Live a Meaningful Life

We are finding our groove in our new 'hood. I am pretty sure we are the youngest family by about 15-20 years staying for more than a couple of nights. When we first moved in I thought it was going to be neat meeting and chatting with all the senior citizens during the day. But for the first week they really were not that "chatty." The boys and I were out everyday soaking in the sunshine and doing various things throughout the day. Johnny was confined to the bedroom, binge watching every TV series on Prime as he suffered through some kind of terrible respiratory sickness. He ran fever all week and coughed and coughed...and coughed. Johnny is not accustomed to being sick and he sure isn't ok with laying around for long periods of times. SO having to do this for days made him GRUMPY!! The kids and I all made faces and mocked him behind his back when he would come out of his cave. Sorry Johnny...we love you, but we had to survive somehow! So imagine the day I came int...

1. We have a teenager, a 13 year old teenager who likes to puff out his chest in pictures and brag on his emerging black lip hairs. He told me the other day if maintaining a mustache was as much work as styling his hair, he was out. He could still care less about what he wears--his style--comfort! We'll see how much longer that lasts! John is the comedian, lecturer, and activities director for the family. And YES, he still serves as safety monitor. As a matter of fact, for the past month we have had to listen to lectures about the dangers of alligators and bull sharks in the river where we are going to be in FL. If you ever need some entertainment, just pick John up and go for a drive. He will not run out of things to talk about! 2. Johnny has been entertaining us lately with his impromptu song writing. Thank goodness none of us have esteem issues! Look at those glistening locks...I will never forget my initial attraction to him. He was standing in a doorway and ran his finge...

Johnny is going to love that I found such a great picture of him to share again! If he wants to choose the pictures, he should write the post! As a matter of fact, he is an excellent writer! For the past two terms I have taught a Human Development (Lifespan) course for the university that I work for. When discussing adulthood there is a section that addresses the "midlife crisis" periods adults struggle with around the halfway mark of their lives. When reflecting over mine and Johnny's life I initially wondered what ours would be. THEN...after Johnny's recent birthday I realized that we are past the midway points, by a few years actually! If we only live to life expectancy, we are over half way there. In real terms, we are closer to our deaths than we are to our birth! Whew! Where did the time go? How are we so old? I know, I know, many of you are snickering and saying, um...you all have definitely had a midlife crisis or two. And just so that you realize I am...

Hello, from MS! That picture was taken on the back porch of our house in Blue Springs a few years ago by a friend. We never knew that just a few years down the road that we would no longer be living in MS. Fast forward, and here we are returning to the state for several weeks to visit family/friends. Guess what? We have not adjusted well to MS life at all. Let me clarify that-Johnny and I have not. The boys are loving being treated like little princes by grandparents and are having a blast reconnecting with friends. We all have loved spending quality time with our families and friends.  In the meantime, I feel like a whiny brat. We are ready to go! The first week and half was awful for me. I miss seeing water pour over the rocks of the river from my window. I miss being able to walk a few feet and be on trails. I miss meeting new people. I miss watching our boys have adventures in the woods. I miss Johnny telling me about his bear friends he would see weekly as he r...

We have officially left the forest for a few months. I looked at a picture this morning and had to close the app because I was thinking about how much I was going to miss that view and environment. As I reflected about our six months there, I realized that the forest actually took some things from us. 1. A chaotic schedule: I stopped working a normal full time job 5 1/2 years ago, but Johnny and I will both tell you that our schedule became even more chaotic. I did some private practice work, adjunct (land based) teaching, and a 50 day contract to provide counseling services at the youth detention center. Did I mention I am a full time teacher during the day for our boys? The work I got paid for was mostly afternoon/evening work--if you add to that sports practices, church or any other obligations it was even more exhausting! Sure, we have had some busy days in the forest, but nothing like what we left! Simple is better. 2. The TV: Guess how many channels we could get? NONE! Whil...

Well, our time is almost up in TN for a while. We will be leaving in a couple of weeks and treking back to MS for a few weeks to visit family and cross some things off of the to do list. We are then heading south and moving to Florida for the rest of the winter. We will be living on the Suwannee River south of Tallahassee. In March, we will be coming back to TN. As a matter of fact, our hearts were kind of gripped when the reality hit us it is time to start getting ready to leave. We all have had such a great time these past six months and the thought of leaving really kind of hurts in a sense. BUT, the fact we are going to live in FL a few months is not that disappointing! We will not be doing any camphosting, just living in an RV resort/park. Our friends have told us we will have plenty to explore within a few hours of where we will be. So, despite our moment of sadness about leaving, we do look forward to new things! We have all fallen in love with this way of life. While our or...