The man I am today...

Christmas 2013 was one of the best ever for me for many reasons, but 2 stand out in a way that makes my heart smile...

1. I surprised my 15 year old son giving him plane tickets for a trip to see his dad for the holidays. Card to let him know we were flying up to Maryland to visit his dad the day after Christmas - $3.99.  The Cost of plane tickets - couple hundred bucks.   To see my son completely overcome with excitement and happiness - priceless!

2. My son's Christmas card to me I opened on Christmas day read:

"Thank you Mom for everything you've done for me to make me the MAN I am today and here's a picture frame with a few pics so it will look like I never grew up and I'm still your baby. (he drew a heart) Ty"

Yes, I cried reading it ... Yes, he is 15 and is that sentimental (he does not get embarrassed hugging me & me kissing him like in the pic below)...Yes, I am one lucky mom!

 This is one of the pics he had with the card. :) :) :)

xoxoxo
Janel

Letting Go....

Learning to let go can mean letting go of many things... material things, people, memories, etc....... it's amazing how many compartments we keep in our head of every thing in our life.  Maybe we need to let go of something material that meant so much, that once we let go we realize that we never needed it in the first place.  Maybe it is a person we cared for and after time we realize that they were there for a reason, but not to always be in our lives.  Maybe it is letting go of the simple things like your child not picking up the shoes or cleaning something up.  Before I spoke of happiness and letting go  and it is of these things that are kept in those compartments in my head helped me acheive my happiness.  Every day I am learning to let go of something or someone and each day I live in the moment and life gets better.  Keep yourself open to new opportunities and you will never know what may happen......

My 14 year old son surprises me!

On this journey in our lives there are some things in this life that are better found out as a surprise...mine was in the form of an essay I found last week that my son wrote in November for English.  The essay was on 3 hero's and here is a brief passage about one of his hero's "My Mom is a great hero to me because she has helped me so much through life and she is strong-willed, kind and tactful.  She has always been there for me and that makes her the best hero."  Sometimes we have no idea the impact we have on our children and then sometimes we get the honor of a surprise...

HAPPINESS.......

I found alot of happiness in my life lately.  Athough I may get stressed with work, my son, and various other things I have found happiness within my life.  Through strengthening my relationships with friends, my son, faith that through failure, I find succes, and confidence in myself, something has changed. Maybe it's getting older and wiser or almost dying and finally realizing how lucky I am to be alive to get to this place.  No matter what the reason I love who I have become and letting go of my past and living in the moment has been the greatest part of my happiness. I do not know what the future may hold, but I know that waking up everyday knowing I have another day to enjoy all the good things in my life feels amazing........

Tweeting so far

My experience with Tweeting so far...  If people have their pages set so you can not tweet to them without them following you or they will only retweet.  This is a way to scan what is being tweeted and put only what they want posted.  Again, just like facebook poeple make it about perception like facebook.  It is different and very time consuming.  Let's see how long I will last before I get bored on there...lol  :)

Twitter here I come.......

So I have finally decided to get on to twitter...yes, I have been sucked in.  I am not sure the real purpose, but right now I think it is to find out if someone pooped or went to dinner and what they ate.  Hope I will be ok on there, but may drown in a time consuming world of peoples daily activities like facebook.  Not reality, but what people want you to perceive as reality.   Let me know what your twitter account is so I can follow you all!  I am @janelstarr. Wish me luck!

Ciao,

Janel  xoxoxo

2012

2012 is a year of me evolving and growing...it has been good so far and I have enjoyed how I have evolved. (With some good advice from friends)  I can't wait for it to continue...  Also, like I said before big things are coming... (Can't say yet)  I am excited about my year and what it entails....there will be some endings coming soon that are way over due...but some great beginnings.  I always say life is an adventure and I can't wait for what adventure is coming next!  What is coming next for you this year...tell me?