“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29
Does life sometimes feel a bit overwhelming? Do you overextend yourself and therefore, feel you are not fully present in the moment? I think most of us are guilty of this as some point in our lives. I am guilty of this from time to time. I find myself doing one thing only to continually think five steps ahead on what needs to be done tomorrow, next week, etc. I have been working hard on this over the past few years and old habits are hard to break, but I continue to work on it.
You may wonder why I have been MIA the past couple of months. Well, I may be overextending myself at times, but a lot has been going on and life has been, well.....busy! That may be putting it lightly, but I will try to catch everyone up.
February was a busy month. Mark and I have had the privilege of spending a lot of quality time with our favorite toddlers. They have been having a lot of sleepovers and are constantly keeping us on our toes. We have lots of laughs and they bring so much joy to our lives. Grandparenting is almost like getting a do-over, except we get to give them back to their parents (after lots of sugar intake and other rule-breaking things). Kalli attended her 2nd year of Night to Shine. It is a formal prom-like event for special needs that Tim Tebow founded. It is such an amazing event and so fun to watch everyone get crowned king and queen and walk the red carpet. We celebrated Mark's birthday February 15. We were able to go to Sutton and meet up with Justine and kids and the Johnson family. What a fun celebration and Steen made the cupcakes so even better!
The end of February we made a trip to Jacksonville to see Bailee and Tristan. Mark, Kalli, Paislee and I went along with my sister Sheila and her hubby Ron. The weather wasn't very cooperative, but we still had a great time. We spent a night in Savannah, Georgia. We explored the city during a downpour, us girls took in a movie, and we went on a Dolphin tour. In Jacksonville we helped Bailee and Tristan with some yard work, including building a fire pit. We took a ferry to Cumberland Island and did a lot of hiking and exploring. We of course hit up a few ice cream places. Mark also made us an amazing brisket and Destiny and her boyfriend Chris joined us for that meal.
We returned from Florida exhausted but what a fun trip with so many memories! March has been as busy as ever and brought about some changes. My mom has been declining physically and we put in extra services trying to allow her to remain in her assisted living apartment. But her physical decline also caused some falls. Thankfully she never got seriously hurt but due to her decline and falls, she no longer remained safe for assisted living, and we made the tough decision to put her into a nursing home. Marci, mom, and I did a lot of talking and the decision was made to put her in The Griggs County Care Center in Cooperstown, ND. She wanted to be closer to her Binford roots and the nursing home is brand new with all private rooms, so that too made it more ideal. Some may wonder why not Carrington since I live here. Well, Mark and I are making some major changes within the next year so the thought of needing to move mom again in a year was less than ideal. This transition has not been easy on my mom or any of us for that matter. The move came quicker than expected and the days have been a bit of a blur. The day after we moved my mom out of her apartment, our alarm went off and mark asked me how busy my day was going to be. I told him what I had going on at work and my plans to pack things up after work. He gave me a hug and told me he had taken the day off so he could help pack things up. I wasn't expecting that, and it was what I needed to hear! My mind was racing, and I was starting to feel overwhelmed trying to wrap my head around how we could do this ourselves. His kindness and compassion never cease to amaze me.
My mom is all settled in her room in Cooperstown. She will have a loveseat delivered to her next week and I hope that will make it feel homier. This chapter has been a difficult one but thankfully I have learned so much and I am better able to cope with all these changes. This brings me to the next thing. A few months ago, I took 7 weekly sessions on grief recovery through a grief recovery method specialist. Even though I have worked through so much over the past few years, I was still "stuck" in certain aspects of my unresolved grief. This unresolved grief was not fair to Mark, and it wasn't fair to me. This program changed me. I knew it was something that I needed to do. Within a few weeks of finishing my sessions, I signed up to become a grief recovery method specialist. I feel compelled to share this with others so they too can work through their unresolved grief and reclaim their life. So, during moving my mom, and packing up her apartment, I took this intense class and am happy to say they I am officially a Grief Recovery Method Specialist. As much as I would love to dive into this headfirst and give it my all, I am still working full time so I will do this for now during my off hours. Someday I hope to work it into part-time or possibly even full-time. I may reach out to some of you personally, but please reach out to me if you are interested in hearing more. I am so excited to bring this method to others as it truly has changed my way of thinking and coping.
The inevitable change comes to us whether we are ready or not. Often feeling overwhelmed, lost, and confused accompanies change. We can learn to work through this and change our perspective, therefore potentially changing our lives. Thank you for taking the time to read about my endeavors. If any of you know my mom and can visit her, I encourage you to do so! Also, if any of you would like information on the Grief Recovery Method, please reach out. I would be happy to speak to you about it. Life is full of ebbs and flows and inevitable change. Make sure you take care of you! ❤️
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