Skip to main content

I Like Me Better When I'm With Them

Music has always spoken to my soul. I can't sing worth a darn, but I'm an avid listener and carpool karaoker. I love all sorts of genres - pop, country, classical, show tunes, jazz, hip hop... There's not much I don't like, well, maybe some of the stuff on Coach Man's playlist, but even that sometimes grows on me, oh and the Caillou theme song, but who really loves that?

Songs take me back to places, songs make me feel, and they make me ponder. While on a short Michigan trip with the family this summer, Roo boy put his headphones on my ears and said Mom don't you like this one? It was I Like Me Better by Lauv. Yes, yes, I do, but I change it up a little in my head. Doesn't everyone?

It makes me think of how far Coach Man and I have come over our 18 married years. Yes, there have been more than a few bumps in the road, but I do like me better as his wife. I'm absolutely sure this was my vocation. Not a doubt in my soul. But moreover, I like me better when I'm with them, all three of them - Coach Man, Roo boy and Lou girl. I love my role as wife and mother. I like the person I want to be for them. I'm constantly challenged in this role to figure out how to be the best version of myself for them. It keeps me on my toes. Some days I feel like I'm rocking it and some days I want to crawl back in bed and hit the reset button. It's just how it goes, but that never stops my desire to be the best I can for them.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Lauv may not have tons in common, but I feel like both speak to me in a similar manner. It's all about family and before you go out and try to fix the world, start right where you are.

If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. -Saint Teresa of Calcutta

I like me better when I'm with (them). - Lauv

For me the power of the family unit is so big. Something so special in it, and if you nurture it and strive to give it your best, it molds you and shapes you in amazing ways.

As for me, I'll be over here with these three hooligans singing at the top of my lungs in the car, as we adventure together.


-Jen

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Experience Gifts | Goldfish Swim School Holiday Package

This post is brought to you by Goldfish Swim School, and has a sweet chance for a holiday giveaway at the bottom, so keep reading (and swimming) friends. Have a little fish that you'd love to help become a more confident and independent swimmer before next summer? Did you know it can take up to a year of weekly lessons for that to happen for most little ones? Goldfish Swim School has a great way to help, and it's the perfect non-toy, "experience" gift for the holidays! The gift of swim lessons and water safety! This year’s Goldfish Swim School holiday packages are oh so fun to open too! We all know littles don't really love an envelope with a gift certificate under the tree. And THIS gift package is filled to the brim with goodies like 2 months of group swim lessons, 4 family swim passes, Goldfish goggles, Bubbles bath toy, a Goldfish tote and the new FIRST-EVER Goldfish story book, "The Fish Who Wouldn't Swim." The packages start at $1

My Greatest Challenge | Faith Friday

My nephew texted earlier this week and asked if he could interview me for a homework project. Little did I know the question coming wasn't an easy one, and it would bring tears and hard memories. He said he was supposed to ask someone over 30 and not his parents about the biggest challenge in their life. I advised I'd need a bit to think on that. It didn't take long. I was able to pinpoint it easily. Infertility. Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a mom. I never knew it wouldn't come easy. Coach Man and I struggled for five years to have a child. During our struggle, I often couldn't understand why God was withholding my heart's desires and how other women, made a choice, and just threw away the gift of motherhood like no biggie. What I would have given for that child that they didn't want. Hey, girl, over here! Give it to me. I'll love the heck out of that baby! Really, I will. During those years, all I could see around me was pregnan

Faith Friday | Cycle of Defeat

Things just got real, peeps. Okay they've been real for quite some time, but dang, they just got really real. I was trying to be adult-like and make sure we had the proper level of life insurance for our family, as the big 40 rolls in this month. Guess what? I got rejected - yep, rejected due to my weight/build. No talking to my doctor, no taking my stats and testing my blood and pee. They decided purely on weight and build. Hmmm... okay God, it was amusing last week when you gave me fresh content for my planned Faith Friday series on hard things , but this week I was pretty sure I had the cycle of defeat topic covered. Guess not. So I'm short. I'm not petite and dainty. I'm short and a plus mama. I can remember being an average weight in my youth years, but that pretty much ended when I hit adolescence. Past 12, it was ALWAYS a struggle. Looking back, it was probably tied to the imbalanced hormones and insulin resistance of PCOS, plus the intense cravings for carb