Tag Archives: divorce

happiness

She’s smiling

Today brings a day when my girl seems so much more like herself. It’s been a long 10ish days as she’s been dealing with this concussion. It’s fantastic to see smiles and sparkle come back to that face.

I wrapped Christmas presents finally, and she sat under the tree and shook and inspected them. She’s in that tween phase where sometimes she’s super cool and other times she’s still a little kid. I love that Christmas brings out more of the little kid.

We’ve had a rough couple of Christmases (rough couple of years to be honest), but this year I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve got a big gathering of the tribe, we’ve got so much to be thankful for, we are safe, we are home, we can celebrate the birth of Christ with our loved ones. That is happiness.

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healing from the concussion

It’s a long road for this poor girl and her concussion. I’ve been so impressed though at how well she seems to know what is best for her body, and how she’s honouring that. As the child who never wants to be left out of anything, and the one who is always trying to get us outside to play, it’s been interesting to watch how she is just wanting to rest. She seems very aware of what she needs and how to best look after herself. She has mentioned that she does not want to do anything that turns her brain on, and has been pretty content to just lie around in the dark or, lately as she’s been feeling a bit better, get up and draw or paint quietly.

My awesome massage therapist also does cranial sacral therapy, and he mentioned that often there was some success seen with healing concussions from this work. He shuffled things around for us and got Jenna an appointment today. She was a little anxious about going – she’s never even had a regular massage and didn’t know what to expect – but went because I kept telling her how awesome it was going to be.

It was awesome for her. She said it felt like it took a bunch of pressure and stress off of her brain. She’s been smiling and although quiet, much more like my regular Jenna than the quiet, pained girl of the past 10 days.

I am so grateful for the community of healers who have surrounded my family. The support and resources are amazing and it humbles me that we are blessed in this way. It brings gratitude and great happiness. Extra happiness as I am finally starting to have hope that my girl will be well enough to enjoy the Christmas season – her favourite time of the year.

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Jingle bells

Today I took the boy and my niece into the mall for some last minute shopping. I wasn’t looking forward to it this close to Christmas, but I was pleasantly surprised. Got a fantastic parking spot (underground so we didn’t even need coats), and although the mall was packed everyone seemed happy. It was so nice to see so many smiling faces out in preparation for the Christmas season.

The three of us laughed so hard. I find it such an honour that they include me in their craziness – old and uncool as I am. They’re such great kids and I honestly truly enjoy their company.

Because Jacob always has to win the funny award, he did this at one of the stores (he’s got a poop emoji obsession):

On the way home we listened to Christmas Carols, and when Jingle Bells came on the three of us sang as loudly, badly, and happily as was humanly possible. A happiness moment.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I’m really looking forward to this one. The tribe together, so much love to share, a celebration of Christ’s birth.

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Nighttime Daytime

Our latest obsession is BBC Animals. It makes us laugh as hard as the Frantics and this kid talking about his potty problems. One of the favourites is Nighttime Daytime

 

Poor Jenna has been dealing with a concussion for over a week now. It has made her hide in the dark in her room and she refers to herself as a bat. We make jokes about it, but it’s been quite serious and kinda scary. She’s been in and out of urgent care a couple of times and really has lost much of the glorious glow that makes her Jenna.

Today I had to take her back into Urgent Care to get checked out – she was having bad head pain and was dizzy and feeling sick to her stomach. They put her in a curtained off room and there she sat in the dark with her sunglasses on feeling sad about herself.

Then she looked at me and said “it’s like I’m playing nighttime daytime, but I’m nighttime, darker nighttime”.

So I got up and stood in the entrance to her room at the edge of the curtain and bounced back and forth between nighttime and daytime to make her laugh. And she did – more than she has in over a week. It was so good to hear that sound.

Sharing happiness, finding happiness in any situation. It’s important. It’s a happiness moment.

Also, all the love and prayers that have been sent to her and us, they are so appreciated and that is also a happiness moment. Thank you all!!!!

 

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Nothing to do

The boy and I spent almost 7 hours in Urgent Care today dealing with his wrist (end result was a cast being put on). 

We had our phones and I had my kindle, but after a couple of hours the batteries died on the phones and since he was bored, reading became impossible for me. 

So, we did the unthinkable in 2016 and we sat and talked. For hours. About things, and about nothing. 

It was wild. Hours of time with my teen. And although he complained about the wait, I don’t think he hated it. 

I think we have forgotten how to just be with each other. There’s always some distraction these days. To take all the distractions away and just spend time with a loved one – that’s a moment of happiness. Try it. 

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Home alone – again

The girl and I watched Home Alone tonight, kicking off our season of cult classic movies. It’s a fun part of the Christmas tradition. 

The last couple of Christmases have been a little more difficult (to say the least) and I am determined that this year will he awesome – even if we have concussions and banged up wrists! We are happier, safer, and although we will always miss my dad – it’s not quite as raw. 

It was fun to sit on the couch and giggle with her tonight. She’s one of my favourite people. This time is precious. It’s happiness. 

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Apples to fondue 

When I was pregnant with Jacob 16 years ago we joined a birth and babies class through the Rockyview Hospital. There’s still a group of us who get together with our now 15 year olds every once and a while and it’s fantastic. Things have changed and our babies have grown, but it’s so cool to have that connection to when things began. 

Tonight we had fondue and game night with two of the families from our group. We ate so much and laughed so hard. It was awesome. The kids laughed at how old we are, and when the games were brought out and we all had to scramble for reading glasses we laughed at that too. 

I am so grateful that this group of people has stayed in my life. It’s happiness. 

Our babies 

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Perfectly imperfect

Over the weekend we were talking about the Christmas concert at church. Before they started the pastor made an announcement that things  could be a bit messy, joyfully messy – there were little kids, big kids, and with that anything could happen. 

There was a comment that he had to say such things because someone would be sure to call and complain that it wasn’t a traditional concert, that it wasn’t perfect. 

My cousin said something to the effect that people miss so much when they expect perfection, and hat when things are imperfect is when the real joy is to be found. 

Isn’t that the truth?

If we spend our lives seeking perfection, we miss out on the joy that is imperfectly there, right in front of us. Nothing we as humans do is ever going to be perfect. We will waste our entire time here chasing an impossible dream. 

This morning I had a text from a cousin telling me to make sure I looked at the moon. As the boy and I were driving down the road I pulled over and had to stop and look at it. It was probably the best morning moon I’ve ever seen. The camera does not do it justice. 


And somehow we went from that perfect moment of joy to a huge fight. We yelled at each other for the next few minutes (doesn’t matter what it was about, it was stupid) and then came over the next hill and had to stop and enjoy this gift from God


It was a perfectly imperfect morning. Perfect in the beauty God created for us, perfect in that we took the time to enjoy it. Imperfect in that we fought over stupid things. Perfect that we realized we were being stupid and missing a moment of joy. 

Remembering that it’s not only ok but a good thing to be perfectly imperfect. My moment of happiness. 

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Imperial March

We have a new security gate at the entrance of our property. It has taken some getting used to as we can’t fly at top speed in and out anymore (this isn’t necessarily a bad thing). 

My cousin asked the other day how we were adjusting and I said it wasn’t bad. Yesterday I realized it’s not bad because I get to the gate and imagine I’m the queen entering or exiting the palace. I hum the royal march as I go through. 

But today I was telling Jacob about that and said sometimes it turns into the imperial march   And we looked at each other and started giggling. I downloaded the song on Spotify and we blared it as we drove through the gates 

It was the best thing ever. We laughed so hard – spontaneous happiness moment. Awesome. 

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