Monday, January 9, 2017

All in for 2017

Another year is on the books, and a new year is upon us. I was honored to get to share my hopes for 2017 on (in)courage. I hope you'll take a minute to peek and share the love if you're so inspired.

There's something I love about the sacred space of a fresh start. I love the way it feels to turn my face to the wind of a new year and feel the wind on my back from the one behind. Sometimes it feels like the gust is going to knock me clean off my feet and sometimes it feels like it's going to lift me higher. It always moves me forward, and yet I long to be all in for the here and now. 

In our travels after Christmas, I saw a sweet young guy, probably seventeen-years-old, in the arms of his mother. She held him tight, and he let her in a way most teenage boys do not. I could see him sink into her and soak up her embrace. It was as if he wanted it to last him a while. This was a goodbye hug.


I gathered from my superior eavesdropping skills he was enlisting in the military. He was off to a new beginning all by himself. My heart pinged for his dear mom who didn't seem to want to let him go but was courageously putting her boy on a plane that would take him far, far away from her. I was honored to watch these two brave souls completely in the moment, soaking it up its every essence.


I want to be like them. Not just in the goodbyes I know will be tough, but in the see you after school and the have a great day at work farewells and all the moments in between.


The best of times, the most precious times, are all strung together by a bunch of seemingly routine moments. Oh, but to savor them, to be there for them.


I intentionally emulated that dear boy and his mom during our travels and felt it...the feeling of full life right under my nose.


It was in the way Ainsley's eight-year-old supple hand felt in mine under the covers as we shared a hotel bed.


It was in the sound of Emerson's "You're the best" whisper in my ear.


It was in the way I heard my dad tell me how proud he was of my mothering.


It was in the way my brother texted I love you so much in all CAPS.


It was in the way Dirk looked at me after we both caught the girls in a fit of giggles.

2017! I see you. I'm in. I'm all in for all of you.