Wisdom at Forty-Two

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know everything. I don’t know close to everything. I do know some things though… for instance, my son asked for Alka Seltzer to ease his hang over this morning (rolling my eyes). We have none, so I told him to Google what to take in place of it… I guessed baking soda most likely. Google proved me right. Boom. Then Ayden asked what exactly baking soda was. I answered ‘sodium carbonate’. Alright… I now know that it is actually sodium BIcarbonate… but I still felt dang smart. I told Ayden how lucky he was to have me in his life. And all of this after I ran the washing machine… without actually putting the clothes in. Ha!

My three adult kids are all on their own unique journeys and for the most part really doing great. And in doing great, each of them are also experiencing challenges. As I’ve watched and listened, I realize I have some knowledge that I’ve learned over the four decades of my life that I hope they can hold onto.

History really does repeat itself. Until your body is in the ground, and your spirit is up singing with Jesus… problems will never stop knocking on your door. Sometimes they’ll knock the whole freaking thing down.

My husband has a (terribly annoying) habit. Every time something goes wrong, he says, “It’s always something”. Yep. It always is.

Encouraging advise, eh?

I can look back at my life and see so many consequences of poor decisions I made. I can also see life throwing wrenches in my plans. I can see hurt and heart ache caused by other people’s poor decisions. Some of these seasons were really hard. And honestly, some of them felt really hard and now looking back… I gotta chuckle a little… I had no idea how real life would get later. Sometimes it was a matter of perspective.

The problems aren’t all I see. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes… I see that I overcame those obstacles. I learned and I grew and I became better and stronger. Bottom line… I survived and realized it wasn’t just something that I did, but who I am… a survivor. I am proud of who I am today and I wouldn’t be that person without each of those struggles.

I don’t want my kids to experience hard times. I also don’t want my kids to be pansy-asses. I want them to be strong and self-confident. I want them to know they can do anything. I want them to look at the problems that loom in front of them, suffocating at times and know there is a light on the other side. That kind of mentality doesn’t come easy. It’s not a gift-wrapped present I can give them for Christmas. It comes from the battle scars of life.

So kids… buckle up. Life is Good. Life is Hard. Life is what you make it. Nothing is the end of the world. You WILL be ok. Cry when you need to cry. Laugh. Sleep. Give yourself Grace. And never give up. Never Ever.

I am so freaking excited to see all that my kids will do with their lives. I will hug them when they cry, brainstorm solutions with them, speak truth, let them live and experience their lives, love them no matter what and be their absolute biggest cheerleader always and forever.

#notjustforthekids. When I got done typing this up, I realized this message isn’t just for my amazing wonderful beautiful impressive offspring (biological and otherwise). It’s for all of us. A reminder to me too. Life is Good. Life is Hard. Life is what I make it. Nothing is the end of the world. I WILL be ok. I will cry when I need to cry. Laugh. Sleep. Give myself Grace. And I will never give up. Never Ever.