Tag Archives: tribe

happiness

Every time you make a leap

I talk all the time about the importance of my tribe and I had a moment today where a girlfriend reminded me just how lucky I am to have these people in my life. I was overthinking and sorting out some things and she said:

I’ve got your back every time you make a leap. Whether you succeed or not, I don’t care and at least you’ll learn. I’m like your tiny cheerleading team.

Friends like this – this is what helps me keep my stuff together. I was talking to a lady tonight (who I am in the process of friending and bringing into the tribe – she’s awesome) and we were talking about how it takes a village to keep our lives together. She has a circle of girlfriends who help her as much as mine do me.

I am so grateful that I am back where I have my tribe – whether they are family or friends. Every time I make a leap someone’s got my back, and I’ve got theirs too. And that is happiness.

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Tea and talk

I met a girlfriend for tea and a visit this afternoon. When I get together with a good friend I always think of these two older ladies I saw one day when we were in Italy for my cousin’s wedding. Two ladies in their 80s were walking down the street arm in arm with their heads thrown back in laughter, and it was so easy to see that they were enjoying a great moment with each other. As I passed them I thought I need to make sure that as I get older I have girlfriends like this in my life. I’ve always valued my friends, but the older I get the more I understand just how important it is to have that close girl-tribe.

We laughed and shared stories today over our tea/coffee that made the man at the table behind us visible cringe – which of course made it that much funnier. If he ever really wanted some insight as to how two middle aged ladies talk he really got an earful today! I love these friends that you can just be so raw with, we were all over the place in our conversation – everything from divorce to death to children to dating to God – nothing is off limits and everything can be laughed about and put into perspective.

Thank God for my friends – this is happiness.

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I’m glad I have a friend like that 

We finished off our Vancouver Island trip tonight with fish and chips by the water with my friend. They were perfect fish and chips, we watched an otter swimming around and shared stories while the kids played. 

When we were done we walked to her car and did our hugs goodbye. As she drove away I said to the kids I’m so glad I have a friend like that. And it’s true. Good friends are a real treasure and that is happiness. I’m thankful for my tribe. 

On our way to the airport we stopped and had one last goodbye moment at the ocean before heading back to what Alberta calls spring.  It has been a happy trip. 

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Meeting new friends

I hate meeting new people. It was one of the hardest things about our constant moving – that I had to make new friends over and over. It’s hard to establish that tribe. 

I made a new friend by accident this morning. It started with her saying I don’t know how you feel about God but…. and lead to us talking about everything from our spiritual beliefs to parenting to marriage to the difficulty of having curly hair. 

It was weird because we just opened up and shared some pretty personal things with each other – and I usually don’t do that. 

Happiness is a new and unexpected friend. 

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Friend time 

I had a coffee date with a dear friend of mine. I’m really understanding the older I get how important that tribe of girlfriends is. And I’m so lucky to be back here where I have friends who have known me forever. 

This friend and I have shared some of the same struggles and embraced a lot of the same growth over the last few years and it’s so nice to chat with someone who just gets what I’m going through – the good and the bad.  That is true happiness 

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So here we are 

It has been two years exactly since we landed in Calgary and started a new chapter in our lives. So much has happened since then – death, divorce, love, friendship, pain, healing… we have pretty much covered it all. And not a moment goes by where I am not thanking God for bringing us back home where we belong. 

Being back in our tribe, having people to share our lives with, being able to see the mountains every day – none of this is to be underestimated. 

Healing is hard. Or at least it has been for us. I feel often like we have just managed to heal up some wounds and the attacks come again, or old wounds are reopened. And yet we all are so much farther along than we were even 6 months ago. It all had its time and it all has a lesson. 

I keep coming to that – that I need to make sure I learn the lesson in the experiences because I know they are there and they are changing how I live my life. 

This evening I got together with a couple of my cousins. We are so fortunate that we have this tight group – I was born with a ready made tribe of female friends. We can pretty much share anything with each other which is a rare and important quality in a friend. 

Driving the boy to basketball tonight for his time if happiness I had to pull off the road. The sunset was amazing. 

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Derek with his crew 

This afternoon the girls and I went and visited Derek with his crew – it was the first time we had seen him in a while. 


He has grown – still cute but less like a baby. 

On our  way home we stopped and had a really nice visit with my aunt and uncle. I don’t do that often enough, but that was one of the things I missed most about home – impromptu visits. 

Happiness – Derek and his crew, us and our crew. 

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Feet on the ground

I spent a lot of time today taking about faith and life and other good, deep stuff. First with a cousin/life long friend and then with the boy. It was almost like one conversation flowed into the next one even though they happened hours apart – it was pretty cool. 

I need those kinds of chats that let me explore where I am in my faith and how other people see theirs. 

The boy summed up our anxiety issue well tonight. We were talking about horses and basketball and how they ground us and open our spiritual paths (horses for me, basketball and other sports for him). He said it’s true what they say – depression is worrying about the past, anxiety is worrying about the future. We need to find the  things that help put our feet on the ground right now in the present moment and live in it. 

Wise words from a 15 year old. 

That’s what today did for me, and what I’m working at balancing into – finding the things that keep my feet on the ground and focusing on the present moment. 

My tribe. It’s full of  awesome and wise people. Happiness. 

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Take a back road 

We had some unpleasantness to deal with this morning in the form of having to get things lined up to take to my lawyer because Mr. X is refusing to cooperate once again. Shocker, I know. 

The decision was made to counter that yuck with some happiness. So we took a back road and enjoyed the beauty of where we live. 


We headed to Nanton and then did a beautiful scenic drive around the area. I mean seriously, paradise. 


And I think we found a house that is older than ours….


It calmed all of our souls. The kids make fun of me because I’m always going on about the mountains, but I heard them gasp more than once – and I was told to pull over so they could take in the scenery a few times. I love that they have such a deep appreciation for the beauty of where we live. This is what make my spirit happy. 

Happiness may not mean that things are perfect all the time. But we can choose to keep looking for the happy moments. There are always some to be found. 

I love this little family, I love my extended tribe, and I love where we live. There is a lot of peace and gratitude in all of that. 

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Laughs and love 

I and an early morning email that pushed me much further towards seeing Celebrate Every Child come to life. It’s funny, I decided I wanted to see this impossible dream come to life, and by completely disregarding the how and just moving ahead on faith it seems to all be falling into place. That is love in motion, that is happiness. 

I had lunch with an old friend who has been dealing with very similar issues in the last year. We get each other because we’ve known each other forever, but also now because we have seemed to found ourselves on paths that not a lot of other people seem to be on. And the fact that we are both horse crazy allows us to talk horse without anyone rolling eyeballs. That is laughter happiness. It’s also love happiness. We talked about how important our tribe is and how we would never be able to hold it all together without the support of our people. 

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