Reflections

It's funny how life can be both good and bad. Or perhaps not be good and bad, but have good and bad. I can feel both joy and pain in a day, or a moment. The past few days Everly has been feeling icky and it makes me SO grateful that she's usually a healthy and active little lady. Sick Everly is not someone you want to cross paths with. She also had an allergic reaction to a nut on Friday night that scared us pretty badly. No one in our family has a nut allergy so we never thought she would but oh were we wrong. Lucky it was moderate as allergic reactions go. Itchy hives all over but no swelling of the throat or other body parts. We gave her an oatmeal bath, itch relief lotions, and some medicines and she was feeling much better. But really, this poor little lady needs a break from feeling icky. 

This past week we celebrated my birthday. Another year older, another year wiser. Or something like that. I found that turning 28 wasn't painful at all. It came and went as any other day, except with more sugar than usual. Yesterday we had my birthday dinner with the family. It's a tradition that we get to pick our favorite food and my mom cooks it for us on the Sunday before or after our birthday (or whenever we can). All the siblings and our wonderful extras gather around my mom's giant dining room table and enjoy each others company with delicious food in the middle. And one at a time we go around the table saying what we love about the birthday person. Sometimes it's hard to hear good things about yourself (our society has trained us well) but it's a really special tradition. 

As my family went around the table saying what they love about me I found myself feeling proud. It wasn't a feeling I was expecting but they were pointing out all my best characteristics and features and telling me that they loved them. They talked about how I put my whole heart into things and go out of my way to take care of others. They talked about how I'm strong and smart and funny. They talked about how I'm a good mother. Even writing these things down I feel a little vain- repeating them for the world to see. Seriously society, you've trained us well. It's hard to see the good in myself, even when others are pointing it out. But yesterday I let myself see it. I let myself feel like a good mother, a good sister, a good wife, a good person. 

Oh this beautiful journey of Self Love is liberating.

xo Sue