Height

This one is for all of those who don't get to see us that often. Jack is quickly rising up to meet me - this is us standing back to back. Hello 13 - I wonder what this photo will look like when he is 16?

Trying your best

This has been a common theme in our house lately. There is a big difference between "trying" and "trying your best". What is your "best"? Usually there is more we can do to be doing our best. Spend a little extra time - dive into the unknown - risk failure. Jack is especially challenged with this this year. 8th grade is hard and his schedule is so full. It would be much easier for him to do everything half way but he is learning what it takes to be "great". Rarely do we get to be the "greatest" but sometimes we get to be great. It is just never given to us - we have to earn it. We have to practice, sweat, work, push, exceed and challenge - then, maybe, we get to be great. I can honestly say I am trying my best to make this business work. Beyond that it comes down to faith. I know I need a little help from God too. Julia is working her butt off to become the singer she has always wanted to be. John has always been an inspiration in doing your best. He works so hard and finds ways to be even better at his job. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is easy to want to quit. To just say to yourself - I am not capable of doing this. I have days (like today) where my body wants to give out and my mind is so full it just wants to quit. But I can't. This is my life - I want to live it. So on we go. We keep trying...... our best.

Make new friends.....

but keep the old - one is silver and the others gold. I have been making a LOT of new friends these days. These are the new people coming into our club and I find it so fascinating to hear all about their lives and get to know them better. Tonight I was able to go to a party with a bunch of "old" friends. They really are not old friends but some of them I have not seen in a while. As much as I love my new friends there is something about being around the people you have grown to become comfortable with. You don't have the pressure of presenting yourself in a particular manner - you can just be you. It was refreshing tonight to just have fun and let some bygones be bygones. I enjoyed some great camaraderie and food too! A sure sign that it is worth the effort to keep those friendships alive.

Peace

"God, make me an instrument of your peace". That has been running through my head for days now. I have been so blessed to meet so many amazing people but a few of them are going through some hard times right now. I am humble knowing that often I don't know the right things to say or do. I want to offer something - anything - to make them feel better but sometimes words are not enough. I find myself on the other end of the spectrum these days with my cancer club. I now am the one feeling helpless - knowing that all I can offer is love, encouragement and prayers for a healthy recovery and eased pain. I want to live fully and lead respectfully. I want to be able to touch someone and know that the touch brings them peace - the only way I know I can do that is through God. I give it all up to Him.

Time

I am sure I have blogged about this before but here I go again. Such a strange thing, time. When we have too much of it we don't quite know what to do. When we have too little of it all we want is more. I am in need of more time right now. I was very happy to take a couple of days and get away with John for our 17th wedding anniversary this past weekend. We really needed some time to re-connect. I was also able to communicate - with no real solution - that I am having a hard time juggling laundry, cleaning, cooking, carpooling, homework and running a business all at the same time. I know the plan is for one year - that seems like forever to me right now. I LOVE my job and I know what I am suppose to do but I miss my family, my husband and my children. I am praying for more business so we can hire a few more people - this body is getting TIRED. I am about to hit the "42" marker -oye - feeling every year of that lately. Not to complain. I did this to myself. I love having Jack work the front desk for us and I also love having John, Jack and Julia take classes from me - makes me feel like they are really in my world. Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future..... Lets make sure we use it wisely.

Oh hello.... remember me?

Yes I know it has been quite a long hiatus from blogging. I am not one to fill you in on the contents of my cereal bowl or the state of my fingernails so for a lack of things to write about I apologize.

I am now in the state of new business ownership where I am saying to myself almost daily "what the hell was I thinking?". I am sure most new business owners feel this way at some point. The excitement of opening has worn off and the reality that this business has to work has settled in. I have been humbled over and over and over again. My faith is strong and I have no doubt that this was something I was led to do. So every morning I walk out the door and meet Suzanne and we smile a wide (almost forced) smile at each other and say "today is going to be a good day". For the most part they are good days - we see people we love and enjoy and we get to do what we love to do. But in the back of our heads we are freaking out a bit that we haven't had more people come through our doors. Patience. For some reason this is such a hard one for me. God obviously wanted me to learn it when I went through cancer treatment and maybe I have forgotten it already because here I am learning it again. "If you build it, they will come". Well God, we built it. I heard the voice - I hope it was yours and not mine. So we will wait and hope and work and try and give and laugh and love and be. Today is a new day.

Commercial

So I have been asked by Marian Hospital to be a part of their new commercial campaign. Sounds quite exciting! I have never been around this kind of environment before so it should be fun. I have been near photo shoots so I am guessing it will be similar. I will be playing myself but with a bit more drama to make it more interesting. It requires turning me back into a chemo patient with hair (hahaha) and makeup. I am looking at it from the artistic point of view. I have SO moved beyond that point in my life so I will allow myself to go back for the few hours needed to film this thing and then onward we go. We start filming next week - wish me luck!