Giving

 This time of the year everyone is always rushing around, stressing about the countdown til Christmas. I hope you take the time to be still, pause and appreciate what you have instead of always wanting more. Do for others this holiday. Donate your time and volunteer for something. Don't let it just end at Christmas time. Let it be an all year thing.

Honestly

 

I have to be honest. I have always hated tennis shoes.  They ruined an outfit in my opinion.  Now they are just making a comeback. That's all there is. That is all I wear everyday at work. Comfortable clothes is all that I go to these days. Chasing after kids all day, everyday I need to be in comfortable shoes. 

Also, I am thankful for memory foam. Thank you to whoever had the idea to put that in shoes. 

This sweater is one of the softest, coziest sweaters I have gotten recently. Love it!! 

 

7:00

 Once the weather changes I live in this jacket! It's been my favorite since I bought over a year ago! If you can envision wearing a blanket out in public that is socially acceptable. That's what you get with this jacket. Can't beat the neutral color because it can be paired with literally anything. 

I added this band tee, mini skirt, cabbie hat and over the knee boots. 

Ghosting

 Now in the past I’ve discussed toxic friendships. But we have never gotten into ghosting, or being ghosted. 

It’s something that I half understand and half don’t understand. Why a friend will just up and not talk to you anymore without a word or explanation. They just disappear into the night. What do you do with that? 

Do you confront the issue, show up at their door? Do you let it go and move on?

What if you are an over thinker and it keeps you up at night wondering what you did wrong but are paralyzed on how to fix it. No matter how you deal with it ghosting can hurt. More than a first date situation. You have spent so much time and so many months or even years into a friendship only to have it gone with no word. That hurts! I’m not saying it doesn’t. I don’t have all the answers this is just an observation post. I have had a few friendships that ended this way. If that’s what you even want to call it. There is a grieving process. Something important to you ended abruptly. 

They say not all friendships are meant to last. But you can’t help but take it a little personally. 

I’ve been an army wife for 16 years now. I’m used to starting in a new place for a couple of years or less only to move again and say goodbye to those friendships. 

I used to be really hurt when friends wouldn’t stay in touch. But now I feel grateful when I have those 1-2 friends that still stay in contact with me from each duty station. I’ve always cared a lot (maybe too much or too deeply at times). So, I always felt like I wasn’t important enough to that person. That’s a lie! I believe now the real friends are the ones that will push through those army moves and stay true as a friend. 

I know I am probably guilty of this. I will admit I am really good at cutting people out of my life sometimes. You pair that with my loathing of confrontation. It can seem like I don't care. I do care! I'm not sure thats everyones reasoning for ghosting. Sometimes the ball has been in someone else's court and they just missed their turn and I didn't reach out. Regardless of who's "fault" it might be. The reality of it is then too much time has passed and no one wants to be "that"  person to reach out first. No one wants to admit anything. No one wants to have those hard conversations. Unfortunately, the hard conversations are what makes us adults. But who wants to be that right?

If you change your perspective on friendships then it might hurt a little less. There's a season in your life where you have certain friendships. You can grow apart or it can be a toxic situation. All friendships though are something we can learn from. Whether it's a lesson of who we don't want to be. Lessons of what you want out of a friendship. Life lessons that they can teach you from their own experiences.

What's that saying? "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." - Dr Seuss

Teacher appreciation

 A lot of kids have gone back to school already. Some go this week. Some have another week or so.

I now have so much more appreciation for teachers. Every year there has been new things I’ve learned that they do that has me in awe. First with remote learning and how difficult that was just for my kids but the lengths the teachers went was so amazing. And how quickly they adapted to the new norm.

Fast forward to last year when I started working at a daycare. Man! That can be so exhausting. Towards the end of the year I took over the preschool class and was actually teaching more. I am definitely not a teacher but I am a mom so that definitely helped. A lot of work and planning went into it. I’m so thankful for the people who have the great ideas and put them on Pinterest.

Here we are at the start of a new school year. I had the whole summer off. I know it will be my last here before moving again. So I know this is short lived. But I have been busting my butt with my co-lead teacher in preparation for this first week of school. Printing curriculum, classroom setup, logistics, schedules, organizing closets, and cabinets.

I accidentally revealed to everyone that I’m an organizer and I’ve been tasked with such things already. It’s been insane but I’m glad I can help others not be so stressed. I am exhausted!!
I’m not even teaching the hard stuff like “real” teachers!

Shout out to all the teachers that I know. As well as the rest of them. This is no easy job. They should be getting paid way more!

Get your kids teacher a little something today. I guarantee they need it already.