Thrive As You

In the last decade or so, Thanksgiving has gone from celebrating the first meal shared between the Native  Americans and the pilgrims and  it has become more about gratitude, and celebrating what we are thankful for.   It has gone from Thanksgiving to Thanks+Giving, the act of giving thanks.   We see it all over social media with hashtags like #thankful, #grateful, #30daysofthanks, and so on.  People are taking time to count their blessings and share their gratitude with others.  I love this. Traditionally, Thanksgiving, the celebration of that "big day," is centered around a humongous meal that typically involves more food than any one family can eat.  This is what we remember.  This is what our memories are made of.  We reminisce about family crammed into a house too small to contain all of the visitors, some people sitting at card tables, some on the sofa watching football...traditionally women in the kitchen, football or parades on...

I seriously do not know what to believe anymore. Really. The world scares me.  People scare me.  The big thing right now is "truth telling," "owning our truth," "living our truth."  But is anyone?  Tonight I was talking to my best friend and saying that my book will sell like hotcakes because my book is the straight dope.  Forget about "truth telling."  My words are just straight, ugly, brutal, and raw.  I don't know any other way.  I'm putting all my junk out there.  I don't care who likes it and who doesn't and I never have.  I think I was hard wired that way.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm half Italian and half German.... come on.... what  a combo, right?  I'm not sure how I got this way, but I never want it to change.  In fact I'm noticing that as I get older and more comfortable in my own skin, the less I care.   The more I get to know about people and how truly disappointing they can be, the less I try to pl...

So I decided to go to Guatemala. OK not really. What happened was, I was kicking around the idea of going to Guatemala on a "mission" and then I tripped and fell and by the grace of God and my friends and family .... I'm going to Guatemala. Some history. You know how Facebook kind of connects you with people that you may not have ever REALLY known from your past but then suddenly through the wonder of the world wide web you become BETTER friends with them?  Yeah that's how it went down with me and Bethany Widby.  She was an acquaintance  in high school but not a lot more.  We started chatting a lot on facebook and we're both bloggers.  Hers is  http://www.raisingawanderer.com/  and she talks about raising her son while traveling the world.  And oh yeah, she happens to run this organization called A Heart for Guatemala.    I think we connected because we both have passion for the things we are ... yanno, passionate about.....

Look at me, blogging twice in 30 days.  I better be careful, or I might make this a... habit. I doubt it.   This post has been brewing for awhile.  Ever since my last one, mentioning the you-know-what. (divorce)   My friend Heather posted a comment on my last post: "I'm never quite sure what to "say."  I'm so sorry?  Congratulations?  Hang in there?"   I suppose the answer is different for different people but for me I can say....... "all of the above." I'm so sorry .  Yes.  The situation in and of itself is a sorry one.  It's sad.  I assure you with 100% certainty that NO ONE walks down the aisle with all of their hopes and dreams tied to the person waiting at the end with the thought, "Eh, I give this thing 15 years."   Me and the Mr. were BEST friends throughout high school, and quite honestly the duration of our marriage.  We. Made. A. Family. Together.  And I take that pretty seriously....

As always, I'm impressed with the frequency in which I blog. No not really. But it's been a year friends.  I mean, it's REALLY been a year. You know how they say divorce is the second most traumatic thing you'll go through next to death?  Yeah, they're right. There it is, I'm saying it out loud and publicly for the first time.  I'm getting a divorce.  In fact, it's almost over.  But understand, for those of you who've never been through it.  A divorce isn't something you just "get."  It's not something that just "happens."  This has been many grueling, heartbreaking years in the making.  But I won't get into that now.   Now posting the intimate details of my divorce on the internet just wouldn't be appropriate, but I feel it's something I want to talk about because it's something that SO MANY go through.  We are special group, "divorcees" and sadly there's more of us than ever before...