July 29th a Day of Independence

I received the following text from one of my amazing friends...She said she had been thinking of me and wanted to share...

I know the anniversary of that awful day is just that...awful.  You have lived through it and grown exponentially since then.  Without dwelling on the violence (physically and mentally) maybe you can make this day a day of freedom.  It was the last straw and an awful one at that...but it was also a catalyst.  You were done and it gave you the courage and power to move on! Try to think of it as a positive anniversary if you are able.  The day your life changed for the better.  I know being single you still have many challenges and days that you want to give in and give up but i promise you you are better off now than if you'd stayed in that relationship one day longer than you did! So i say July 29th is Independence Day for you!  A day to celebrate...not to mourn.  Don't waste another day of your time and energy thinking of it in any other way than freedom!  If you do dwell you are just giving him the power over you.  He doesn't deserve that power and most importantly you don't deserve his unsolicited "power"  Holy hell i think i just wrote your next blog.  

Yes, my beautiful friend you most certainly did.  I couldn't have said it better myself.  This day can't and won't take hold of me anymore, it'd freedom day!  A cocktail or two is most certainly in order.

She ended with: It's true darlin! You be you...you got this! I love you!!!

Sky High

Let me start by saying that in MY life there is never a dull moment.  During our morning swim practice (After tomorrow we're done) i looked at another mom and said i have to get these kids out of the house.  The weather wasn't looking good so we needed to find something indoors.  The Naperville library has a summer reading program and every time the kiddos hit the next level they get to chose a prize. A few weeks ago our friends Jack and Julia told us that they choose Sky High passes and that we should to.  Today seemed like the perfect day to use them.
We made a plan gathered our grippy socks and we were on our way.  We of the kiddos had a pass for a 1 free hour of jump.  We were told that our grippy socks wouldn't work and that we had to have Sky High's official socks.  Then the women told me that we could turn our socks over for their socks.  We decided this would be best, then i watched her toss ours into the garbage... Seriously lady! We decided that we would add more time depending on how they felt after an hour.  Each child received a red bracelet and they were off and running.  Us moms decided that we needed to find a seat and get comfortable for the next hour.  And there out of no where was an empty couch.  We sat down, this couch was much lower to the ground than i first expected.  We started to chat and catch up.  Roughly 30 minutes in i asked, hey do you know what time we got here and what time our hour is up.  Mitzi said i don't really know.  I called Micah over and asked him to go ask the lady who worked there.  She said our bracelets were good until 4.  Did i mention that we arrived about 1:30, so this couldn't be right.  We then called another child over and told them to go ask another person.  They also said 4, something had to be wrong.  Then there was Noah.  He was the one that was going to get the answer we needed.  I told him to ask the guy in the shorts and not the guy in the pants (we had already asked him)  So, Noah found the first guy in shorts (looked like a 12 year old boy who clearly didn't work there) and asked him, Noah came back and said he doesn't know.  I then clarified and Noah again was on his way.  This time he came back with the current time.  By this time we were so confused.  I decided i would get up from the comfortable couch and ask at the front desk.  Again i was told that we could jump until 4.  How could this be.  We decided that we would get comfortable and let them jump until they couldn't anymore.
Now, there were a few complaints about the socks and how the other ones were better and we did get in trouble a few times for standing on the red zone, but all in all i'd call it a win.  We essentially jumped for over 2 hours and got all of our energy out.  I do have a recording of a review of Sky High by none other than Jack but i'll save that for later.  Thanks for a fun day Boys and Girl...

This is the best picture i could get... They were all a bit tired.

Fear You DON'T Own ME

Fear You DON'T Own ME!  Many of you know that July is a hard month for me.  My life completely changed in a matter of minutes on a late July night almost 5 years ago.  Honestly i can't believe the growth and change that have come in that 5 year.  Fears definition is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.  The fear i have felt over the last 36 years is one that's very difficult to describe.  It can and has kept me from doing so many things.  I'm comfortable in my own skin.  Unlike the past where i felt the constant fear of not being enough, being told i'd never be enough and then the realization i wasn't enough.  But, that's on them...I was and am enough.  I'm saying (or trying really hard) Goodbye to fear. I'm done, i'm over it.  I Know who i am, i'm strong and free.  I've taken it all on and been very successful.  I'm not going to hold back, i can have it all and i do deserve that.  I will stumble that's without doubt but i will have it all,  Fear there is no room for you in this story, i don't have time for you telling me what i'm not, i know who i am and i'm Strong and Free and have my own Identity...

No, Fear here