Tag: family

Partnerships

Sitting at My Desk @ Webster at My Desk 7.5.26

by ErinLeave a Comment on Sitting at My Desk @ Webster at My Desk 7.5.26

It’s funny to be reminded about what I was writing on 6 years ago and seeing a lot of the same things…

For example, this morning I started envisioning 1:1 time with each child (3 which are adults now) as I drifted back to sleep. I fell asleep imagining having conversations about what they know they need this year, what feels exciting to them and asking questions with the right amount of curiosity as to how I might offer them my support.

This came after a mid-night mining of voice memos. Stirred at like one thirty in the morning, I decided to give into the zeitgeist and see if what JusT&T might be trending. That led to a video about how to cast a vision for your life, which led me to be curious then to fall asleep listening to a workshop I recorded last week. “Was it usable?” I wondered as I began the tape.

Not only is it usable, it’s really good – near flawless in my definition of flawlessness (minus the three times I said “BS”).

My vision of my sister and brother in law listening to it on their roadtrip home from Michigan with the kids in the back silted into a dream of a good friend of mine telling me she would have loved to listen to the recording with her daughter, if not had I referred to life’s “BS” multiple times.

Back to now.

I have a candle on and the Brazil Norway game is on to my northwest. Our recent resurgence of our Sherlock watching has me using the back and forth motion of my eyes to search for the words for this post and I am feeling relief that the point of a blog is to not, necessarily, have a point. Frozen Spaghetti is “my online diary”, as it may be.

But what stirred the post?

Is the desire to better articulate the vision I started casing in that 2020 post. The ribs and the corn and the kitchen and the comet. To see it clearly with overlapping thoughtfulness to my partner’s clear vision, I imagine, would be like scoring a goal in the World Cup. It doesn’t mean the game is won or over, but – damn – I bet that feels amazing.

I want it. I want my kids supported and well traveled. I want my choices and actions to show that I listen. Listen to my partner, listen to my kids and really really listen when it is quiet.

Listen to what my body needs. (Just now? It was a bath.)

Listen to what I am feeling. (Right now? It’s quite directed.)

All of this is coming from a heart hurting with happiness, yearning with readiness, absolutely craving the 10% better – day over day – week over week – till we are all the way new. Till what was created back in 2020 has created its next creation.

That’s how creation works, right?

I know my friends and family will celebrate that arrival so big with us. I just feel my heart soaring at the idea of welcoming family in, showing them around, offering a seat and some ribs and some corn.

And maybe even a view – from a porch – of a comet.

Blended Family During Pandemic Wedding
Words in Sentences

Thinking Back

by ErinLeave a Comment on Thinking Back

I was thinking back on some blogging I did in 2021 related to training the brother and sister dogs we adopted. Seemingly in the constant pursuit of “what I write about” or “what I share about”, I wondered back then whether or not dog training was going to end up being “my thing”.

It’s comical now, 4 years later, with dogs who absolutely go ape shit at the fence for a german shepherd (they looooove a german shepherd). The only thing that makes any of that noise easier to swallow is the fact the sister dog jumps and barks while the brother dog stands with paws on the fence. It is as comical as it is absolutely irritating to the bone.

I have been near obsessively working on my program that has, at this point, been received by over five hundred people over the course of its existence and acknowledged by many as having “changed their life”. Holy shit – I realize – my approach to dealing with my own human emotions in order to give my life some purpose and not think everything is in vain has supported other people’s ability to do the same?

“I should really do something with this”, I think, “…then I could hire a dog trainer.” lol

And the truth is – I am thinking about it. I am doing it. I am recording and I am writing and I am creating every single week – something new – something old repurposed. How does it all come together? How do I start? Oh I am already started. What do I do.

I have so much faith in all of this, honestly. But the belief in right timing is only as good as the dedication to practice and use of right energy.

To do the things you love to do. To be the places you love to be. To allow the way you love to feel. It’s nooooooot always easy when you are covered in news and buried in headlines. It’s not always the first thing you think of “I love today!I love my life” when there are so many people dying and drowning in fear. BUT. HOW will it get better if the artists don’t art?!?

How will culture evolve in the creators don’t create?!

How will justice reign if the makers don’t make and the builders don’t build and the – what else – shakers don’t shake?

lol Taylor Swift nod.

Sigh. So – here I am, with my new Buddha (that honestly looks like me and my siblings likeness), my cat and my geraniums here in the middle of October ready for everything that is next. Are you ready for what is next?

Tell me honestly. Please – are you excited about your life? Do you feel purpose in today? Why or why not. Lay it on me.

Give me something to think about. ✌🏽erin

woman cat and buddha and geraniums set out to change the world on a wednesday october morning
Words in Sentences

Heaven @ Bellingham Breakfast Table – 7.4.20

by ErinLeave a Comment on Heaven @ Bellingham Breakfast Table – 7.4.20

Last night, I laid my tired body down next to my husband’s. I was tucked in close with my head on his chest, against his t shirt. He grabbed my shoulder with a squeeze and started to pull the last bit of energy out of my body. I sighed and he continued to squeeze around my shoulder blade. Squeeze, pull, squeeze, pull. Heaven.

Completely heaven.

We got married in the morning, took a walk and went to Whole Foods in the afternoon. Our youngest daughters, Kara and Lucy, made us a dinner of club sandwich split for two, raw veggies and ranch, watermelon and fried egg & potatoes.

They served us on plates we painted a few days before. We had our favorite beer (Bloke – from Twin Sisters here in Bellingham, WA.) We played Mario Cart with Aria, Ellen and Maddox. We were husband and wife even in Mario Cart, encouraging and supportive, sharing responsibility… like when he would steer with the joy stick and I would get to hold down A on the Wii controller and close my eyes.

We are sitting in our breakfast nook at the moment. He, across from me, on the electric guitar. I am on my last half cup of coffee.

The sun is out and the sky is blue. My hair is about dry from my shower and the candle smells of pomegranate and evergreen: a smell of Christmas.

We are relaxed and married.

Just like the squeeze pull of his hands on my shoulders, the guitar playing right now through these speakers (accompanied by the birds out the door behind me) is so soothing. So relaxing.

There are a lot of things I could say. A lot of story to tell and laugh about, to share. A lot of potential thinking about best ways to share and the meaning our marriage has – not only to us – but to those we invited to support us, who know what a treasure we are to each other.

But, you know, when I think about the best idea. The best way to announce. The best way to connect. The best way to invite. Well, I have learned and am learning the true best is to not pursue a best way, no more right way.

Without the fanfare of tradition and expectations, we witness the subtle shifts of our commitment against our status quo. This is refreshing and a gift in itself.

Our marriage right now is wide open – a blank canvas – open for connection and invitation. Its aerobic nature, its exuberance, is potent and palpable to the five people we most want to witness love.

When it is time to celebrate with others, we will celebrate gladly. If there is blessing to come, it will come.

If there is opportunity in our creative life, it will blossom from our time creating.

If there is adventure to come next, we will stumble upon it.

If ever I knew a taste of peace, I know it now.

// God, you are so good to me. Really really good to me. //

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Photograph by Stephanie FreelsÂ