DelightStruck

My Dad wasn't the kind of cute Father's Day memes or quaint Norman Rockwell paintings. He wasn't the greatest at all. There were times I hated him and many times I didn't understand him, but sprinkled in all that, there were times he made me smile - truly grin. To those out there with baggage and scars from those growing up years - I see you. I understand you. Days like today can be hard, if you only focus on the hard, the bad, the sad or what you missed. Instead, I have something for you to ponder. Find a happy moment, a single moment that makes you smile so very big and let the rest go. You're only hurting yourself by hanging on to all of the negative so tightly. Focus on a single joy. Mine - hot fudge nutty nutty. In the last few years I've finally come to clearly realize that my Dad wasn’t capable of being the man his wife needed him to be, nor his children. He was broken in so many ways and flawed like ALL of us. He was human. Sometimes I think we ...

So my friend Mary is pretty chill. She's never self-seeking - actually she's pretty selfless. She's kind of quiet and always gives things considerable thought. She's seen amazing things in her life and endured incredible hardships and losses too. She was even a teen mom before MTV made it cool. She's grieved the lost of a child too. Even with those life experiences, she's always cheerful. I don't know how she does it. She's ever the encouraging and the most loving friend too. And get this! She prays for me - like all the time - almost like she has nothing better to do. Plus, she's happy to give a mama a gentle reality check in the most effective ways. So this past Tuesday I was being a total sh**. I was in a complete mood, and I was letting everyday life get to me in the worst way. We've had a lot going on in our life this last year. Possibly I was due for a full ugly meltdown, but it could have been more graceful. This particular day, I kind o...

Oh how I love a good book. I always have. This latest book I read in THREE days. Now that's not too common for me unless it's Debbie Macomber or Nora Roberts novel, which those, I can finish in a weekend just by reading in the evenings. I usually have several books (both fiction and non-fiction) on my nightstand, and I'm somewhere in the middle of each. Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan was one I just couldn't put down! It was on the local library's recommended reads shelf one day and as I passed, I grabbed it. I have a love affair with the saints of the church, so anything that incorporates them intrigues me. The next hint that this book was totally for me - a picture of the Miraculous Medal was on the inside cover. Mary's my girl. Within the first few pages I was hooked. I fell in love with the novel's Irish Catholic sisters, Nora and Theresa. And yes my beloved saints of the church made multiple appearances in such beautiful everyd...

Do you ever feel like there is a monster inside of you? Maybe it's turmoil. Maybe it's a toxic inner voice that won't be quiet. Maybe it's anger. Maybe it's sadness. Maybe it's anxiety. Hey, it's spring, maybe it's the Mucinex mascot in there. Ha! I think each person's monster is different, and sometimes it's a whole troop of them in there. This week I was pondering my monsters. The one that reminds me I lack perfection - that I've messed up and beats me up for every little non-perfect thing. The one that gets easily irritated when overtired, hot, stressed or hangry. The one that can be curt sometimes. The one that overeats to soothe. The one that is conflicted and second guesses. The one that worries too much. I think the monsters that have been bothering me the most of late are the last two. The one that worries too much. The one that feels disheartened. The one that is conflicted. The one that feels confused. Why are you sad, O my...

On this Good Friday I'm talking gratitude, hope and humility. To muddle through is to cope, manage or make do despite lack of expertise. I feel like that right there defines my last year as we've navigated affording insulin and care for our type one diabetic, Coach Man. Given our less than ideal health insurance and the high costs of diabetic care, it's been a lot of muddling through. Doing the best I (we) can. Reading up, educating myself, working our booties off, looking for resources and using my (our) voice. Something interesting occurred to me as we still stand waist deep in the muddling through. Get this... I'm grateful for the journey. Yes, gratitude in the muddling through. Not sure Coach Man would agree with me 100% (well... he is the one that has to stick himself daily with needles), but God's working on him. I can feel it. (To read more about our family's type one diabetic story click here .) I can hear you saying it. Really? How can she be g...

Friends, I'm introducing a little something new to my Faith Friday series. Once a month, I'll be hosting a guest writer to share their faith journey, and let us meet them in the raw of everyday, in the joy, the heartache and the struggles. Today is Elaine Carr. She's a kindred spirit and such a light to so many. She also owns Macaroni Kid Indianapolis-Indy Loop In and Macaroni Kid Hamilton County . Grab a warm cup of coffee or tea, sit a bit and take in all Elaine has to share. She Has A Front Row Seat to All The Joy It was four weeks ago that I crept into my youngest daughter’s bedroom to check on her and kiss her, as she slept. She awoke for a minute and asked where I was going; I responded, “I’m going to Riley for the night with a couple friends from church.” She sat up for a moment and asked, “Oh, is Camrynne going to Heaven now?” I told her that yes, Camrynne will be going to Heaven very soon. A huge smile crept over her first-grade face, her eyes lit up, and she...

Did you know Louisa May Alcott didn't really want to write for girls? She had a lucrative pulp fiction career, when an editor on her publishing team pushed her to dabble. She begrudgingly agreed to write Little Women . She notes that she didn't know what to write, so she wrote about her sisters and herself. Meg is actually her sister Anna, Beth is her sister Lizzie, and Amy is based on her sister May. Louisa May based Jo on herself. Aren't you glad she dabbled? I fell in love with all the delightstruck of the March sisters and the tale of Little Women long ago. My mother loved it and introduced the beautiful piece of literature to my sisters and me. She read to us until we could read to ourselves. I could read it over and over again and never bore of its contents. I love the various movie adaptations just as much. Sometimes I think when we write what we know and let bits and pieces of the real authentic us shine through, it can't help but resonate with people. Of...