WAIT! Is he parking the CAR??

Good mawning!

As I sit here this morning reflecting on my week, yesterday sits as a MUCH bigger moment than I realized.

LOL let me highlight the main issue from yesterday...having to go pee!! 🤣🤣

Honestly! It is now rated as one of the WORST feelings of driving AND having the urgency of going to the toilet at the same time!

I picked up the boys from school and got the "light". Gas on empty and I still had to drive one of the boys to a youth event...which meant to stop and get gas. We were only 10 minutes away from home...

Roll into the gas station and that bugger was backed up LOL🤣. I am not going to even give it a thought. I'm going to choose the shortest line with mid-sized vehicles and go from there. YES! This line is moving fastest! I got this!!

But of course, when you step outside and change temperature, AND go from sitting to standing....the urgency returns. I pumped in as much gas as I could and then hustled back into the car to hopefully settle it down. (As a side note, when I was retelling this to hubby and he asked why I didn't just use the store....yeah, at that point, I thought I could manage it...so be it. Lesson "re" learned ;P )

I drove conscientiously. It was 10 minutes from home!! And for the first 5 minutes, I could mindset it away... and then I couldn't. My bladder felt so full! 🤣 I could feel my workout and planks from the inside now LOL. As I pulled up sideways across the driveway and sidewalk and ran to the door, another obstacle occurred...the door wouldn't open.

Keypad registered the code, and yup! Would open. Tried again, and got it wrong...DOH!!! My son runs to help...tries the code and the special door tug, and it wouldn't open for him either. He gets his key and we open the door....I ran in and yeah....was in pain but now relieved. 😮

Vowing I wouldn't do that again and also realizing I still needed to head back out to the bank, I gathered myself back up and as I walked outside, the car was being parked neatly in front of my house....

WHAT???? Who's driving it??? 😲😲 AND WELL!!

We had practice sessions twice. I had them each move the car from the front to the back driveways a few times. Other than that, I said "Sit up front, get your imaginary steering wheel and pedals in place, and watch me drive."

I ran around to the car and looked at him...and he was beaming with confidence and doing what I would do. Checking mirrors, his gears...

And in that moment, I knew he was ready. In that moment, HE knew he was ready. In that moment, the flash of one of the moments I wanted to live to see was playing out before my eyes. And the WHOLE journey that got us to that MINUTE in space was worth it!

Including that mad rush of body exodus I just experienced 🤣🤣🤣

I've been #raisingmen all this time and now, they are MEN! 😭😭😭 Running to my aid, showing up with solutions, doing what NEEDS to be done in the moment because it's needed and they are capable....

My heart is full! This week was full! That was only ONE incident out of many... 💓

Stay tuned... this momma is going to be gushing about it this week LOL.

#thankyouGod #lifetothefull #bladdercontrol #freeflow #intheflow #TMI #LOL #simpleandconsistent #feelinggood #grateful #proudmama #howwelearn #gooddriver #mindset #mindfulness #mommylife

 

What does the process of considering death do for changing your life.

What does the process of considering death do for changing your life.

This is me, one on the other side of death. We call it “this” side, although I have had many close calls after.

After nearly losing all my blood and hearing a flat line buzz, and watching my hubby and my body from a different angle, I knew there was more to what I was seeing. Before that moment was a series of events that led to a prayer surrendered in a possibility only God could provide...being “here” to watch my boys grow into amazing men. It was a bold prayer to pray when you are strapped down to a table as though on a cross and still gushing…

But my main focus is, in that moment, as I considered my death and having been surrendered into its’ possibility, I also jogged through what the possibility of 'life renewed' would be. I saw all the joy and laughter. Sunshine smiles and moments, and late night cuddles and kisses. I saw men excited to be achieving milestones in life. I saw gratitude overflowing. I saw freely expressed emotions and the mastery of self celebrated. I saw fulfillment. I saw sharing growth and vitality. I saw being free to express and move and travel and connect. 

And I was excited for them both. I still sit here “okay” with possibilities unfolding with wonder. I always seem to start with the joyful and loving possibility. 

It was my “second chance” when I woke up IN my body and saw I was enveloped in warm “bubble wrap” with machines beeping and going off and people hustling about. I was grateful for being moved from a shared and super fragrant room into a private room...my post op experience was terrible, but I was here. I was so glad to be out of that place, and glad to be in this moment at the same time. I was in such pain and filled with tears of gratitude to be in the moment and future I prayed for. And every morning when I woke, I would gasp and suck in that air with such panic and elated gratitude at the same time, saying “Thank you Lord!” No matter how it came, the experiences I had, good or bad, I would embrace them as a part of the bigger vision, of “getting” the gift of PRESENCE in the life of my two boys. 

So now, as I sit here in contemplation of near-future moments, I am reminded of the prayer I prayed, and the vision I had and how small all this seems in comparison of the unfolding of beautiful possibilities being laid out, and for us to all grow into our next level, our “second chance.”

What is the dream and vision you hold onto, on the other side of the possibility of death? It sounds morbid, but in reality, we are faced with our choice in living and existing each day. HOW will I choose to live out this new day I am graced to wake up in?

One breath at a time. One moment at a time. Mine for today is a date...with the One who was there when my arms and feet were stretched out in a vacant room. All alone, in the moments before I went under. That Presence that still is with me now. It’s our time this morning. No major gasping for air, just deep and conscious breaths of gratitude. And then from there, I get to sit in enjoyment and dream. Imagining my next "sunny" moments of possibility and laying them before God...in conversation and in prayer. And then living out each moment as it follows. Each imperfect, painful and elated, disappointing and stretched in growth, each lovely moment that we "get" to call our Life and Journey.

How will you imagine your "second chance"?

An agreement of common interest...choose how you want to connect and be supported

 Good morning!

So many things I want to touch on today....like Who/What is answering our "How" questions (and how LOL ...)....

...but the main one for me is around the structures that we have all collectively chosen to participate in. Why do we have schools? why do we have clubs? Why do we have communities and tribes? Why do we have borders and countries? Why do we have overarching associations and agencies for our healthcare? Why do we have jobs and workplaces? Why do we have churches, temples, and mosques? Why do we have types of society and culture? Why do we have all these social media sites and what good are they for?

I see people posting about these ALL the time. I hear people share their concerns and experiences and wash an entire genre or system with their opinion or bad experience and rally many to join in their opposition without regard for what other individuals may experience. I see and hear the conclusive and "absolute" statements that are to be held as fact and substantial evidence, when in fact, there must be something more that we can all experience within these structures if they work for some of the people that experience within, around, and through them.

What do you see that all these things have?

Well, I don't know what you may see, but I will use my "filter" (of looking for the good that serves) and share what it is that I see....

Common ground. These structures came about because there was an agreement of common interest.

Now to take it step further....perhaps we can then choose what we would WANT to connect in with. Some of which we didn't choose honestly....it was chosen for us, based on where and what we were born into, but at some point, we recognize that we DO have a choice in how it can serve us or how we can find something that serves us better.

Even one more step "up" on the ladder (going for a higher, more broader viewpoint here ) ....what if we saw these as supports to allow us the opportunity to chose and grow when we get to that point of choice. Why not have these things serve as stepping stones, gateways, portals into our next level of living and then branch out to a choice that better serves us? And for those moments in time when we get off track or feel out of sorts, we could look back to these systems to help remind us or even support us along the way.

For example, I hated school (and LOVED learning). My experience in school early on was riddled with racism and racial slurs and language on a constant basis... and being pushed, shoved, ganged up on, and harassed for the bulk of my elementary experience (with the exception of a FEW friends, who are even connected with me today here on Facebook). Which then changed as I moved up in the system...less and less harassment and more and more opportunities for learning. I'm super grateful for the support of the "system" to allow for the environment of being in the common ground of an expectation of learning (LOL I put that expectation in and of the environment, and that's what I chose to get from it...most of the time )

Same goes for my spiritual journey....in the beginning it was a mess of situations that caused my family to chose to never go back to the same church, but they gave me the choice to go if I wanted to....and I did. Thankfully, as I navigated my choice and the type of spiritual alignment I would have, I was able to find support in my journey through being guided to the "family" I am with today. Granted, my spiritual journey still stands out as unique and I know what I have, AND I also make the most of being connected in with some like-minded individuals as well through the structure I am a part of.

So what's my point? We have choice. We choose how we want to connect and be supported...and when we feel that is not happening, we can look around and recognize there actually are deeper levels we can experience through, if we are willing to look and see.

#thankyouGod #Sawubona #itsinwhatweMakeofit #youhaveotheroptions #WeAre #fullysupported #FreeWill #thatweMAYchoose #oneanotherlove

Club FYM post of the day - Stay Down (Nov 20,2008)

What another beautiful morning! Filled with glass shattering screeches and I bathed my son after his splishity splashity 30 seconds of fame in an unflushed toilet (MWAHAHAHAHA...the joy of being a mom) and a dance-a-thon in the kitchen with my oldest son.

When I visit my page (on ClubFYM), I sometimes bust a move as the music plays. It's what I workout to and do my intervals to (chorus High, verse Low.....). I do my stretches and cool down to Keisha Cole, Mary, and Alicia and then get my inspiration (compare to the moment in the movie "Gone in 60 seconds" where they began their night with their song) and reminder of who I am from the song, "What I've Done" by Linkin Park.

But today I wanted to share in the lyrics from Mary J. Blige's "Stay Down". The chorus stuck out to me as being a call to persevere through struggles and being that we have all been through them, I thought I would share......

Chorus:

Stay down. (We're almost to the very best part)
Stay down. (You'll always be the pride in my heart)
Stay down. (We too can pass the test)
Stay down. (Yeah, we gotta lot of work)
Stay down. (I know it ain't been the best but it certainly ain't been the worst)
Stay down. (The drama will not last forever)
Stay down. (We'll beat it long as we're together)
One day we'll look back on this. (Yeah)
We'll be like "Remember this"? (Remember this)
And it's gonna make us smile. (Make us smile)
Cause in the end we stayed down..........

Bridge:
Understand you are the one on my heart.
(And I'm holding yours so we can't live apart)
When things stop making sense we'll figure it out.
(I walked into this and I don't wanna walk out no, no)
(Everything ain't gonna be how we like)
(And what is worth keeping if it didn't take a fight?)
(Your healing is in me and my healing is in you)
(So get your mind right cause this is what we're gonna do)

Stay committed, persevere , continue to take action, and together we can get through.