Life Lately: Grateful

You guys, it's been one hell of a week. Or rather, week and a half and it's been a challenge to shake off the bad. However, at the end of the day, I am grateful that there's been so much good. This is why these ten or so days have felt like a roller coaster. One that I was ready to get off as soon as I realized I was on it.

One of the tricks that I've learned dealing with anxiety is calling it out. Talking about it openly has helped me tremendously because it loses it's power the moment it leaves my lips. I've had to do the same with all the bad this week so that I could fully enjoy the good.

About a week and a half ago we learned that we'll have to make a tough decision in the near future. A heartbreaking one at that. I haven't been this sad in a long time and I'm having a hard time with it.

Thursday evening I did something for myself and took a Skillpop class. The class was taught by Megan of Freckled Italian and it was on the topic of monetizing a blog. It's a topic I've been exploring and it was helpful to learn about it in an organized way, rather than what I've been attempting to do on my own. I plan on blogging a full review soon. :)

After the class I ate my feelings at Pisces, my favorite sushi spot in Charlotte. I highly recommend the Screaming O roll and the catch of the day sashimi.

Mercury being in retrograde wasn't helping things. At all.

Easter weekend was beyond lovely filled with family, friends, and great food.

And then Monday came.

The kid injured herself. I injured myself. She was a hot mess. I was a hot mess. We had a challenging (see also: toddler tantrums) trip to the grocery store only to discover, at check out, that I didn't have my wallet. Thank God for check books and an old ID tucked away in the junk pocket of my purse. And that was all before lunch. The day was savage and didn't let up until about midnight when I found myself laughing at the absurdity of everything that had happened. I laughed so hard I cried myself to sleep. I vowed to let go of feeling like a victim of Moday by the time the sun came up the next day.

Except, the sun did not come out on Tuesday but we chose to make the best of it. It was a rainy morning so we drove up to Huntersville to spend a few hours at Discovery Place KIDS. The place was packed. I don't really like kids (I love my own and those belonging to my friends) so it was a bit overwhelming. However, Charlotte had fun and that's all that matters. 

That evening I attended Charlotte AMA's Market Charlotte event. It's the biggest event of the year for the organization and I wasn't going to miss it, especially now that I'm back on the board as the Director of Social Media for the new year starting in July. I networked, learned, and ate good food. I call that a win win win.

Wednesday was filled with more tantrums and life challenges but ended on a high note. I was lucky to spend an evening eating amazing food with even more amazing women. I was up way past my bedtime but my heart was so full that sleep didn't even matter. I was high on life.

But the high didn't last long because Thursday was another challenging day. (Are you beginning to see the roller coaster pattern yet?!) The kid was sick and I had no clue until she violently vomited all over the place, collapsed in my arms, and wouldn't let me go. This was the first of many dominoes to fall resulting in another can't-believe-this-is-all-happening-at-once laughs. That evening I stayed up till 2:30 am tending to the kid, cleaning up messes, killing ants, and working on client projects. It would have been much easier if my husband wasn't out of town...

The next morning kid woke up with a 103 fever so we spent the morning cuddling and watching Disney. We finally left the house around dinner time to order her birthday cake at Publix and to pick up take out at Zoes. I spent Friday evening working on client projects and making the house look less like a war zone before Brandon came home. 

This weekend we spent catching up on things that are important to us and taking moments to ourselves to recharge and feel like ourselves again.

We survived the roller coaster ride. 

There are other things going on that I did not mention, however, at the end of the day things can always be worse. A lot worse. Sometimes everything comes at us at once to test us, to prepare us for the road ahead, and to remind us of all the good in our life. I am so grateful that grateful is my word for 2017. I am grateful for my grateful journal that I have written in every single night since January 1st. I am grateful for the support team around us, whether they are here physically or not. I am grateful for the life that we are building. I am grateful for all of the opportunities we have. I am grateful for this life.

I believe in falling. I believe in feeling the pain. I believe in getting back up. I believe in dusting ourselves off. I believe in moving on.

I am moving on from all the bad that happened this week. I am stronger than I was ten days ago. I am ready for what the future brings.

Amen.