February 2020 Update

We started the month back in Birmingham for my Uncle Bennie’s Celebration of Life Service. Losing him and my mom so close together really took a toll on me but in a way it was nice to be close to family again. Still, I spent most days wavering between choosing to be a responsible adult or hopping on a plane to Fiji.

In an effort to do all things in moderation, I decided to head for the hills instead. Mike and I did a weekend getaway at a little cabin in the middle of nowhere. Turns out that was just what I needed. We enjoyed hiking the property and chasing a waterfall while we were there. Being in nature and having a chance to talk things through with Mike really settled me down. I came home feeling refreshed and much less flightly.

I was finally able to concentrate and get caught up at work but it took me until mid-month to actually feel like I was even in 2020, much less February. Time is a funny thing when you are also processing grief. It seems to stand still but I know that soon enough it will feel like time has flown by. It has also helped that I’ve dreamed about mom a couple of times. I feel terrible for people who don’t dream. It’s my favorite part of going to sleep and helps me work through my thoughts and emotions. It’s also special to be able to see people no longer here on this earth. Mom also left me a sweet gift by transferring her Massage Envy account to me, so I’ve been doing some self-care through that each week. I’ve also been teaching myself macrame and I’m quite enjoying it. One day I hope to be able to teach others. For now, it’s a creative outlet that lets me use my hands and makes my brain work in a different way. In turn, I get to make pretty things!

We celebrated Valentine’s Day at home. Mike treated us girls to some treats and we continued our love notes tradition all month long. Skylar even started leaving sweet notes for the puppies!

 

Skylar is doing well.  All she can talk about these days, literally, is Hockey. She completed her first session of skating lessons and will be moving over to start hockey lessons next month. She also took up a particular interest in cooking and was cooking dinner almost every night for us. She’s an excellent chef and even set up a “restaurant” atmosphere for us one night.

We went to the homeschool conference over the weekend but I didn’t go to a single class. Skylar and I hit up the vendor hall and I was able to have lunch with my high school bestie, Jill, who was in town for the event.

Mike has been busy busy at the BFF. He and his friends have cut down a ton of trees that were causing us issues. We’ve got a lot of firewood and even some that we can use for fence posts. This picture below is just a fraction of their hard work. It’s also opened up our property quite a bit. Up next is chipping up the extra limbs into wood chips for my garden.

But first, we are heading to the UK for 2 weeks. We will spend time in Scotland before hopping over to Ireland and ending up in Dublin just in time for St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate Mike’s 40th Birthday.