Why Did You Move?

At least once a week someone will ask us what brought us to Colorado. It is both a hard and an easy question to answer. In some ways it would have been so much easier to say "my husband was transferred". Then you can kind of blame the company as the bad guy and just tell the kids, "We had to move." But we actually CHOSE to move which has pros and cons. Best off- it means we got to PICK where we wanted to live. But the harder part was that when the going got tough and l or o would ask, "Why did we even have to move anyway? Everything was fine in Denville", I did not have a nice simple answer like: "Daddy's work told him we had to move."

The simple answer was that we were looking for a better quality of life- less rushing, more enjoying. But now that I have moved and met others who moved for the same reasons, I can see that even the better quality of life reason was not the main reason we moved. Some friends and family took this move personal, as if we were moving because they were not a good enough reason to stay. I realize one thing they do not know about me if they feel this way: I just had this nagging feeling that NJ was not where we were meant to be. For us, there was just this need to move. I loved my days in Denville but I just knew there was more in the world and I wanted our family to see it. And I knew I did not want to wait until retirement to move.

It is really interesting how many other transplants I have met who moved here for the same reasons we had.... Just had this pull. Some people gave in right out of high school. Some came after college. Some came like us pretty far into life. And others yet came out after retirement. But all of us had this pull to come here. And as a result I feel this neat mix of a bunch of kindred souls who all found their way here one way or another and now we already have that in common.

So to answer the question- why did you move! It was just something we had to do. What I would say is if you feel perfectly content where you are, by all means stay there. But if a voice keeps saying- there is more, then follow the quote below and follow your heart. It won't be easy. And it won't be smooth. But it WILL be worth it!

A Very Memorable Mother's Day

I love Mother's day as a day to honor my mother. My mom is amazing. The only bad thing about my mom is she is so great that it is impossible for me to ever feel I am as good a mother as she is. But I am eternally grateful that my mom and I have always enjoyed each other (except for a few of those teen drama moments when it was all me causing the tension). And I love celebrating her greatness on Mother's Day.

But I must be honest that after becoming a mom myself I had a love-hate relationship with Mother's Day. My biggest beef is that in order to be "eligible" to celebrate Mother's Day there was not a whole lot you could do to celebrate. I found the expectation of this "perfect day for mom" is unrealistically high and it almost always led to a let-down.. (Even my own perfect mom got a little fed up with the high expectations of a happy day as remembered by the infamous "jelly donut incident" In which my sister bit into a donut she thought was jelly and it turned out to be cream. My sister's great disappointment was only worsened when my brother guffawed, pointing his finger at her. Then my dad did what all dads seem to do on Mother's Day: He yelled and screamed and told everyone to be nice to each other because it is Mother's Day. My mom had the best and most reasonable reaction of all. She said "I am going for a walk" and dissappered for several hours.)

I preface this entry by all of this because I do not want to be one of those moms that writes of perfection and encourages congratulatory pats on the back. I think we as Team Mothers do ourselves a great disservice pretending all is perfect. It is great to celebrate our highs, as this post will do, while also acknowledging our lows and disappointments. This way we celebrate each others joys while also supporting each others challenges.

So now that I have given all this background, I do want to write the details of a most wonderful Mother's Day. This Mother's Day was very different from others. It is the first time since I became a mom that I was not with my mom. I cannot recall if I would be home in time when I was in college by it was certainly the norm for me to be celebrating with my mom just about every single Mother's Day. I was a little nervous about being apart from my mom this year. But I decided rather than dwell on the missing part I would just postpone celebrating mom and focus on having a good day myself. (I was also able to start my Mother's Day with a nice FaceTime session with my mom which helped.)

It was always a tradition growing up to spend Mother's Day working on the yard. We decided we would begin this tradition n Colorado. Laurel said she wanted to plan all the meals for the day so I could focus on the flowers and yard. On Friday I took her to the store so she could get the ingredients.

First thing Sunday morning I went to church. No one else wanted to go, but that was fine. I enjoyed the peaceful start to the day. When I got home there was a wonderful spread for breakfast. Laurel made homemade banana muffins for breakfast along with a protein smoothie. After a hearty breakfast we all went outside to work on the yard. Laurel prepared the herb garden for planting while Owen and I planted annuals out front. Justin put together the new lawn mower. After a few hours of everyone pitching in, the outside was looking pretty good. Laurel made a delicious fried rice meal for lunch while I got ready for a two hour yoga class. After the yoga class Laurel and Owen and I went swimming in the heated neighborhood pool that is only a block from our house. Laurel was planning to make dinner too but we were having so much fun at the pool we decided to do takeout and then Laurel made the dinner meal (salad and pizza) one night during the week when I had to work late.

The best part of the day was that everyone was helpful and happy. I really enjoyed spending the day together, contributing to the yard as a family and getting a day off from the never ending question: What's for dinner?

Summer Reading

Some students dread the thought of summer reading. But for me one of my favorite springtime rituals is making the decision of what my summer reads will be. Around this time of year I start making my list and checking it twice. I also spend the first month of summer vacation taking a break from young adult literature. While I really do enjoy most of my school related reading, by the end of each school year I look forward to reading with some adult characters, themes or topics. So here is what I have so far:

I am not a fast reader at all so really this list is a little over-zealous for a month...but even if I do not get to all these books, I still like that luxurious feeling that I will be getting some down time to read early in the morning, at the pool and even on a hike, rather than right before bed when I get so tired that I fall asleep after five pages.

The kids and I also set aside some books for group reads and one on one reads.... But that will be for another day:)

So.... What do you think? If anyone has a suggestion of something else, please tell me. I love to hear about great reads.