how to get some happy in your life

Raising kids is a roller coaster of emotionally epic proportions. It’s happy. It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. It leaves you screaming, crying, and coming back for more.

It makes us all so tired and ready to lie down.

Today my second boy is turning twelve. I really didn’t expect this unusual feat of miraculous aging when I first held him in my arms over a decade ago. I mean, I knew he would get older, of course, but I thought it would take at least a million years for him to turn twelve. I am screaming all the way down the drop off of this day with my arms above my head. (Note to moms & dads of incorrigible toddlers: their ability to cope gets better, but their faces do not get cuter. Squeeze the chubby cheeks while you can.)

Alas, here we are, singing around a cake with a big old “12” on it, and it hasn’t been even close to a million years.  I’m pretty sure I’ll wake up tomorrow and he will be moving into an apartment with questionable roommates and twenty dollars in his bank account, after which I will die every day until he has a full-time job. Weirdness abounds in this parenting gig.

But some new things are making me happy in the midst of the where-did-my-little-boy-go-ness of having preteen kids. I’ve listed them out for you, in case you need some new happy things:

1. For my writing dreams: my new website!! Do you lurv it? Here’s my plea: Please sign up for for emails! I won’t bombard you with emails, but I will send you fun things: all things related to the book I’m writing, pretty downloads, coupons to my etsy shop, and chances to win fun things. You will not regret it, you guys. The sign-up gadget is at the bottom of my home page.
2. I will eat my feelings today with this chocolate cake recipe. It is the BEST CAKE I have ever made or eaten in all my 40+ years. She made it with a cream cheese frosting (which I’m sure would be incredible) but I did chocolate buttercream, and it was divine. And, for all the timid bakers out there, yes, it’s from scratch. No, it’s not hard to make. Yes, you will be named a saint by all who eat this cake if you make it. No, a box mix will never taste this good. Yes, you will love yourself so much after you take the first bite.
3. For my brain, this book, Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren, about finding the gospel in the ordinary moments of our days. 2017 is the year that small sacrifices of love can become great acts of mercy and grace. Amen and amen.
4. For fun, this NPR interview with Justin Timberlake, in which he seemed so normal and earnest that I wanted to applaud in my car. Way to say fatherhood is the best thing, JT! (Also, how weird would it be to have Justin Timberlake as your dad? Bless that kid. I hope he can dance.)
5. For all things victorious, this new shirt I can’t stop wearing because it makes me so happy. If you’re like me, you need a shirt that proves #allidoiswin.

That’s all my friends! I hope your day is full of a peace that surpasses the struggle you’re in, that you find your own happy to hold on to, that your people are healthy (seriously, what is with the flu this year??), and may your babies hug you hard like you deserve.

XO,

Carrie

 

P.S. Sign up for my emails and make my dreams come true! 🙂