We survived summer
Just like we have every summer! Spoiler alert, we will probably survive the next one too. And the one after that... Also, I'll celebrate every single one. Life is real, precious soul!
We survived summer isn’t a statement that I actually take lightly, beloved.
Nine years into loving my wild-child (and twelve with my mild one, who is now a preteen - what?!), I have bloodied my body, mind, and soul scraping together some semblance a plan to keep her/us stable… and perhaps grounded… in a space that isn’t made for children who need routine - or for wild-bodied adults who nap.
But here we are.
We also made it through our first days of homeschool. Two weeks, actually! And today, we dropped this precious soul off to her first day at co-op.
I miss her like the ridiculously human human that I am. I miss her because this year homeschool is wonderfully different. I miss her because her mental health journey has reshaped my life. And because of this, there is promptly a Bliss-sized hole (meaning an enormous one!) the moment she and I are apart. I am her primary caregiver, her school teacher, her cooking BFF (I was just upgraded last month), and her mother. I organize her appointments and life. I write and/or order her curriculum. I make sure she takes the vitamins and supplements she needs. I listen to her deepest darkest fears and hold her through the longest nights until the grayest of morns. And, everything in between.
Have you been here?
Are you missing a small/er human? About to miss one? Ready for him/her/them to be out from under your feet for a bit?
Post of the week
Before I gave birth to my kids, I didn’t know this kind of love existed, friend. I just didn’t. It’s earth-shattering. It quite literally keeps me up at night (though less often than in years past). And, it pushes me to be the love - and the peace - I desire most to see in the world.
This post was me expressing some of that.
"You keep pairing me with quiet," peace said, "but my true companion is the mighty clamor of chains being ripped clean from the wall."
- Lori Hetteen
For me, the sound of a peace roars I'M NOT SETTLING. It says, I will break every chain. And, I will carve out something - a life - I’ve never seen because she and we deserve the very best one possible.
This is how we survived another summer.
This is now how I choose to do life.
Peace is holy ground, darling soul. I will not grieve the times we went without it, the moments, days, weeks, months… because I already have. And now, I will keep roaring for it as we march onward into seasons of not just surviving but thriving.
We’re thriving right now.
(This is a first.)
Tangible proof we are cooking BFF’s above. Except we were candle-making. It was the most fun!
I love you,
J. 🌻 @thebarefootpreacher
P.S. feel free to share this message on surviving and thriving and noisy peace. Let’s normalize what’s wild, complicated, real.
Have a comment you’d like to send just for me to read? I’m home for the next 72 hours plugged into an ambulatory EEG (my real). I’d love to chat with you.