I'm Lynn, a midlife wife and mom of two, writing honestly about the real stuff: empty nest, aging parents, loss, change, and figuring out who you are now. Just real life, and moving forward from here. Grab my free guide, When A Season Ends, and get The Weekly Joy in your inbox after that.
Yesterday and today
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Hi Reader, This morning I had a thought. It came out of nowhere, the way the real ones usually do. I was thinking about lunches and making them for school all those years. Then this morning, I'm making them for work. Somewhere in between the school lunches and work lunches was a lapse of what I thought was a lot of time... that's the blip. That's what I want to talk to you about today. Life doesn't slow down and hand you a moment. It moves fast. Your people come in and out, the rooms are messy, the days blur together. The blip is what happens when you catch a fleeting moment long enough to actually feel it. Not fix it. Not photograph it. Just feel it. I stood on my tiptoes this morning to kiss my sons goodbye. I used to bend down for that same kiss. I won't pretend that doesn't hit me. It does. I still mourn the little boys with the sports and Spiderman lunch boxes. But I'm also so grateful I got all of it. Yesterday and today and everything in between. The blip isn't about being okay with how fast it goes. It's about stepping back far enough to take it all in. Taking a breath in and then out. Letting yourself love it and grieve it at the same time, because both are true. That's real life in midlife. I hope you catch your blip today. P.S. I published something this week that was hard to write, but important to me. If you've ever grieved someone who is still here, this one's for you. → Read it here. |
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I'm Lynn, a midlife wife and mom of two, writing honestly about the real stuff: empty nest, aging parents, loss, change, and figuring out who you are now. Just real life, and moving forward from here. Grab my free guide, When A Season Ends, and get The Weekly Joy in your inbox after that.
Hi Reader, Happy 4th of July weekend to you and yours. This holiday always brings up a certain kind of feeling for me. Fireworks at night with kids in awe of every single one. Ice pops. Fruit salad. The small, specific traditions that somehow become the things you remember most. The moments that feel ordinary while they're happening and then turn into something you'd give anything to have back. That's actually what this week's post is about, even though I wrote it about college drop off....
Hi Reader, I love having them back. That's the truth underneath everything else right now. I had gotten used to the quiet while they were away at school, the kind that came and went in waves depending on breaks and visits. Now my oldest is home for good, starting his career, and my youngest is knee-deep in his internship just months from his senior year, and the house is full again. Lots of shoes by the door. Dishes in the sink. Someone always coming or going. It's a good kind of a lot, but...
Hi Reader, Something happened this week that I want to tell you about. I've been having a hard few days, kind of like when life feels like it's moving faster than you're ready for and you're just trying to keep up. I won't go into all of it, but I will say that some seasons have a way of reminding you what really matters, and this has been one of those weeks for me. In the middle of it, I posted something on Instagram about a walk I took in the woods, about being a lifelong people pleaser who...