioritize my thoughts....stresses each day.....and know....I am only capiable of so many things in a 24 hour period. So let today....be the day....you embrace what comes your way.......like each wave on the shore....as it might be rough waters....usually....will wash up a beautiful shell from the depths of the ocean! Take that as your challenge.....today and every day! UNTIL next time everyone!

You Stole my Happy, You made me cry!

What a statement from a new country song by Carrie Underwood. How do we allow someone to steal our happy and make us cry! And it happens...usually by the person in our life that we love the most.
In my other posts we have talked about happy.....Coach K blogged last that Happiness is a CHOICE! We are not born with happy.......then again......there are truely happy babys in a great environment.....a baby will be content without anything else around it. but the surroundings always have to be right.....so I guess we are not born with "happy'! We so choose every day....that today I will find a happy thought, a happy moment, a happy place......and it all starts with us being happy inside...and others we choose to keep our company.
Today, I was honored to sit at a table of "siblings" and two wonderful neices. Jimmy, Johnny, Diane, Gail, Meghan from STL and Sharai. As we all were asked by "oldest" one of the bunch of our goals, things we have done lately that maybe didn't get passed around at the last family gathering...it was a hour of getting closer and deepening relationships. Life is ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS! Whether it is building a great friendship, business partnership or a bunch of brothers and sisters sitting around lunch and making sure that everyone knows that you care about your life.
I am special in this group of brothers and sisters...because....they did not have to love me because I was born into their family.......they chose to love me....as the daughter of the man that loves their mother. We don't share the common bonds of biological connection, however, we do share bonds of memories of child hood (maybe me more then them as the boys were older when I graced their family. But still the same, I have many memories of growing up...and watching their children grow from littles (ok honestly was the built in babysitter for each of them!) :-)
As the hour and 1/2 came to a close I got in my car and reflected on the time we spent. Totally quality. Nothing to distract any of us.....just a genuine concern from the eldest of where our lives were headed....where we have been lately.....and the smile of each one of them that if the world did fall around my feet....I certainly know I have all four of them to lean on!
In 1962 I lost a brother at birth. In my heart...I have always know I was supposed to have had an older brother to share my life with when things got tough. God has his reasons for everything and know I will see him someday. But until then, God has given me TWO brothers and TWO sisters......when we were together....there was no division........it was just a group of "siblings" sharing memories and life the way God intended it to be.
I had a happy spot at the end of that table.....a choice.......to have attended and not miss out on the great gifts I have been given in this life 4 wonderful brothers and sisters I can truely call God Given. As I smiled in my car....I felt a happy glow come over me.......as I pondered on my "family" connections...and my wonderful neices, I was reminded once again.......how blessed I really am.......and no one ever has the right to steal away your happy.
Let this week.....you ponder on the simple things in life that truely bring you happiness or a joyful smile in your soul! Relationships you have in your life......never take it for granted.......and remember...this week......don't let anyone steal your happy!
Jimmy, Johnny, Diane and Gail I love you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart.......for your love today and everyday. Happy blogging everyone...until next time.......remember the relationships in your life....cherish them......you do not know the reason or the season. If someone tries to steal your happy......call someone you have built a great relationship with...and cash it in.....and let them help you find it! UNTIL!

Happy Mothers Day!

For years.....since I lost Mother in 1995 I do not do well with this holiday. Biologically I am an only child.......and seems to me that when you loose one parent.....you feel the cling to the one parent left. I am blessed to have great friends, that every year will faithfully celebrate this holiday with me.......as an escape on Anclote Island. This year, they were on vacation up to 5 o'clock Saturday, but still graced our presence to jump on our boat.......head to the Island and celebrate us as mothers....Thank you my friend!
Mother was born May 19, 1943. I lost her suddenly in 1995 and it truely left an empty hole in my heart. We had a different relationship....she was my friend. The loss now 15 years later......sometimes seems as real as it was yesterday and sometimes, it seems like forever since I saw her face and her smile. She was a great lady.....and proud to say, that I am great mix of my father and my mother. Both of my biological parents had a true love for life. They both embraced love, challenages, compassionate hearted, givers and much more. I know I am a true balance of the Lion, the Otter and she was a bit of the golden at times......There certainly is no beaver in my family genes!
I have friends and family who not only have lost one parent, but both. I honor you and your strength to make it through Mothers day and Fathers day....as June approaches these days are to make us remember our mothers and fathers....and give them the honor they deserve.
I was truely honored as a mother of 4 (my two dogs) and as wife. My husband swept me off.......my girls were with me shelling on the island......soaking up every ray of sunshine we could find. On a white sandy beach...breezes blowing....and a few times...as the breeze blew across my face.....I felt her......smiling down on me and the most special grands she could've had! Natalie remembers a little of her...and the best grams a grand could ask for. As monumental moments happen these next few years, I know that she is smiling down at the woman Natalie has become.......watches over Gina......and surely is my gardian angel.
Don't always have answers for the why's in life...and learning more every day....not to question.....but....that everything in our life happens for a reason...and sometimes we just have to gain strength from adversity. As I remember her, her smile, her laugh.......her love for me as her only child......I smile too...and remember only the happiest times and know that someday......the promise of God....is that I will see her again.
Happy Blogging everyone.........UNTIL!

Tribute to the last 181/2 Years invested!

This is a tribute to the last 18 1/2 years of my life....that I have invested in my oldest daughter, Natalie Loren Whaley. Being a mom is truely the hardest job I have ever applied for. It comes with many challenges. The first and foremost challenge of being a mom.....is that you only have 18 years to turn them from the little people they are so dependent on you, into an adult ready to face the world without you. It truely seems like yesterday when I was in the hospital room, looking at this tiny miracle God gave Bobby and I......with a little hospital hat and nothing else......and thinking....how will I survive and raise her. There is so much to teach her in such a short time. As the years evolved, and she grew, started school and found her independence in elementary school, embarked into middle school, found herself in the wrong crowd in the beginning of high school..battled her share of illnesses these last two years......and now....facing one of the most important times of her life, Graduation! WOW!
I think that if parents can stand at graduation...and know they have given that child the tools of life, the chance of independence to know they can do anything on their own........the abilities to survive what this world will throw at them.......(of couse we all hope they will come back to mom for advice)......but what an accomplishment to know....I have done my best to add each year, to her tool belt, each tool she will need to face situations in the real world! College in the fall (hopefully) a job.......marriage someday, family....and what will she draw from that tool bag.....to raise her own children!? Ultimately God's plan of reproduction! The circle of life.......once again......!
I sit here.....very proud of the woman Natalie has become. Her adversities have truely made her stronger. Her friendships that some began in 2nd grade......stronger then they ever have been. Her relationship with God still growing every day. Her convictions, morals and ability to make wise decisions without me have truely proven.....she is ready for the next phase of her life.
This next month approaching that final day of leaving childhood behind, and becoming the responsible adult I have trained her for.....is now going to be the proof in the pudding. It will no longer be on my shoulders, as it has been in the past. The choices she makes will be her's and also the consequences! I have taught her actions and consequences...and pray that she will take what has been OUR joint path.....and make her own healthy path on the straight and narrow. I have not always been the best mom if I look back and beat myself up......but I have given her the best of my ability at the time I gave it to her. I wish......I could do it all over....as I am truely smarter now...then 18 years ago.....but we all know about hind sight!
I am truely a proud Mama today of the child that Bobby and I have invested in.....and pray for her everyday...that this new adventure of life, will bring her everything she has ever strived for and more! They are only on borrow from God.....and now......it is my turn to let go...and know what I have given her....what she will use and draw from...and rely on Him to get her through her tough times!
As we enter together....these next few years.....I know.....the process will begin....of really watching her come into her own. I need not to be sad, but proud and know....We have given her what she needs to succeed! That is really, all a mommy can ever do!
I blogged this with a bit of tears...I must confess.......but to take a deep breath and know.....I will let go of her......but in her heart....I know....she will need me forever! As we all need our moms and daddys for as long as WE LIVE, God gives us all a need for them forever.....I will always be in her heart.....no matter what the future has for me!
Happy Blogging Everyone....I truely am proud of that girl and know God will keep his hands around her.......as she embraces new things! UNTIL!

Out of our element!

It is funny how we are so comfortable in our own element! When taken into a new element.....how we just don't "JELL"! Me and the girls house sat a friends house over the weekend. She lives on 10 acers of property. It is quiet there.....only to hear the animals and the frogs. I discovered last night as I let her doggie out......that the frogs in the lake were soooooo loud and the critters outside were intimidating me! As me and Missy ventured outside to go potty........it was dark.....the frogs were croaking LOUDLY......and only the Lord knows what was looming in the woods to come out to get me.......so needless to say, we did not venture into the grasses very far.....as we approached the back door....a froggie hopped onto my foot and startled me....of course I screamed...scared the dog....and myself. I went in and locked the door and peered from the inside looking out to see if there were any other animals about!

I pondered as I layed myself on the pillow.....why I felt so fearful...and discovered how sad it was...that I am used to the airplanes, firetrucks, horns, helecopters, street noise...honking horns...and dont' find any of that scary.....but...how funny it was...that a lake full of frogs....took me so out of my element..that I felt a little scared. I was not scared inside...just outside not to mention the bugs flying around the lights that I left on all night.....incase I had to venture outside...I wanted to scare off any four legged visitors! As I pondered on my girlfriends home......I thought how cool it was she was soooo in tune with nature everyday. Her home.....was sooooo quiet!

It is like our life.....we get "used" to our life and surroundings.....our home, our friends even our relationships....become comfortable in our element! Learning to embrace things that are different instead of allowing the fear to set in is always easier said then done. We get comfty to the way we do things....the way we react......but the change up is not always a bad thing...sometimes, can be a good thing. A healthy thing! As the sun came up...and me and little missy went outside....the sun seemed to bring a peace to the woods that the dark did not. I guess that is like anything.......there is fear in the dark....where when the light is on.....we feel more peace! Funny about human nature isn't it. We need to learn how to react better when the "dark" times come....and not allow it to grip us where we scream and panic!

I laughed at myself this morning...and thought how funny to scream over a little froggie hopping on my foot....but out of my element......and out of my comfort zone. As you embrace your day today....whether or not it is physical or mental.....do like me...and try to laugh, inspite of yourself....when you get gripped with something out your element........and embrace it as a lesson learned and something that you will be stronger on the other side.

Happy Blogging everyone I hope you have the bestest day ever! Until next time!